‘Why are Chinese Malaysians so uneasy with Malays?’ Isma preacher asks

(Malay Mail Online) – Malaysia’s Chinese minority is becoming increasingly “insolent” towards their Malay countrymen and is even trying to dictate the practice of Islam, an Islamist activist alleged today.

Preacher Sharipudin Ab Kadir, who heads Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia’s (Isma) Syura Council — which advises on religious matters — suggested that the “disrespect” marked the minority’s unease with Malays, seeing the majority race as a roadblock in the Chinese march to conquer Southeast Asia.

“The question is why are the Chinese so uneasy with the Malay race? Why do they want to intervene in Islamic affairs which is the religion of the Malay race?

“Why do they want to restrict the wishes of the Malay race to practise their religion in their homeland when the Malay race has never restricted their religious teachings?” he asked in a posting on the group’s website.

Sharipudin further suggested that the Chinese interference into Malay-Muslim affairs might be a continuation of “nam tien” — the alleged “southbound invasion” from China towards Southeast Asia.

“Is this their strategy to realise their ancestors’ slogan of ‘Nam Tien’ which means unite to the South? If true, this means they want to make Malaysia their own right, either as a homeland or for its wealth,” he said in the column urging the Malays to rise up as they were being marginalised.

Sharipudin claimed that “immigrant races” have not respected the Malays, even though the Malays have not curbed or meddled in their religious affairs.

This was especially true, he said, after “Chinese parties” DAP and MCA staunchly opposed the roll out of hudud in Malaysia, even though the strict Islamic penal code will only affect Muslims.

In September last year, Isma had organised a symposium where a historian who was one of the speakers suggested that the influx of the Chinese into the Malay archipelago, including Malaysia, had been part of a “southbound invasion” from China towards Southeast Asia called “Nam Tien”.

This “invasion”, backed by foreign Western powers at times, has since stripped the ancient Malay peoples of their riches and knowledge, causing their descendants to be inferior to other races despite being one of the oldest civilisations in the world.

“Nam tien”, a Vietnamese term literally meaning “South march”, generally refers to a southward expansion of Vietnamese territory from its original heartland in the Red River Delta between the 11th and 18th century.

In supporting the continuation of Malay special “rights”, Isma had in its seminar and events suggested that the community were the original settlers of Malaysia, describing the native indigenous Orang Asli as sharing the same ethnic roots with the Malays.

This week, Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman also claimed that the ethnic group were considered intruders into Malay land, and had been brought by British colonialists to oppress Malays.

The Malays and Bumiputera make up the majority of Malaysia’s population at an estimated 67.4 per cent of the 28.3 million population, followed by the Chinese at 24.6 per cent, according to the most recent census at 2010.

The Chinese in Malaysia were mostly brought into Malaya from Southern China provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong by British colonists during 19th and 20th century to make up their workforce in the then booming tin mines and rubber plantations.

However, Chinese settlers have also been recorded as early as the 15th century during the spread of the Malacca Empire, which even then had formed friendly diplomatic relations.