Why did Tunku Abdul Rahman not call his new nation-state formed by the amalgamation of three former colonies of the United Kingdom, ‘Melayusia?’ Why then did he call it Malaysia?
I have a pet theory, and please hear me out before you start calling me names, as little children do. My reasoning goes simply like this. The Tunku’s language for logic and preferred public education was English. He wrote his columns in English. It was also probably a strong second language in the family and within his royal community. He was comfortable with the English language as his medium of praise and prose.
Therefore, when the formation of Malaysia was agreed to by all leadership of three constituent states, it was only natural to ‘reframe the then-Malay Peninsula into an expanded territory and call it Malaysia from its English and not Melayu base language’. This is my pet theory, and I leave it to linguists and historians to prove me wrong.
The field of linguistics supports my theory simply from the etymology of root words. Malay is an English root word and not a Melayu one. That is the same reason why the Malay linguists from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia or UKM did not agree to call our common local language being labelled Bahasa Malaysia, but instead insisted upon using the Malay etymological root and called it Bahasa Melayu. I rest my case.
Are we not 1Bangsa Malaysia?
The Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI), our thinking, reflection, and action group on issues and concerns about national good governance, is organising a Public Policy Dialogue on Sept 13 asking the same rhetorical question: can we not become 1Bangsa of Malaysians? If not, why not, or what will it take for us to really become a united one people-group defined by our adopted cultural heritage and new geography?
We have therefore invited a university professor of religion, philosophy, and science and an Islamic scholar himself, who speaks seven languages, and has studied all scriptures of all religious books to speak on our theme: Integration with Integrity-Issues and Challenges.
The plan is for us to invite as many NGO groups as able and willing to come and attend, to give their views and opinions about the same.
Again, let me give my pet view about this concept of Bangsa Malaysia. The original concept and urgingl for unification under this nation-state symbol and vision was labelled Vision 2020. It was delivered in January 1991, by the then-PM, under what was entitled his now famous Vision 2020 speech with the goal of becoming a developed society in our own mould.
I happened to know the author of the speech, or speech writer, and it was none other than the late Nordin Sopiee, then head of our Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).
Since that speech was delivered in English, to a multinational audience of the International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, again my etymology argument holds. The phrase ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ uttered for the first time in public also therefore became public policy.
My etymological argument is that the word ‘bangsa’ can have two meanings; whether race and ethnicity, or meaning a people group in a nation state. My etymological argument is again that the root word was used within an English context, and must therefore be interpreted within the same context of the United Nations; as our Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu or BBB.
That use of ‘bangsa’ is not in Bahasa Melayu, but rather in her international application as the BBB. Therefore also, we can become one people called Malaysians who can speak Malay, as their acquired language, with whatever is their mother-tongue and still be one group of people called by the our name, Malaysia.
Our formation into one nation-state of peoples with different ethnicities, or religions, and languages is our complex and diverse cultural heritage and not something to be denied or be ashamed about. There is always only one race in the world; it is called the human race, and the UN Declaration of human rights seeks to protect and preserve that race from blatant and wilful disregard by anyone.
This is solely because we all believe in common human dignity and respect this God-ordained gift to humanity and never deny such a destiny!
Becoming one nation-state of different peoples
The process of nation-building is never an easy one; as all scriptures assure us. Neither is compulsion, or force, an integral part of such a worldview. An instinct to live or kill is from animal kind because the animals cannot choose. Humans can choose and have a God-ordained conscience; and for which religions teach accountability on judgement day.
Therefore voluntary and willing assimilation over one or two generations is the only process-way to see some sea change about ‘feelings of loyalty to one’s land of birth or inheritance’. These attitudes, feelings and beliefs cannot be manufactured by mere brainwashing or some other forms of forced compliance. Loyalty to any system or worldview is always a personal choice by willing and voluntary compliance.
Apa itu kebangsaan Malaysia?
If Malaysia is not ‘Melayusia’, as I have argued, then the only real unanswered question remains as to who or what is considered ‘being Malaysian?’ To me, it is not only about what we believe in, but the truths about our lived reality about who we are in our places of being.
We are all Malaysians in our KJ Clan and family; and it is not that we have no other choices about other nationalities or allegiances; and in fact, all of us have many choices because we are all well qualified global citizens.
My dad, the elder K John Kuruvilla, is a good example of a Malaysian citizen. He lived his entire life in Sungai Petani, and raised all five of us there to become good but civilized citizens of this nation-state.
We are all married to other Malaysians, except for me who has an American wife, and we all have wonderful in-laws and enjoy being Malaysians with six of us siblings and/or spouses having served in the public services of Malaysia. We were trained by our, now 95-year-old father and now gone mother, to be good and ordinary Malaysians.
In fact, I was so convinced about this loyalty issue to the nation-state that quite voluntarily I named my oldest son Johann K John. In class he became popular with his name and euro-asian looks and therefore went on to assume a positive role in school and community as a good citizen.
In my view, such Malaysian-ness potentially is there within all of us born in Malaysia after 1963; as ‘anak Bangsa Malaysia’. These can only be nurtured if we are all called first class citizens, but more importantly, if treated as such. To end with a quote from the movie ‘My Fair Lady’, Eliza Doolittle says to the Professor, “The difference between a flower girl and a lady is the way she is treated.”
May Malaysia treat all her citizens fairly and May God bless Malaysia.
