History, The Malay Polity and Integration - Prof. Chandra Muzaffar replies

A reply to Richard Durall's article posted 29 th March 2008

It is obvious that Richard Dorall has misunderstood my reference to the Malay polity in my article of 28 March 2008. I had not suggested that the Malay polity is the beginning of Malaysian history. That would be an absurd proposition.

My primary purpose in that article was to show that one cannot understand the present without acknowledging the profound impact of the Malay polity or state of the past. It was not an attempt to negate pre-Malay history. To drive home this point let me provide two examples. For more than 700 years, from 715 to 1492, large parts of present-day Spain were under Muslim rule. Islam was a major civilizational force just as Arabic was widely spoken. Today, the influence of Islamic civilization can still be seen in specific areas of Spanish life such as its architecture, its music, its language and its cuisine. But it is not Islam that has the greatest impact upon contemporary Spain. The European renaissance, the European Enlightenment and the post-Westphalia State have played a much bigger role in shaping the nation. Likewise, a significant portion of what is today Afghanistan was under Buddhism at one time. However for the last 1000 years or so, Islam has been the dominant factor. It is Islamic law that is enshrined in the Constitution of post-Taliban Afghanistan. The underlying cultural values of the Afghan people are derived to a large extent from Islamic civilization.

Applied to the Malaysian context, what it means is that while Hindu and Buddhist influences from the pre-Melaka period have undoubtedly left their mark upon Malaysian society, it is Islam, the Malay language and the Malay Sultanates which have played a much, much bigger role in determining the contours of present-day Malaysia. Neither British rule nor other Western colonial powers succeeded in destroying these three pillars of the Malay polity. Indeed, the British recognized them as ‘Malay states’ in their treaties with the Sultans. The term ‘Tanah Melayu’, historically speaking, reflected this reality.

The small Chinese and Indian communities that had settled down in the Melaka Sultanate had no problem accepting and empathizing with this reality. It was through their interaction with the Malays that the Baba and Chitty sub-cultures evolved. However, the mass migration of Chinese and Indians under the aegis of colonialism created a dual economy and a divided society that inhibited any meaningful interaction between the Malays on the one hand and the non-Malays on the other.

Societies that have become multi-ethnic through the pulls and pressures of colonialism are not easy to integrate. In certain respects, Malaysia has scored some successes. In other respects, there have also been colossal failures.

Prof. Chandra Muzaffar,

Kuala Lumpur.

10 April 2008.