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Lost identity. Part 2
Bitched on: Sunday, February 15, 2009
Time: 2/15/2009 12:30:00 AM
Continued from Part 1.Time: 2/15/2009 12:30:00 AM
So back to that conversation we had during lunch after the excursion, when the conversation meandered from the fabricated fantastication of Arab Street to the colonial whitewashing of the multi-cultural Kampong Gelam and then finally to the colonial romanticised 'invention' of the Malay identity. The latter troubled me. How the whole idea that my race, my identity, was primarily based on a creation. And that there was no clear geographical boundary or genetical distinction that the other races like Indians and Chinese could fall back on. Some would argue that the Malay Archipelago is a clear enough geographical boundary, but that is already flawed to begin with, cause it was again the European's coinage. Genetically, natives to the archipelago are distinct too, as further exemplified in the case of China and India.
So what makes a Malay person Malay?
By definition (again, a colonial-acquired one), a Malay person is one that practices Malay traditions (whatever that means...), speaks the Malay language (again, you see this word 'Malay' pops up) and practices Islam as his or her religion. The word 'Malay' itself is a questionably comprehensive definition. It can be an umbrella for race, tradition and language all at once. Instead of giving a clearer understanding of the denotation, it opens up more room for questions!
Like what makes the tradition Malay? Or what makes the language Malay?
We all know that the Malay language is a branch of Austronesian languages. So Malay speakers are categorized under Austronesian speakers which inadvertently means Malays are loosely categorized as Austronesian peoples. Other Austronesian peoples include Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia (and Singapore), the Philippines, and Madagascar; New Zealand; Micronesia; Melanesia; and Polynesia (source Wikipedia).
Am I comfortable with that? Maybe, if I were pure Malay. But I am not.
So one of the heritage-enthusiasts suddenly turned his attention (and probably obsession) to me. You mean, your paternal grandfather wrote on his identification card application 'Malay' instead of 'Indian'?
'Yes, I believe he had Indian ancestry. But because of that 'mistake', it benefited his children and his children's children.'
(Well, maybe more so for my Dad and his siblings, because prior to 1990, education was free to Malays, or in the eyes of the British, the 'natives' to Singapore)
And this is where it started to frustrate me as he probed more on my ancestry. Frustrating because, the more he asked, the more questions I had. Don't get me wrong, its not because I had no idea who and what my ancestors were, it was more because I felt like the stories on my ancestors were... more like 'stories' than facts. I have sat down with my parents and investigated myself on where my grandparents and their parents before them originally came from. Like how my maternal grandfather was a fisherman from Terrenganu ( and my Mum has pride... or maybe delusion in narrating this) with some Arabic ancestry. My maternal grandmother was an orphan from young so hers was rather blurry. My Mum insisted she was Bugis (with her smaller eyes and light skin) but I suspect she was a Chinese orphan raised in a Malay family. Its not uncommon for that back then.
My paternal grandfather had Indian ancestry but there are many varitions to as what he exactly was; the more commonly accepted 'story' was that he was an Indian Peranakan also known as Chitty (vastly living in Malacca). Chitty's were originally Dravidian Tamils who migrated to Malaya and adopted local Malay culture and attire but not the Islamic faith (more commonly, but in my case, I think my late grandfather's ancestors converted). My paternal grandmother had her ancestry traced back to Javanese Sri Lankans. There is a romanticised 'history' of how many centuries ago family members and followers of a paticular Javanese royalty were forced into exile from Java and they then settled in Sri Lanka.
At the birthday party of my niece, I had the pleasure to 'introduce' my friend to my whole extended family.
"See, the Indian-looking ones are from my dad's side and the Chinese-looking ones are from my mum's side."
Simple.
Yes, but not to me.
2 comments
2 Comments:
i love how i got intro-ed to the family and i got weird stares...and thanks for (not) warning me that u come from a tudung-clad family. i felt totally slutty in my short dress.
-_-
MUAHAHAHHA
My bad. But i honestly think they dun care.
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