Questioning Malaysian "Independence": the Presence of Intra-Race Tensions amid Malaysia's Multiculturalism

A previous post commented on the seemingly constant presence of inter-racial tension in Malaysia, where nearly equal numbers of Malays, Chinese, and Indians jostle for economic and political positions as they co-developed within the same, yet divided society for generations.  However, that post was written with the assumption that each of the three races mentioned tend to look and act as a unified bloc, with individuals that place their own racial identity above anything else as they strive to move upward in the social ladder of the complex multicultural society.

But a couple of recent observations have set very significant doubt upon such a simplified view of three parallel mono-ethnic societies that determine societal positioning based on race before any other factor. And Malaysia celebrate her 55th birthday yesterday, such intra-race divisions, perhaps even more so than inter-race ones, serve to cast a doubt on whether Malaysia has actually achieved some sort of concrete, definable "mental independence" along with its 55 years of political independence that decoupled herself, at least economically, from the UK.

The first involves attending a traditional "open house" event hosted by a wealthy Malay family to celebrate the end of Hari Raya (end of Ramadan celebrations) "Open house" is simply a massive home party thrown by the hosts for friends and relatives who come visit, traditionally, from far away towns and villages when they get together once-a-year for the long break.  However, with hired, well-dressed servers serving up endless grilled lamb and Malay specialty foods the million-dollar house sitting prettily  in one of KL's nicest neighborhoods, the event proved to be anything but traditional in reality.

What was most surprising, beyond the obvious physical wealth of the host families and most attendees, was the sheer difference between these progressive, modern Malay families from the everyday Malays we see on the streets.  Fluent English is spoken even among the Malays in attendance (while your average Malay can barely string together a full sentence in English) and practically everyone has had higher education abroad (in the UK, generally) and has strong international connections.  While being Muslim, alcohol is tolerated and enjoyed while reference to Islam was nowhere to be seen or heard.

In essence, there was a clear tendency toward Western lifestyle among these well-educated, financially and politically well-endowed Malay elites without having to justify their supposed blatant deviation from Muslim values and norms.  It would be hard to imagine what sort of common language these elites would find with the average Malays, even as they share certain traditional Malay customs, like celebrating Hari Raya with a massive open house event.  That lack of common language may explain why there were, ironically, so many Chinese and Indians present at that very open house event.

Of course, the problem of "two societies within a single race" is not an exclusive Malay issue.  A recent conversation with a Chinese taxi-driver shows the extent of similar dichotomy for a slightly different reason.  The taxi-driver mentioned the primary school system for the Malaysian Chinese as divided between Chinese-language ones and English-language ones, with attendance split at roughly 40-60.  He notes that the decision to send kids to one or the other says much about the pro-Chinese or pro-Western cultural, and occasionally even political stance of the parents.

Interestingly enough, as the conversation was taking place inside the taxi, the taxi was driving through a couple of Malaysian aborigine villages, who are largely segregated from even rural Malay societies and live largely self-sufficient lives with occasional provision of supplies and subsidies by a largely hands-off national government.  For such aborigines, although lumped by many together with the Malays as "bumiputra" (meaning the original peoples of Malaysia), the issues faced by other Malaysians among their three races and within their own individual races do not concern them...

Observing this updated picture of racial relations within Malaysia, one would naturally question what "Merdeka" (independence) really means in the Malaysian context.  For some, like the English-educated Malay elites and the pro-Western Chinese, Malaysia has not at all become independent from its British past after 55 years.  Yet for others, like the pro-Chinese Chinese and the self-sustaining aborigine villagers, they have always been independent, not only from British rule, but perhaps also from the concept of Malay-dominated Malaysia that exist today.

And as much as the Malaysian government try to portray the reportedly tough struggle of independence  Malaysia fought 55 years ago as a unified battle of all Malaysians from all social classes and races against a domineering British authority, even fleeting glances at today's Malaysia shows that it could not possibly have been the case then.  Each class, each race, and each class within each race had their own definition and image of an independent Malaysia, and it was simply more politically convenient (especially for the elites) for British influence to become more covert at the time...