MALAYS have lost our belief in the idea of a Malay ideology. A way of life. A philosophy.
Without this core, nothing else comes together — politics, economy, education, race, thought and leadership.
What is this core, really?
It is the Malay adat and adab that have kept the Malay world intact for centuries. It is the adab raja-raja that keeps the respect for the monarchy sacrosanct. It is the adab that makes us great diplomats. It is the adab that takes foreigners by surprise when they arrive and allow grudging respect to grow.
It is the adat merantau that sends us in search of knowledge and wisdom, makes us great seafarers, charters of stars, readers of the sea, traders, warriors and the learned. All this, hundreds of years ago.
It is the adat of appreciating beautiful things that makes our artisans great craftsmen — brass, wood, bamboo, rattan, gold, silver, pewter, textile and herbs. It is through adat that we enjoy our beautiful culture — tari-tarian, bunyi-bunyian and lakar-lakaran.
It is our understanding of nature that makes us perfect guardians of the forest, and caretakers of gemstones and minerals within.
It is our appreciation of the surrounding mountains, valleys, rivers and seas that allows us to build beautiful homes that are one with the elements.
Why do the most beautiful resorts mimic the Malay house? YTL’s Pangkor Laut and Tanjung Jara Resorts? Terrapuri, Terengganu? Bon Ton, Langkawi?
As our religion changed and we anchored ourselves in Islam, we kept our core intact, being flexible, but never sacrificing adab and adat.
Our raja-raja’s respect for knowledge allowed the scribes of thousands of manuscripts to pen our knowledge. Hidden histories as wisdom for future generation; hikayat and literature so that we have beautiful souls. Yet, we turn our back on this very knowledge we garnered by burying jawi alive in our curriculum.
Today, we ridicule adab and adat as hocus pocus, never giving it the respect it deserves, unlike the Chinese and Indians who revere their cultural background.
We ask ourselves, “What have we lost? What have we lost?”
Balik ke asal.
We could have built industries based on our strengths — tourism, knowledge, healing, education, publication, performing arts, movie-making and maritime industry.
We did not.
NINOT AZIZ
Kuala Lumpur
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