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ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Tuesday 16 December 2008

Huzir's Malay Middle Class- better to remain quiet.

My friend from Blogsphere, Mat Cendana wrote an interesting piece about hijacking the middle class, or should I term it, meddle class? He was expanding on the theme expounded by one Huzir Sulamian. Who looks like Mr Bean minus the Engineering degree from Oxford that is. ( yes Rowan Atkinson has an engineering degree from Oxford and was university mate to T. Blair).

I don’t know Huzir Sulaiman. I know of him. He is middle class in the sense his ‘father, mother, are lawyers’. His father if I am not mistaken, is the lawyer Sulamian Abdullah- yes that person who wears a sarung and turban and who walks his dog/s around in Bukit Damansara. In a previous life he was one Srinivesan Iyer, brother to Tan Sri Rama Iyer. He was a law lecturer lecturing me thinks, my blogger friend DSN. The mother I think is Mehrun Siraj, the one who lambasted Zulkifli Nordin, the last time.

Now, Huzir is a dramatist. He is in the company of his fellow actors who lay around in Bangsar just like the English poets did in Mrs Miggins café in Blackadder stories. How would I class Huzir?. The best term I could come out is a bohemian bourgeoisie- the person who gravitates to thoughts that suits him. Certainly he is middle class being sons of prominent lawyers. His thinking on this ketuanan Melayu issue?- bourgeois morality. It’s a morality and values of someone who luxuriates in his/her present station in life, because others have toiled and sacrificed thus allowing him to do so. Just like the French aristocrats occupying themselves silly with fancy dress costumes, while the citizens were eking out their miserable life. His morality is the morality of Azly Rahman, of Harith Iskandar, the cheap Orson Welles wannabe. Making stupid faces and gesticulations pretending to be funny and make people happy.

People like Huzir Sulaman still does not get it yes? We come back again and again to Lee Kuan Yew. – the pace of social revolution in Malaya is as fast or as slow as the Malays in Kampongs want it, not as the Chinese in towns want it. The towns can act as catalyst on the kampongs, but it is the kampongs that decide the pace.

Substitute, kampongs as the majority and not middle class, and convert Huzir’s middle class as bourgeois. So by putting the views of a son of a Felda DG and one Zahim Albakri( himself a fellow actor and a progeny of one Malay and Caucasian and certainly in the same kindred spirit as Huzir), he lumps them into the unheard voices of ketuanan Melayu. Piously wishing, it is their voices that should be heard rather than the voices of the man in the street or the voices of the man on the SriJaya Bus or now Metro Bus. In fact, he wishes their voices are the voices of the Ketuanan Melayu- compromising, very liberal, ensconced in their comfort zones, sipping Bacardi coke, or Dom Perignon,. I have the exact terms for them- the caviar socialists, the BMW bourgeois, the smoked salmon sentinels, the café latte crowd. Their thinking are good conversation pieces, usable to score with the opposite sex, but detached from reality. Zahim al bakri’s and the Felda DG’s son’s views are more relevant amidst the din of Hard Rock Café.

13 comments:

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 09:12  

sawatdee khrap,

you said:
It’s a morality and values of someone who luxuriates in his/her present station in life, because others have toiled and sacrificed thus allowing him to do so.

it will be worse, if a person such as he, thinks what he has achieved is purely of his own doing and therefore that is success! others found wanting because they are beggars, lazy bastards and therefore deserving of contempt coming out from the son of the felda DG and son of the architect.
it is also worse of people like huzir, zahim and dg's son regard their achievements as conferring upon them, respectability and omnipotence.
thank you sir.

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 10:07  

Sorry Dato', I may sound a bit astray from this topic but I could not help but asking -- Why ya, we Malays tend to be so defensive.

Not that I meant it is wrong to defend the Ketuanan Melayu slogan. What I meant, why we always on the defensive?

Why not we go on the offensive? The Chinese for example. Can't we question them back especially those who attack on this Ketuanan Melayu, about their kiasu mentality?

Or, is it okay for them to have that kind of mentality/attitude? So much so that when asked to get into a line, they always either 'whine and whine and whine' or at any chance they see could take, they will likely jump Q.

Compared to Ketuanan Melayu, kiasu is already a term that has been included in the Oxford dictionary!

So, what say you Dato'?

TUMPANG LALU

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 10:49  

Tumpang Lalu
How about the kiasu who thinks u are Dato Sam?

