Myth of the Lazy Malay

The view is widely held in Malaysia that the Malays are born lazy. This view has been expressed even by some Malays themselves, eg. Dr Mahatir in his book "The Malay Dilemma" in 1970. This view is highly distorted. Even those who hold the view above would agree that not All Malays are lazy. More importantly, this view is totally lacking in historical perspective.

Malay values and attitudes towards economic activity have been shaped by historical and social factors. Traditional Malay society was made up of large self-sufficient communities, consequently there was not much trading and the use of money was limited. Within each community, the rulers and the feudal chiefs lived in relative comfort by exploiting the peasants. Under that oppressive feudal system, thrift, industry and enterprise were thus discouraged.

The myth of the lazy Malay originated during the next phase of colonialism - imperialism with the British annexation of Malaya in the late 19th century. The British found it difficult to recruit Malays in sufficient numbers to work in the mines, rubber plantations, and the construction of roads and railways. To the capitalistminded colonialists, the only reason they can think of to explain such Malay behaviour was the inborn "laziness" of the Malays. The real reason was very different. Working and living conditions in the mines and plantations were appallingly bad and dangerous. The Malay peasants could see it was relatively better to farm the land or fish than to be a wage slave.

On the other hand, the immigrant labourers from India and China had to put up with those inhuman conditions partly because most of them were contractually bonded to work and partly because their homelands were facing wars and famine. The British also encouraged merchants, traders and money lenders to immigrate as they required these classes to service the retail network of the colonial economy. These societies valued money-making, industry and competitiveness which were largely absent in Malay society. Although the cultural gap between the three main races has now narrowed, there are still considerable differences in cultural values between different racial groups.