Understanding Malay

My British colleague picked up the phone and dialled a number of a Filipino colleague who is at another building to ask about a Filipino applicant's race which stated Malay, instead of asking this Malay colleague who sits 3 seats away. I overheard the short conversation of her surprise discovery that a Filipino is regarded as a Malay. And she asked whether in Singapore, the Filipino should be clustered as a Malay or "Others", the "Others" to mean anyone who is not Chinese, Malay or Indian. I wouldn't know what was explained to her on the other end of the line, but I would have guessed it anyway. The Filipino informant said that they should be clustered as "Others".

Intrigued with this new discovery, my British colleague looked at me, almost beaver-eyed, "how interesting... I mean to think, that Malays in Singapore is 99.9% Muslims but the Malays in Phillippines is 99.9% Roman Catholic." She was trying to swallow this new intriguing nugget of information with much amazement. I guess the "interesting" bit is perhaps, after being here for over five years, she must have thought Malay to be synonymous with being Muslim, only to discover that the Filipinos, who are predominantly Roman Catholics are Malays too. That was an eye-opener for her as well as for a Chinese Chinese colleague who have also heard this for the first time.

I've never really think much of this, as I never had contacts with Filipinos until recently. My husband was the first one to tell me this information as he had contacts with Filipino colleagues, and at that time, I find it interesting too but never bothered to go beyond finding out any information as to what or why they are being called Malay, the same as us. In the first place, is there really an us and them, or are we the same in many ways, except in the religion department?

Currently, I'm working quite closely with four Filipino ladies, all holders of masters degree, and though we are friendly, we have never bonded on a Malay level. Somehow, I've never think of them as Malays, but definitely Filipinos, and I do wonder what they think of me. Perhaps, they have similar view as I do. Maybe one day, we should get together for coffee and discover our Malay-ness or Malay roots, and what does it mean to be Malay. Until then, here's a definition of Malay from this

site

1. member of SE Asian ethnic group: a member of a people who inhabit the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and other islands of the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines

2. language of Malaysia: an Austronesian language spoken in Malaysia and in parts of Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and surrounding areas. Native speakers: 22 million - 100 million.

Apart from the above definition, besides Malays who have travelled and lived elsewhere, and are not counted as being indigenous, there are indigenous Malays in South Africa, also known as Cape Malay.

So what does being Malay to you means? Especially if you are Filipino, South African, Singaporean, Indonesian, Bruneian or Malaysian...or even immigrant Malays living in other parts of the world.