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.

Myth of Chinese Domination of the Economy

Another widely held racist view is that the Chinese dominate the Malaysian economy. Closely related to this view are other views like; that most Chinese are businessmen, that the Chinese as a racial group exploit the Malays, resulting in the poverty and backwardness of the Malays. But such racial comparison is highly misleading because there is such a wide gap between rich and poor Chinese, and so much overlap in Malay and Chinese income distribution. Thus despite the existence of relatively larger middle and upper classes among the Chinese (and Indian), the great majority of the Chinese (71.2%) are poor like the great majority of Malays (92.4%).

Comparison of Household Income

Distribution by race, West Malaysia, 1970

Monthly Income	Malay	Chinese	Indian
$1-$399	92.4%	71.2%	82.1%
$400-$1,499	7.2%	26.2%	16.1%
$1,500 and over	0.4%	2.6%	1.8%

Calculated from Mid-Term Review, 2nd Malaysia Plan, 1971-1975.

It's the foreign capitalists by continuing to own large chunks of the plantation, manufacturing and commercial sectors, can truly be said to dominate the Malaysian economy. However, to most Malays, who do not have access to these basic facts, their personal experiences appears to confirm the myth of Chinese economic domination. The towns, inhabited mainly by Chinese, are like islands of prosperity surrounded by a sea of rural poverty, where most of the Malays live. While in countryside, many shopkeepers are Chinese, whose standard of material living is often higher than the Malay customers.

This distorted picture of the real world (in which the vast majority of Chinese are workers not businessmen) is a reflection of the distorted development of the Malayan economy under British rule. Being primarily interested in the tin, rubber and straits of Malacca, the British "developed" that part of Malaya, and imported imigrant labour there.

To extract the primary produce and to sell their manufactured goods, the British needed a network of collection and distribution stretching into every town and village in the country. Very soon, Chinese traders whose capital was too small to compete successfully in the towns because shopkeepers in the Malay villages, performing a middleman's role between the Malay peasants at the one end and the giant British agency house at the other. The middle man is able to manipulate prices (though only around levels set by the agency houses), and to his Malay customers he is seen as an expoliter, buying cheap and selling dear.

The distortion in the Malay's perception of the Chinese as exploiters and businessmen was worsened by colonial policies which effectively segregated the races along the races were separated by an invisible wall, with inter-racial interaction taking place only at a limited and superficial level. In such circumstances distorted racial stereotypes inevitably abounded.

Malay "Special Rights"

The origin of the "special rights" of the Malays is also due to the British colonialists who ruled Malaya through the Malay aristocracy. To secure the support of the Sultans and feudal chiefs, the British awarded them huge tracts of land and handsome salaries to replace the "tax" which they had brutally coerced from their subjects.

The policy of Malay "special rights" was incorporated into the Malayan constitution at the time of political independence in 1957, and is carried through to this day. However the reality is rather different. The policy has benefitted mainly the rich Malays constituting only a tiny fraction of the Malay population. This is because the nature of Malay "special rights" is such that only those Malays with some surplus money to invest ie. the middle and upper classes can take full advantages of them. Many peasants, fishermen and workers have no benefit at all, though the few of their children who manage to pass their Secondary school examinations can obtain scholarships, university places and posts in the civil service.

In the commercial field, only the rich Malay will want to apply for business licences and public companies that require Malays on its board of directors, will not select Malay workers or peasants but influential (and very probably wealthy) Malays.

In the Malay reservations, the prohibition of non-Malay ownership of land has actually benefited the Malay landlords and money lenders at the expense of the Malay peasants. Because non-Malay are excluded from buying reservation land, the price of land is effectively reduced because of reduced demand, thereby enabling Malay landlords to buy and accumulate land from the impoverished peasants.

The most striking evidence of the bankruptcy of the "special rights" policy in improving the economic position of the majority of the Malays was the government admission that in the 13 years from 1957-1970, the poorest 40% of the population (most of whom are Malays) had actually become poorer. The incomes of the poorest 20% had fallen by 14% while those of the next poorest 20% had fallen by 3% (^{1, 2}). The policy of "special rights" cannot help to end this exploitation and poverty of Malay peasants (or workers). In fact, in some cases (as we have seen) the "special rights" policy has intensified the exploitation of the Malay poor by the Malay rich.