They were animists, Hindus and Buddhists before embracing Islam. The only connection between Malay as an ethnic group and Islam as a religion is the Federal Constitution, says a reader.



On Ikim DG: Malays are Muslims first

Shufiyan Shukur: The language of the Malays is Austronesian in origin as are the people. It has nothing to do with Islam. The Malay people existed before Islam. They were animists, Hindus and Buddhists before embracing Islam.

The only connection between Malay as an ethnic group and Islam as a religion is the Federal Constitution.

Am I first a Muslim then Malay? No, I am first Malay, then Muslim, because a religion can, at will, be rejected. One can't deny oneself being Malay just as a Chinese can't deny himself/herself being Chinese regardless of what religion he/she subscribes to. And this is the same with the other races. An Indonesian Malay Christian would get quite annoyed if you were to claim that he/she is not Melayu as I found out from a girlfriend many years ago.

You could bleach your skin, colour your hair, speak Icelandic, but you are still Malay - "Melayu tetap Melayu". But in a flash, you could reject your religion. You could eat pork, consume alcohol, get baptised and deny the syahadah (affirmation) and zap! you are not Muslim. But ethnically, you are still 'Melayu' - neither you nor anyone else can take that away.

I take liberty in extracting the following from Wikipedia:

'Arab Christians are people who are ethnically Arab or culturally and linguistically Arabised and who follow the religion of Christianity. The majority of Christian Arabs live in the Middle East where, although Islam is undoubtedly the preponderant religion, significant religious minorities exist in a number of countries. The largest number of Arab Christians, whether in real numbers or in proportion to a country's population, are to be found in Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Emigrant Arab communities throughout the Americas, especially among the Arab populations of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and the United States, are overwhelmingly Christian. In Brazil alone, Arabs number over 12 million and are mostly Christian.'

I took this extract because Malays have a 'worship' mentality towards Arabs, believing that they are all unequivocally Muslims. Some have claimed royal status here claiming their families to be descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and request to be addressed as 'Yang Mulia Tuan Syed' or 'Yang Mulia Puan/Cik Sharifah'.

If there are Christian Arabs, why is it so difficult to fathom Christian or even Hindu, Buddhist Malay? The current problem is not in the religion or in the race - it is religion and race being politicised and bureaucratised. Maybe it's time to divorce the two.


Renuka: I totally disagree with Mr Syed Ali that Malays are Muslims first! What were they called when they were Hindus and Buddhists during the pre-Islam period? And what about the Malays in Bali, 90 percent of whom are Hindus?

And it's misleading for him to say that the Malay language is derived from Islam and as such of Arabic origin. Malay is a language very heavily influenced by Tamil and Sanskrit, which incidentally is the language of Hindu holy books.

Malay is a race and has nothing to do with religion. Especially so in Malaysia, where the language and traditions (eg, wedding rituals) are so influenced by the Hindu religion, right down to the mehendi Siti Nurhaliza wore at the live telecast wedding ceremony. What a joke! Even the word bumiputera is 100 percent derived from Tamil.


Raj: My God! I just can't believe malaysiakini interviewed a fanatical, narrow-minded fellow and decide to publish the interview. He belongs to the 15th century...


On Budget 2007: Don't forget us, say pensioners

Peter: The government had really forgotten the welfare of pensioners. Already there are allowances like COLA given to serving civil servants and not forgetting the yearly bonus too. But, the pensioners are always left empty-handed. It looks like pensioners are super humans who can cope with rising costs without any increase in pay.

Oh yes, the former PM, Tun Mahathir promised to look into the plight of pensioners when the economy improved. This is tantamount to waiting for a blue moon rising. Tell me, when is our economy improving? It has come and gone umpteen times and yet the poor pensioners are still languishing in silence with their meager allowances.


KSN: The call by the pensioners is timely, urgent and needs immediate attention by the government. Many among the public are not aware that the maximum pension paid is for 25 years only, regardless of the actual service of the retiree. Some, like my neighbour, worked for more than 32 years but he does not get paid for seven years of service, above the 25 years maximum. This is unfair because he and his employer - the government - did not contribute to the EPF either.

A few years back, the government realised this anomaly, my friend told me that he was offered in principle full pension based on actual service. But immediately after the offer, the government cited financial constraints and withheld its implementation until the economy improved. The pensioners are still waiting for that adjustment that is long overdue.

PM, have a heart and give to the pensioners what they worked for and help them with their predicament. Those benefitting from this adjustment will be lower-ranking officers who have a tough time adjusting to the present high cost of living.


Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah, chairman, Youth Bureau, Federation of Malaysian Sri Lankan Organisations: I feel sorry for these retired civil servants who toiled for the nation and were obedient and loyal to the government. Many of these former civil servants are unlike the ones we meet today. They were truly sincere and disciplined. Prices of goods have gone up many folds. It's only fair if the government revises the pensions of these dedicated members of society. Hopefully, some perks will be included for them at the next budget


On Mahathir: I did not shackle the judiciary

Ahmad Fuad: I cannot recall any part of the interview whereby the ex-Lord President Tun Salleh Abas, accusing anyone of "shackling the judiciary". I wonder if this is what Shakespeare meant by, "Macbeth hath murder sleep... Macbeth shall sleep no more...!"


On Anwar: PKR congress will reveal 2004 polls fraud

Meng: I agree with Anwar's comment about Mahathir. The last two weeks, Mahathir has revealed his true colors to all and sundry who used to carry Tun to the heavens. He has a selective memory and his perception on everything is that he is right and others are wrong. Pak Lah and Najib are lucky. They would not last a year in jail. They have neither the conviction nor the tenacity to take what Anwar has taken.


On Khairy, you started it, you end it!

HL Too: Malaysian politicians play the racial card whenever they need to (a) divert attention from whatever is plaguing them, (b) gain popularity or get noticed, (c) be seen as a champion or defender of the race. Politicians are always on the lookout for the slightest hint of any anything that can be regarded as assault (real or imagined) on the precious "race". If there isn't any, one can always invent something. Anything. At the slightest provocation, these ethnic champions would tumble over each other to condemn, challenge and/or warm of dire consequences.

The so-called racial harmony in this country is merely skin-colour deep. Scratch that surface and out come all the champions of the race. The spectre of May 13 and Kampung Medan hangs over the nation like the sword of Damocles. Imagine an education minister brandishing a dagger (kris) while defending Malay rights. The threat is not even subtle. (It cannot be subtle because the people that are being threatened must recognise that it is a threat).

When a crisis arises within Umno, the tried and tested way to unite the Malays is to find a common enemy. Therefore, whenever Malays have problems, non-Malays should just keep very quiet and not say or do anything. Sometimes, even this would not help. This is because you will have always have someone like Khairy rising up and telling the Malays that they have to unite to fight a common enemy.

It is, of course, all Dr M's fault. He started this whole thing by criticising Khairy. So what do you expect Khairy to do? Simple. Play the racial card. Malays should not criticise Malays because they will become vulnerable to their common enemies. Hishammuddin says that it is a learning process for Khairy. Yes, I agree and Khairy is learning fast. Why not, he has good teachers - like Hishammuddin.