From "daulat" to "derhaka": a Malay Cognitive-Darwinian moment

(Raja Haji, 18th. century Bugis warrior and spiritual leader)


From “daulat” to “derhaka”: permission to revolt, when ethical systems are down.

by Azly Rahman

A new consciousness seems to be blowing into the collective psyche of the Malay; those known as one of the most obedient people on Earth. A specter of the absurd heroism of the Malay seem to be haunting the modern Malay, as embodied in a crisis that is unfolding in this land that has seen much of Malayan history constructed – from the incident at Pasir Salak to the treaty signed at Pangkor.

Or perhaps anger and grief is engulfing the psyche of the Malays and now translated into a national protest Malaysians are yet to see the shape it is taking on. Will this be a watershed in the Malay psychological construct which states that Malays do not go against (“derhaka”) their “daulat”- driven traditional rulers? Or—is this the coming of mental age of the postmodern Malay in which, together with the coming of the complexity of the hypermodernity of the base-superstructure of the country itself, the common Malay or the rakyat, no longer wish to tolerate anomalies in the political culture?

In Malaysia, the state of Perak now has two Chief Ministers as a consequent of a sudden change in the delicate balance of political representation. As of January 2009 the state was ruled by the coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (“People’s Coalition” consisting of the opposition parties). Three State lawmakers decided to “hop” out of their parties – 2 from Parti Keadilan Rakyat and one from the Democratic Action Party – leaving the balance tipping to the favour of the Barisan Nasional (National Front). The Sultan of Perak, instead of consenting to the dissolution of the State Assembly (by virtue of the nature of change engineered) decided to appoint the new Chief Minister, from the representative of United Malay National Organization, while the previous Chief Minister from Malaysia’s Islamic Party (Parti Islam SeMalaya) refused to concede and called instead the new government as “illegitimate”.

Mass protests, threats to bring the Sultan to court, refusal to vacate the office, and expressions of anger towards the National Front, the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, -- all theses signify a new era in Malaysian politics as it relates to relationship between the Malays and the traditional Malay rulers, especially after the Constitutional Crisis during the time of Mahathir Mohamad and the huge victory of the Pakatan Rakyat in the March 8 General Election. Lawyers and legal experts have debated on the “correctness” versus the “”corruptness” of the decision made by the traditional ruler of Perak. It is argued that the Sultan of Perak made the right decision but an “immoral” one nonetheless given the allegations that the sudden shift in the balance involved tens of millions of Ringgit paid to those who agreed to leave their parties and declare themselves “independents”.

In Malaysian cyberspace, immediately after the fiasco, Malaysia Today ran an article linking the daughter of Sultan Azlan Shah to GAMUDA and her position as Malaysia’s top 40 richest people. The idea of political-economy and interlocking directorate has always been popular in the way Malaysians analyze the factors behind the multitude of corruption cases involving the politicians close to the ruling party.

The episode of the “derhaka” challenging “daulat” – a counter-hegemonic moment in the evolution of the modern Malay psyche is still at the beginning stage. There are complexities involved as it relates to the struggle of power especially between UMNO and PKR.

The nation not only awaits the ending of the story, but as in a postmodern story, becomes part of the plot and the character-evolution of this new and exciting consciousness. Like television imitating life and vice versa, the Malays are revolting against traditional myths of grandeur their minds have created and archived as an embalmation of the Oriental Despotic -neo-feudalistic construct.

This is a seizable moment of iconoclasm in Malay history. A Malay moment of cultural-cognitive Darwinism.

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