Definition of 'Malay' root cause of Indonesian anger

05/05/2013 18:06

Definition of 'Malay' root cause of

Indonesian anger
Opah | 4:36PM Oct 29, 2009

Tourism Malaysia must be congratulated for adopting a brilliant

tagline for its international advertising campaigns. In just two
words, Truly Asia, it sums up the essence of Malaysia in a
memorable manner. Together with its descriptor - The wonders of
Asia in one exciting destination it makes a competitive and
compelling case for the country.
Why go to say, Thailand or Vietnam, with their monocultures,
when you can have a multicultural experience in Malaysia?
Malaysia has no problems with China and India because its claims
are explicit; there are people of Chinese and Indian descent who
practice some form of their original cultures in Malaysia.
Tourists are not disappointed, as the country is abundantly blessed
with tourist attractions architecture, festivals, food which are
genuinely of Chinese or Indian origin.
However, several Tourism Malaysia advertisements and events
have been met with anger in Indonesia. The root of this dispute
stems from the very different definitions of Malay in Malaysia and
Indonesia. Put simply, Malay is regarded as a suku (ethnic group)
in Indonesia and a bangsa (race) in Malaysia and this difference
has profound consequences.
Indonesians are proud of their country because of their long,
difficult and bloody fight for nationhood and independence. They
trace their struggle to 1928, when a congress of young Indonesian
nationalists from many ethnic groups and islands proclaimed the
Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge), which formalised the concept of
one country - Indonesia, one people, Indonesian - and one
language of unity, Indonesian.
Significantly, Malay was chosen as the Indonesian national
language instead of Javanese, the language spoken by the
numerically, politically and economically dominant group in
Indonesia. This because Malay was the lingua franca in the
archipelago and, therefore, an ethnically neutral unifying force in
the new nation.
Thus the Republic of Indonesia began as a social contract between
many ethnic groups of various religions, who shared the common
burden of Dutch colonialism and who had decided to unite as one
nation.
Today, Indonesians regard their nation as made up of more than
300 ethnic groups, with the Javanese (41% or more than 90
million) being the largest, followed by Sundanese (36 million),
Malay (8 million), Madurese (8 million), Batak (7 million) and so
forth. Importantly, the Indonesian constitution guarantees its
citizens freedom of choice of religion and ethnicity does not
determine religious belief.
Indonesian children are taught this history and national identity
from elementary school. They learn about the different ethnic

http://www.malaysiakini.com/print.html

1 of 3

Definition of 'Malay' root cause of Indonesian anger

05/05/2013 18:06

groups that make up Indonesia, with their specific customs, songs,

dances, dress and so forth. They are taught that the Lilin dance is
Malay, the angklung in Sundanese, the Reog Ponorogo dance is
Javanese and Rasa Sayange is Ambonese.
In Malaysia the definition of Malay is a political construct which is
spelled out categorically in the constitution. A Malay is a person
who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay
language (and) conforms to Malay custom.
Given the vagueness of the definition, it is easy to see why
Malaysians tend to think that almost anything Indonesian is
automatically Malay. All Indonesians speak Malay/Indonesian, the
vast majority of them are Muslim, and therefore, Indonesian
equals Malay, with the exception of some items which are
explicitly not Muslim, like the Balinese pendet dance.
The incident which provoked the most serious Indonesian response
was in 2007, when Tourism Malaysia used Rasa Sayang(e) in its
Visit Malaysia Year advertising campaign. The Malaysian tourism
ministers response to the Indonesian protests was that Malaysia
had a right to use this song as it is from a shared heritage in the
Malay archipelago.
This was perceived by Indonesians as ignorant and arrogant. (In
the Malaysian context, it would be like the Dayaks saying that
boria is Dayak as it is part of the shared Malaysian culture.)
The Malaysian answer was bewildering to Indonesians because the
Ambonese are dark-skinned, with curly hair from their mixed
Melanesian, Malay and African lineage - they look like the Orang
Asli of Peninsular Malaysia - and are predominantly Christian.
In other words, they do not fulfil any of the criteria that define
Malay. They look different, use a language which is unintelligible
to standard Malay speakers and have a different culture and
religion from the Malays.
It was unfortunate that the minister Tengku Adnan Mansor took
what Indonesians perceived to be a confrontational stance in this
disagreement. The situation could easily have been diffused at this
stage by him saying something like:
All Malaysians love this song and we have been singing it for
generations. Since it is a folk song we cannot pay royalties as no
one holds the copyright, but we Malaysians would like to thank the
Ambonese for sharing it with us by providing five scholarships to
their students to study in Malaysian universities.
It would have soothed Indonesian discontent and promoted
Malaysian education in one fell swoop. Instead, Indonesians began
thinking of Malaysians as stealing parts of obviously non- Malay
Indonesian culture and calling it Malay, just to attract a few more
international tourists.
With the heightened sensitivity since then, any little incident is
now played up for maximum political mileage. These disputes are
set to occur again and again as the crux lies in the definitions of
Malay.
Given that the conflicting views are closely entwined with the

http://www.malaysiakini.com/print.html

2 of 3

Definition of 'Malay' root cause of Indonesian anger

05/05/2013 18:06

politics and history of the two countries, these definitions are set in
stone. After all, if Malaysians look at themselves from an
Indonesian perspective, they would be forced to conclude that
there is no majority race in Malaysia.
It is a country where the Malays are the largest minority group,
followed by the Chinese, Indians, Javanese, Bugis, Acehnese,
Madurese and the indigenous peoples of Sabah, Sarawak and
Peninsular Malaysia, a nation where the majority are pendatang,
led by a Bugis pendatang from South Sulawesi. The current
Malaysian government will never allow this view to prevail.
Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/116189
2013 Malaysiakini. All rights reserved.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/print.html

3 of 3