An opinion piece in the Malaysian Insider about the influence of Indian culture into the Malayan peninsula during the early centuries CE.
When Malays were Hindus and Buddhists were Indians
The Malaysian Insider, 09 January 2016
We often compress these vast-ranging influences into “cultures” or “traditions”, but this broad terminology certainly does not do justice to the deep influences of the Indians in Malaya.
The Hindu-Buddhist heritage of the Malay world, brought by the Indians, is in stark contrast with the rigidly defined notion of ethnicity and religion today.
The fluidity of movement no longer exists. Legal and societal barriers are constructed to eradicate remnants of fluid identity, which confuses and blurs the “fixed” identies of ethnicity and religion. Now, we cannot entertain the idea of a Malay being anything other than a Muslim.
The present disowns and refuses to come to terms with its past, as if their Indianised history, or the Indian era of Malaya, is impure.
The past is something to be buried, not celebrated. To be avoided and a lesson not to repeat.
Full story here.