Tuesday 19 October 2010

Constitution of Malaysia

Constitution of Malaysia

Ratified 27 August 1957
Authors Delegates of the Reid Commission and later of the Cobbold Commission
Purpose Independence of Malaya in 1957 and formation of Malaysia in 1963

Article 8

Article 8 by clause (1) provides that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to its equal protection.
Clause 2 states: “Except as expressly authorised by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, gender or place of birth in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.”
The exception in clause 2 is used to justify the reservations and special provisions for the Malays and the Bumiputras of Sabah and Sarawak under Article 153.

Article 152

Article 152 states that the national language is the Malay language. However, the Constitution guarantees the freedom of learning and using of other languages, except on official purposes. Official purposes here means any purpose of the Government, whether Federal or State, and includes any purpose of a public authority. To this effect, all court proceedings and parliamentary documents and meetings are conducted in Malay.[citation needed]
The official script for the Malay language is determined by Parliament. The current orthography is the Latin alphabet or Rumi; however, use of Jawi is not prohibited.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Malaysia

Monday 18 October 2010

The Malays by Anthony Milner 2010

Contesting convention in Malay-world historiography

Link - Contesting convention in Malay-world historiography.

Contesting convention in Malay-world historiography.

Title Annotation:The Malays
Author:Kershaw, Roger
Article Type:Book review
Date:Jan 1, 2008
Words:2930
Publication:Borneo Research Bulletin
ISSN:0006-7806

Anthony Milner. The Malays, 2008. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, Pp. xiv, 293. ISBN 978-0-631-17222-2.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Identities and Ethnicities

I have a difficult page to write - it is about ethnicity and identity, for my book, to clarify why I have included "mamak" doctors in my book, The Early Malay Doctors. I therefore need everyone's help re definitions of these terms.

Melayu (me-la-yu, mo-loe-yo, Malay)
What is the definition of the word "Malay" or "Melayu"?

The word Malay is very confusing because the names can be Arabic but the souls are Indian-, Mamak-, Mat Salleh-, Chinese, Japanese- or Malay-looking. When I first collected the names of these early doctors, I had trouble figuring out whether they were truly Malay or otherwise. There is one name which I don't know is Malay or not - Dr Yahya Cohen. Cohen is a Jewish name. Yahya is a Malay name. Mana boleh orang Islam kahwin Yahudi?

If I go by religion, not all Malays who are born Muslims die as Muslims; I think a few gyrated to other religions of their own wants.

Some Malay names also have English names, which makes me think either the person has 2 religions or no faith, and the more difficult for me to clarify the word "Malay".

British Census
Anyone has the British census for Malaya? How were the Malays classified?

Indians
Indian Muslim = Orang berketurunan India, berbahasa India dan/Melayu, beragama Islam, lahir dan/tinggal di Malaysia
mamak - used for indian muslim lelaki (origin from mama - means uncle)
mami - used for indian muslim perempuan (origin from mami - means aunty)
mamu - is also used for uncle (being changed after years using mama - glamour sikit panggil mamu)
tambi - its actually little/younger brother (pinjam dari perkataan tamil)
- by Dr Shaik Farid Abdul Wahab (shaikfarid@kb.usm.my)

Peranakan
Jawi Peranakan
Jawi Peranakan is an umbrella term while Jawi Peranakan of Penang is more specific to Penang. Jawi Peranakan refers to the ethnicity of the child of a mixed marriage between an Indian Muslim man and an indigenous Malay woman. These marriages are commonly found on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia which is in close proximity to the Indian subcontinent (about four hours by flight).

Jawi Pekan =
Melayu Peranakan =
Melayu-Pekan =

Chinese
Chinese Muslim (Cina-Muslim) = Orang berketurunan Cina berbahasa Cina dan/ Melayu, beragama Islam, lahir dan/tinggal di Malaysia
Baba = Orang lelaki Cina berbahasa Melayu, beragama Buddha, lahir dan/ tinggal di negeri Melaka
Nyonya = Orang wanita Cina berbahasa Melayu, beragama Buddha, lahir dan/ tinggal di negeri Melaka

Melayu Seantero
Melayu-Champa - Melayu berbahasa Champa
Melayu-Jawa - Melayu berbahasa Indonesia
Melayu-Siam = Indian, speak Urdu
Melayu-Kedah - Orang keturunan Arab/India/Siam
Melayu-Pattani = Orang Siam berbahasa Melayu Pattani
Melayu-Penang = definitely Mamak
Melayu-Sumatera

Bugis vs Melayu-Sumatera
Why do we consider Malays from Sulawesi as more Malay than the other not-so Malay looking people?

The Bugis are dark and look fierce but there is a group of Bugis who are fair.

The Sumateran Malays are also of many types, some are descended from the Indians, some from the Arabs, some from don't know where. If I go by religion, the Sumateran Malays are of stronger faith then the Bugis although they may look more Indian and not so Malay.

Malaysian Constitution
To me, everyone residing in Malaysia or born in Malaysia, with Muslim parents, is Malay unless they choose to be something else.

MyKad
MyKad does specify religion (under the photo, on the left).
MyKad does not specify ethnicity.

Bumiputra
Bumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia , embracing indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago . The term comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra , which can be translated literally as "son of land" (bhumi = earth or land, putra =son).- Wikipedia

So putera , puteri , putra , putri in Malay names indicate Indian origin of the person or his ancestry.

Raja
Raja (also spelled rajah , from Sanskrit rājan- , nominative rājā , also written raj in many modern languages) is an Indian term for a monarch , or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna . The female form, the word for "queen", mainly used for a raja's wife, is rani (sometimes spelled ranee ), from Sanskrit rājñī , or ratu in Southeast Asia . - Wikipedia

So Raja in Malay names indicates Indian origin of the person or his ancestry.

Just a note: Most of the east coast Malays with a Raja name have dark skin. Most of the west coast Malays with a Raja name are fair.

Tengku
Tengku adalah gelar kebangsawanan Melayu yang otomatis melekat pada seorang laki-laki keturunan dari Sultan -sultan dan para Raja-Raja di Kerajaan Melayu. Tulisan “Tengku” di awal nama setiap orang Melayu merupakan status yang menandakan kedudukannya dalam masyarakat adat.

Gelar Tengku ini hanya bisa didapat jikalau ayahnya juga bergelar Tengku. Sementara jika yang bergelar Tengku hanya ibunya tetapi ayahnya tidak, maka gelar Tengku ini tidak bisa disandang olehnya.

Beberapa daerah yang menggunakan gelar ini seperti di Riau , Malaysia , Sumatera Utara .
 - Wikipedia

Wan
Awalan nama Wan ialah gelaran yang digunakan untuk orang dari keturunan bangsawan Melayu. Nama ini digunakan oleh dua golongan:

    1. Keturunan Ahlul Bait , lihat Wan (Ahlul Bait) .
    2. Keturunan Raja Patani di Kelantan, di zaman Cik Siti Wan Kembang .
    3. Keturunan panglima-panglima Kedah.
- Wikipedia

Nik
Nik is when mum is tengku and dad is a commoner..then the sons will carry on the nik's name.
- by Dr Maya Mazuwin bt Yahya (mazuwin@kk.usm.my)
--