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MALAYS 479
occupations. Rural or urban, rubber tapper or government official, almost all
are orthodox in the everyday practice of Islam. And there is little variance in
their animistic and Hindu-Buddhist beliefs and practices except as these relate
to the special ritual of the rice farmer, the ritual language of the tin miner, the
taboos of the fisherman or the weekend feasts of high-ranking government
bureaucrats.
Acts of courtesy comprise a very important aspect of Malay social organization.
Most groups, including many households, are loosely structured, that is,
the commitments of members to a group are usually tentative and may be easily
altered. Within a household, sibling relationships and daughter-parent relationships
are relatively strong, but group loyalty (except recently to Malay ethnic
identity) is not as important as a source of social conformity as adherence to the
rule of Malay courtesy. Formal ceremonies provide important contexts for affirmation
of the rules of courtesy and of the status relationships that structure
Malay social organization. Moreover, much of the symbolism of curing rituals
relates the oral pleasures of feasting to the social pressures of status courtesy.
Various Islamic reform movements have been represented in the Malay world
during the twentieth century, but the most revolutionary in its effect appears to
be the dakwah "missionary" movement of the 1970s, which has convinced some
devout Malays that parts of their own traditional world as well as the modern
Westernized world are not in conformity with the orthodox practice of Islam.
Malays interested in retaining their Malay culture as well as their devotion to
Islam comprise a social category separate from that of the dakwahs, and both
of these are distinct from "secular" Malays, who are concerned with modernization.
The dakwah movement is heavily involved in a persuasive missionary
campaign. One manifestation of this is the magazine Dakwah, which has been
published (in Latin script Malay) since 1977.
Except in rare instances, such as in Sungei Penchala (within the limits of the
metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur), the dakwah movement has not resulted in
physically separating Malay communities. Traditional, dakwah and secular Malays
live side by side in the same communities. Throughout this ideological
fissioning they have remained together residentially and segregated from other
ethnic communities of Malaysia. Malay ethnic identity has become more important
during this period in part because of the government's efforts to provide
opportunities to recover from the low economic status they held as colonial wards
of the British before independence. Many members of the other ethnic communities,
principally the Chinese and Indians, object to the present advantages
afforded Malays.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Ali, Syed Husin. Malay Peasant Stories and Leadership. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University
Press, 1975.