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 10:55  

KIASU (kee-ah-soo) Hokkien adjective literally meaning, "afraid of losing"

Saya... 16 December 2008 at 10:56  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ariff Sabri 16 December 2008 at 10:56  

haha. dato sam is a fire-breathing dragon. he takes no prisoners. if i were you, i would be careful not to cross him.

i on the other hand, am a pensioner, acquiring that status prematurely. haha.

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 11:11  

The A to Z of KIASU

Always must win

Borrow but never return

Cheap is good

Don't trust anyone

Everything also must grab!

Free! Free! Free!

Grab first talk later

Help yourself to everything

I first, I want, I everything

Jump queue

Keep coming back for more

Look for discount

Must not lose face

Never mind what they think

Outdo everyone you know

Pay only when necessary

Quit while you are ahead

Rushing and pushing wins the race

Sample are always welcome

Take but don't give

Unless it's free forget it

Vow to be number one

Winner takes it ALL! ALL! ALL!

Yell if necessary to get what you want

Zebras are kiasu because they want to be both black and white at the same time

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 12:42  

WOW,tabik lagi, Datuk.
Kenapalah ada orang yang kata artikel macam ni pun defensive.
The above article is neither offensive nor offensive but merely stating the facts.

This is the problem when we have all these "fake" malays trying to define, defend and def**k what is ketuanan melayu.

Please allow this "fake confucious" but pure breed Malays define Ketuanan Melayu ?

To start with .. there is no ketuanan "anyrace" because nobody is supreme except GOD. If we Malays still want to use the word tuan, we should change it to "Pertuanan Raja Melayu"

This ketuanan something was started by, pathetically, the UMNO leaders (and ironically many are fake Malays) and further stoked by the fake non-malays.

Another thing, there is only one race i.e the Human race.

Please read Melayu Islam Beraja.

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 12:44  

sorry "The above article is neither defensive nor offensive but merely stating the facts."

Tok Mila 16 December 2008 at 13:21  

Cuba suruh pi duduk kat kampong, tolong halau ayam itik, sodok taik lembu, angkut ayaq kat telaga for about, say, 1 month (and 1 month only)and live like the typical Malays - who subsequently migrated to the urban areas. In fact, Huzir should just read DKJ's recent posting "Perihal Banjir Dulu dan Sekarang" and then re-visit his article.

"Urban Malay Middle Class" or "Pseudo-Malays" (who wants to reap the benefits of being a Malay but don't behave like Malays).

Crossword and a pot of tea at the corner table at La Bodega, anyone?

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 13:43  

You are right that they like to lay about Bangsar.
They used to visit Chinos when I waitressed part time there over a decade ago..
One of 'em were pissed 'cos I din put the bread plate down gently enough....
OUCH!
Upper CLASS-lah....Children of govt officials, etc
Huzir Sulaiman and his vain pursuits...

Anonymous,  16 December 2008 at 22:15  

I used to think of myself as solidly middle class. Lately, I have recast myself as Melayu Lama. Reason: I have class but not much money.

It's like this. I am that civil service brat (born in the sixties). Luncheons and tea at lake club, sgor club and trips to uk and europe. Then in my adult professional and social life I meet the sort of Melayu with a lot of "gaya" but (to my mind) no class (what my mother's and aunts' generation would call tak da adab) and inferior knowledge.
In my family we call them Melayu Baru or the "branded" Melayu. Luggage by Vuitton and shoes by Dior. You can meet them at Ephesus or the Coliseum on a deluxe package and all they have in mind is the shopping not the sense of history.
They live in Tmn Tun or Bukit Jelutong or Kiara. I've recently been invited to a palatial home, they even have an atelier. There's a cello, a baby grand and not one member of the family can play any of these! Sheesh!
So I'm Melayu Lama, ok, a snob too.
And I have no patience for the likes of those you aptly term the caviar socialists either.
I really don't know which Melayu irks me more: The mindless "branded" Malay or the latte types who have to be more non than the non.
Robiah the Melayu Lama

Ariff Sabri 16 December 2008 at 23:03  

robiah the melayu lama,
you have said what needs to be said. i am not confident, this class of people can carry us forward with their convictions. thank you for visiting.

jed yoong- your personal experience reflects the social outlook of such people.

tok mila- it would be nice if Huzir Sulaiman proposes re-ducation of those social liminaries he fondly mentioned.

confuseus- your comments can be material to my next article, i hope.

anon at 11:11, your breakdown of what constitutes kiasu is very informative. thank you.

anak pahang jati- your take of kiasu seems to refer to some people i know in Pahang. they go on apple polishing.

TUMPANG LALU- while we hold strong views on something, it would be better not to be hurtful to others. i am sure, like i, you have many non Malay friends.

thank you friends for visiting.

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