5 Cities for the Malays

I need names of 5 cities where I want Xlibris to launch my book (Biography of the Early Malay Doctors). Please help me name 5 cities.

1. Kuala Lumpur
2. Singapore
3. Canberra/Melbourne/Sydney/Perth - which one?
4. Leiden
5. London

I am advised to avoid Washington DC, Los Angeles, because only political books need to be launched there.

I can't seem to find one US city that is good for this launch. New York would be out.

I haven't included Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo or Manila. 

Singapore is actually a small country and a limited market for books. But who knows?

Did you know that many people have heard about Malaysia and met Malaysians. However, nobody at Xlibris and the international publishing companies I have come to know, ever know or can pronounce the word "Malay" correctly or even heard of it. Which makes me rather sad. We are so proud to be Malays but we are not known to the world at all. Nobody seems to know us at the publishing front, except when my book arrived. They tried very very very hard to pronounce the word "Malay" but it came out as "Maleeeeee", "Maaaallllleeeee", "Maaaaallaaaayyy" and other strange sounding names. I could cry. So I told the people at the other end of the phone, "It is pronounced as Malay and not Maaalleeee or other." Sometimes it makes we wonder, "Is Malaysia really famous?" I don't think so. We still need to let the world know who we are and what we are, and where we are located. 

Singapore may just be a small red dot on the world map but it is well known. Malaysia looks like a shrunken jerkin hanging sideways on the world map and larger than Singapore, don't tell me the world doesn't know we, the Malays, live in Malaysia. Even the Filipino people are more famous than the Malays.

Some people may have other mean ideas of describing Malaysia and Singapore on the world map - like a drop of semen from .... it is only true of West Malaysia. We still have Sabah & Sarawak, just 2 little strips on the west side of Borneo. Borneo is the entire big island shaped like a dog and facing east; most of it is Kalimantan which belongs to Indonesia.

Guten Tag

I was smiling to my self when I clicked on a German website and saw "Learn German Greetings". LOL It reminds me of that one particular German class I was in, over in  California, more than 34 years ago. I can't converse in German anymore nor on the phone but I can recall bits of the language.

I was looking at Hitler's photo today and Achtung! resounded. I smiled because it was my elder sister's favourite word even when we were growing up. I can put together a few lines like these: Guten tag, Frauhlein. Wie geht es Ihnen? Wie bitte? Danke shon. Auf wiedersehen. That's all.

It takes a throaty sound to make these German greetings and words sound right. But it is fun to pratise when Germans are around. I haven't seen the Germans since Grandma Maria Tze von Caramon died, maybe 30 years ago. I miss her. But I have included her name in my books.

Herr                          (Sir/Mr)
Frauhlein                   (Miss)
Guten Tag.                (Hello/Good Day.)
Wie geht es Ihnen?   (How are you?)
Es geht mir gut.        (I'm fine)
Wie bitte?                (Pardon me?)
Sehr erfreut.             (Nice to meet you)
Danke                       (Thank you)
Mach's gut                (Take care)
Auf Wiedersehen.     (Bye)

http://german.about.com/od/vocabularytips/a/Learn-German-Greetings.htm

I was reading about Germany to find out if I want Xlibris to launch my book there. Why Germany? This is what I read at Wikipedia:

The second largest religion is Islam with an estimated 3.8 to 4.3 million adherents (4.6% to 5.2%),followed by Buddhism with 250,000 and Judaism with around 200,000 adherents (0.3%); Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 adherents. Of the roughly 4 million Muslims, most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites and other denominations. German Muslims, a large portion of whom are of Turkish origin, lack full official state recognition of their religious community. Germany has Europe's third largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom). Approximately 50% of the Buddhists in Germany are Asian immigrants. Germans with no stated religious adherence make up 34.1% of the population and are concentrated in the former East Germany and major metropolitan areas. German reunification in 1990 greatly increased the country's non-religious population, a legacy of the state atheism of the previously Soviet-controlled East. Christian church membership has decreased in recent decades, particularly among Protestants. - Wikipedia.  Permalink

Will my book survive in Germany? I won't know till I try.

Mahal Kita

I was just reading a book review by Stephanie on H-NET, all in one deep breath! I am shocked and tantalized that marriage between white US-American and Malay is outlawed! Here the "Malay" in question is Filipino, not Malaysian.

Citation: Stephanie Hinnershitz-Hutchinson. Review of Baldoz, Rick, The Third Asiatic Invasion: Empire and Migration in Filipino America, 1898-1946. H-Empire, H-Net Reviews. May, 2013. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38974

A question asked was, is the Filipino a Malay, Mongol, Chinese or Japanese? LOL, I have no immediate answer. I am Malay but Filipino to any Filipino except that I don't speak Tagalog except for a few words which the Malay language shares with Tagalog.

Sometimes we all have this culturul identity crisis where we don't know how we fit into the Asiatic or even global picture of humans. In Asia today, you can stare at a beautiful lady and think she is Malay or Filipino or even Polynesian. I will bet you that she is not 100% Malay but of Malay, Indian, Chinese and European genetic admixture. That is how mixed we are today.

So coming back to the Filipino story, is the Filipino also a mix? Yes, definitely, even from its history, we all know the Filipino is not pure anymore but mix breeds. We should be able to find Filipino Chinese, Filipino Black, Filipino US White, Filipino Canadian White, Filipino Spanish White, Filipino Portuguese White, Filipino Mongol, Filipino Malay, Filipino Indian, Filipino Punjabi, Filipino Arab, Filipino Persian, Filipino Bugis, Filipino Sulu, Filipino Japanese, Filipino Korean, Filipino Thai, etc. I think the pot is bigger and the mixes just too many.

The Filipino people are ethnically grouped into 10 social classes or castes: Negrito, Indio, Moros (Filipino Muslims), Sangley, Mestizo de Sangley, Mestizo de Espanol, Tornatras, Filipino/Insulares, Americano and Peninisulares.

"The Moros are Muslims living in the Philippines.

The Español mestizos are persons born in the Philippines of mixed Malay and Spanish ancestry.

The tornatrás are persons born in the Philippines of mixed Malay, Chinese, and Spanish ancestry.

Indio was a general term applied to native Malays, but as a legal classification, it was only applied to Christianized Malays who lived in proximity to the Spanish colonies.

Persons who lived outside of Manila, Cebu, and the major Spanish posts were classified as such: 'Naturales' were Christianized Malays of the lowland and coastal towns.

The un-Christianized Aetas and Malays who lived in the towns were classified as 'salvajes' (savages) or 'infieles' (the unfaithful).

'Remontados' (Spanish for 'situated in the mountains') and 'tulisanes' (bandits) were Malays and Aetas who refused to live in towns and took to the hills, all of whom were considered to live outside the social order as Catholicism was a driving force in everyday life, as well as determining social class in the colony." - Wikipedia.

So what does the Filipino look like? I don't know but what I know is they are simply gorgeous! I still remember Imelda Marcos and Corazon Aquino. I remember Lea Salonga singing and recently Bianca King acting.

External links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Filipino_actresses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Vow_(TV_series)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianca_King

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Alandy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabby_Eigenmann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochelle_Pangilinan

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