KOTA KINABALU, July 22 — A new narrative of Malaysia’s nationhood is needed to fight the politics of 3Rs (race, religion and royalty), said Tuaran Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Madius Tangau.
The new narrative, he said, must recognise and celebrate three precious elements, namely the Nusantara heritage, multiculturalism and the liberal political system we inherited from the British.
“Today we are now talking about making new law to fight the politics of 3Rs when law should be the last resort.
“If a country needs to put a CCTV at every traffic light to deter drivers from running red light, then the country has failed in not just road safety, but civic consciousness.
“What we need instead is a new narrative of Malaysia’s nationhood that recognises and celebrates its three precious elements: the Nusantara heritage, multiculturalism, and the liberal political system we inherited from the British,” he said in his Sarawak 60th Independence Day message.
Tangau, who is also the Executive Chairman of WISDOM Foundation said Nusantara, or Maritime Southeast Asia, is the medley of islands and coastal lands that in the widest definition covers not just Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and East Timor but also the Philippines, Southern Thailand and parts of coastal Vietnam and Cambodia where the Cham-Malay people resided.
“Do not confuse with the Nusantara city. Indonesia naming her new capital as Nusantara is as awkward as if an Asian country suddenly names its new capital as Asia,” he said.
According to Tangau, recognising Malaysia as part of Nusantara, rather than homeland of just the Malays, is not at all challenging the Malays’ dominance in Malaysia. Instead, while preserving the dominance of Malays and Islam, it makes Malaysia more inclusive for the non-Malays, including the Sabah and Sarawak natives.
“In Malaya, Malays is a composite term that includes Muslims of many ethnic origins like Minangkabaus, Bugis, Javanese, Achehnese, Mandalings and Banjar that are ‘non-Malay’ in Indonesia.
“Some Malayans hope to ‘Malaysnise’ Sabah and Sarawak in the Malayan mould, by converting non-Muslim natives to Islam, and assimilating Muslim natives as Malays. To this end, they try to create different classes within Bumiputera. They think homogenising Sabah and Sarawak natives and expanding the numbers of Malays would strengthen Malaysia and prevent separatism.
“Counterproductively, such condensing mentality only weakens Malaysia because non-Malay natives in Sabah and Sarawak have our languages and cultures and do not want to lose our identity to become Malays,” he added.
He added that Sabah and Sarawak natives only want to be in the same category with the Malays and Orang Asli as Bumiputera, with no distinction of first, second and third classes.
He further explained that embracing Nusantara as wider cultural category with the Malays would ease the fear of assimilation without changing the communal balance of power in Malaysia.
He also believed that embracing the Nusantara heritage will also change the wrong impression that Malay language is the language of the Malays or the Muslims.
“In the wider Nusantara, of which Sabah is a good example, Malay is spoken widely by non-Malays and non-Muslims in daily lives. That’s the reason why our Christians pray in Malay and to Allah.
“Everywhere in Nusantara except Malaya, Christians praying to Allah does not cause any cultural shock and get painted as a conspiracy to convert the Muslims.
“Everywhere in Nusantara except Malaya, this does not cause any cultural shock and is painted as an affront to Muslims.
“In Sabah the Malay language is emerging as Bahasa Sabah, there are words in Bahasa Sabah such as Bubut, Limpas, Ngam-Ngam, Kupi-Kupi, Kuruyok, Gustan, Buyuk, Tapuk...and many more which are not part of the vocabulary of Malayan Malays,” he added. — Borneo Post Online
