I OFTEN imagined how my forefathers lived. My late grandmother, Tok, grew up and lived in Penang all her life. Like many women during her time, she never went to school. Tok fell in love with a handsome young man in her late teen and went on to have thirteen children.

Growing up in British Malaya, Tok probably did not bump into Englishmen that often. I can only imagine what it would have felt being a part of the empire, but Tok probably felt this land should be ruled by her own.

Like many Malays, Tok did not have much to live on. Though statistically better off, chances were her Chinese and Indian neighbours did not have much to work on too either.

My parents met at university, part of a handful of Malays that progressed to tertiary education. Mom boasted about how smart she was back then; a claim I thought a boastful jest till I read that the figures of Malays admitted annually to universities during the seventies numbered a few thousand.

The Malay agenda was and is real. The story of my family is reflected across Malaysia. Like wrinkles on our faces, times and priorities evolve. The stark realities are different. Demographically, the country has become more Malay – Malays are a larger proportion of the population. Apparatuses of power are held by Malaysian citizens that are majority Malay.

Malaysians of Chinese and Indian origin are unapologetically proud Malaysians. They know no homeland apart from Malaysia.

Look no further than the ringgit in your pocket to see the Malay kings are sovereign. Islam is the religion of the federation and no one is stopped from going to the mosque or from fasting during Ramadan. Given these circumstances, the claim of a Malay armageddon is farcical, if not laughable. Malays have never had it better.  

The Malay agenda has always been about stopping the oppression of the many by the few. We have seen this drama before, albeit with only a surprising change of antagonists. Beware the shouting politician waving the keris, as time and time again they have used it to stab the very people they are meant to protect.

The Malay agenda should be about doing the right things. About the rule of law, accountability and transparency. It is about being treated fairly and about treating others fairly too. Going amok helps no one.

At the end of her life, Tok was inflicted with several strokes and had memory problems. She became flat and morose, often pondering in the distance endlessly. When told that I was going to England to study medicine, she lit up gleefully like fireworks. It made her day.

I will never forget that reaction. Even in the horrific abyss of dementia, she had a visceral sense that her grandchildren would live a promisingly different life than hers. By being responsible and working hard, she made things better.

Tok was never political and the Malay agenda was probably just an afterthought. She did not know it, but her story is the Malay agenda. It is about being better than what we were. Not only by ringgit in our accounts, but by the fabric of our moral and ethical characters.

I can only hope we do our Toks proud. – December 6, 2018.

* Dr Ahmad Hairi Halimi reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.