[STRATEGI HAPUS SEJARAH MELAYU] Melayu bukan rakyat asal Singapura tetapi PENDATANG?

In the 1950s, the major stream of Jurong River (or Sungei Bajau Kanan) was home to many Malay fishing villages, such as Kampong Jawa Teban (or Kampong Java Teban). The fishermen’s wooden houses were built on stilts that stretched out into the waters, with fishing boats parked by the sides. It was a common to see the children having an enjoyable time swimming in the river, while the adults laboured in fish netting and prawn rearing. The fishing villages located nearer to the mouth of Jurong River, however, were constantly bothered by the flooding due to high tides.

A swampy land in its early days, Tuas was inhabited by the Malay population as a fishing village. Tuas Village was located nearer to West Coast Road rather than present-day Tuas South, which was the result of land reclamation during the eighties. The southwestern part of Singapore had long been designated for industrial use, thus Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) was acquiring the lands since 1974 for their marine and engineering industries.

One of the oldest Malay settlements in Singapore, Geylang Serai also functioned as a main trading place for the Malays from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. In the late 19th century, the rich Arabs moved in to cultivate lemon grass plantation but the industry failed to boom, which was later replaced by rubber plantations and vegetable farms. The villagers also started planting tapioca (ubi in Malay) during the Second World War, leading to the naming of Kampong Ubi, part of Geylang Serai.

Pulau Tekong was home to many Malay residents before the island was developed as a military base in the eighties. In 1956, the population living on Pulau Tekong was about 4,000 strong, scattered in various small kampong such as Kampong Pahang, Kampong Selabin (Pekan), Kampong Seminal, Kampong Batu Koyok, Kampong Pasir, Kampong Sungei Belang, Kampong Onom, Kampong Pasir Merah, and Kampong Permatang. The villages were self-reliant on vegetable, fish, coconuts and tropical fruits.

Beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini terdapat percubaan untuk menghapuskan sejarah orang Melayu di Singapura. Orang Melayu dikatakan sebagai pendatang dari Malaysia... atau Indonesia. Kita bukan native atau indigenous.

This attempt to remove our status is cynical at best. Kedua-dua Indonesia dan Malaysia adalah negara baru yang dibentuk oleh penjajah. Tanah Melayu yang dijajah Inggeris jadi Malaysia. Tanah Melayu yang dijajah Belanda, jadi Indonesia. Tidak lebih dari itu.

But both of them are part of the Malay world. The Malays are indigenous to the region. The same goes for Singapore.

Kedudukan Singapura dalam dunia Melayu tidak boleh dipertikaikan. 

For us to understand the status of Malays in Singapore, we need to realise that Singapore exists as part of the larger Malay world. This Malay world is made up of a Peninsula that stretches from the southern states of modern Thailand to Johor Bahru and the thousands of islands in the archipelago.

For a Malay to move from one island to the next and still remain within Malay land is normal. Travelling by sea was the common mode of transportation within our lands. We moved by sea as any other race would have moved by carriage or train. 

It does not mean we are not indigenous to any part of the Malay world. To reject a Malay and remove his rights to the land because he moved to Singapore island from Jawa is like saying someone from Tampines who moved to Jurong as not having any rights because he is not from Jurong.

We exist as part of the Malay world. This Malay world includes Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangsamoro, Brunei. 

As Lily Zubaidah Rahim argued, 

"Historical records suggest that the Malays initially migrated to the Malay Archipelago from the Asian mainland between 2,000-5,000 BC. Within the Archipelago, historians have recorded extensive movement of indigenous Malays from one rumpun (group, region within the larger 'Nusantara') to another...The fact that a Majapahit Hindu prince, Sang Nila Utama, and his descendants could establish royal houses in Temasek and Malacca from the thirteenth century and then base themselves in the Riau Islands is illustrative of the relative ease in the cultural integration and mobility of Malays from one rumpun within the 'Nusantara' to another...

In a study pertaining to Singapore Malay identity, Nurliza Yusuf observed that Singapore Malays possessed a strong indigenous and regional identity that emanates from their acute consciousness of Singapore's place in the 'Nusantara' or Malay World. 

The Pan-Malay consciousness was aptly articulated by one of her informants in the following way: 'The Malay Archipelago is like a big house. The Malays in Singapore hanya tukar bilik dan bukan tukar rumah (are merely changing rooms and not changing houses)."

Rahim, Lily Zubaidah. The Singapore dilemma: The political and educational marginality of the Malay community. Oxford University Press, USA, 1998. pp 14-15

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