Please, Call Me Shariffah

Some Malays are convinced that Singapore will never elect itself a minority-race Prime Minister no matter how magnificent a leader he may be. I say worry about racism within the community first before worrying about other races marginalising us.



Americans have insisted that race did not matter in the last election. What unfolded last November was simply a reaction to 8 years of failed policy and the arrival of a candidate who promises to overturn them all. Some have even referred to Obama’s landslide trouncing of McCain as nothing less than a testament to the fact that the nation has progressed beyond the stigma of its racially-tinted past.



But few have paid attention to a rather startling statistic in the Washington Post -ABC News poll. The nation-wide survey indicates that 95% of the country’s black population has voted against the incumbent. In contrast, only 43% of the country’s whites went for the elected. It takes an awful lot of naivety to deny the fact that race has played a pivotal role in skewing the results of this election, irregardless of the issues that were on the table.



It may be perhaps be a little while more before we truly see a colour-blind election, be it in the US or right here in this region. The tendency to gravitate towards skin colour is a deep-seated human despondency and it takes more than just several decades of enlightenment before it disappears.



This is why when Singapore mulled over the possibility that the nation could one day be led by an Indian or Malay Prime Minister, most took the rumination with a pinch of salt.



It’s hard to imagine how the country will one day be led by a non-Chinese when the nation’s Internet forums and citizen websites are filled daily with racial innuendos.



For example, recently a Malay boy was caught on camera mooning tourists by the Singapore River. His photo was published online and almost immediately racial attacks started pouring in against the community. To think that they have been celebrating racial harmony day for the past decade in schools?



Racial harmony efforts are commendable indeed. But a large number of our young are not showing signs that they have totally dejected the racially-biased practices of the past generations. Those who deny this notion need to spend more time on the Internet with them. This is why perhaps the aspiring first Malay Prime Minister of Singapore has long given up hope, if he even exists at all.



Racism can indeed dash a lot of hopes. But it can also bring about the best in people. That is why I have always maintained that Singapore Malays should make use the opportunity racism in this country, whether perceived or otherwise, to shine instead of whine. I have written on this in The Feisty Minority.



However, there is a certain type of racism that none will have the answer for. That is the racism that happens within the community itself.



The word “Malay” actually encompasses a myriad of geographically-diverse ethnic groups who have settled throughout Malaya over the past centuries. These include the Javanese, Indian Peranakans, Boyanese, Arabs, Minangs, Bugis and many others. Over time, these races have come to mingle and exist collectively under the “Malay” banner as they assimilated to speak the language of the land.



However the different races have had colourful histories with regards on how they got along with one another in the past, some of which are not exactly exemplary in nature. More compelling indeed are the stereotypes that have been conceived about one another over the years of existence.



For example, the Boyanese have long been accused of being black magic practitioners and were despised by the rest. Meanwhile the Bugis were mostly viewed upon wearily as they were well-marked for their temper and erratic behaviour.



Various other dubious stereotypes exist for each of these races but thankfully they have been mostly dismantled over the decades. Murmurs of discontent over a person’s ethnicity may surface occasionally in events such as wedding negotiations but they are mostly subdued. Malays have largely accepted religion to be above race and whether a person is Boyanese or Javanese matters very little today.



Sadly certain segments within the Malay community have adamantly chosen to practice and retain systemic racism within the Malay community itself.



Sometime ago, a colleague of my mum made it known to the entire office that he will offer a generous cash amount to any of his family members who does not marry anyone with a “Malay” stated as the race on his identity card. The colleague is an Arab-Malay who is concerned over the increasing incidences of mixed marriages within his clan. He is offering the cash reward as an effort to stem the trend.



Arab Malays have been known to fiercely oppose any marriage of their females to other races, especially Malays. Arabs, according to them are superior in stature as they are the descendants of the Prophets, including the final messenger, Muhammad. Arabs are therefore obligated to keep their blood lines pure by making sure that their females do not marry men of other races. Even when befriending people of other races, Arab-Malays have always insisted on being addressed by their ethnic prefix, usually a ‘Sayyid’ or ‘Shariffah’ even though amongst them, the second name is used.



I am sure that not all Arabs are like that but the ones I have across have always insisted on this frivolous acknowledgement. “Please, call me Shariffah”, went one classmate during my uni days when I mistakenly read out her name in the class register during orientation.



Such insistence on maintaining ethnic differences, even within the community itself, is sad indeed. On the surface it may seem like just a trivial effort of an ethnic group to retain its identity. But on a deeper note, Arab chauvinism within the community is a persistent reminder that racism will be a problem without and within.



Racism should never be made an excuse, especially in this country. It is very hypocritical indeed for the community to complain about marginalisation and equal opportunity when the ghosts of systemic racism still linger within the darkest corridors of the community.



“An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority over white; none have superiority over another except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.” – From Prophet Muhammad’s Final Sermon.