Stepping into the familiar alcove that is Wardah Books’ second storey, it felt fitting that the location was chosen to discuss The Myth of the Lazy Native by Syed Husein Alatas. The bookstore is at the heart of the Muslim community as a place of seeking knowledge and refuge. The creaky stairs, which every visitor to the second level must climb, mirror how aged yet sturdy some historical narratives continue to be. The dated photographs interlaced with more recent ones of Wardah’s community present how stories of the past continue to influence the narratives and identities we have today. Some of us, including one of the writers, came with their mother’s or parents’ copy of the Myth of the Lazy Native, attesting to how this book resonates with many in the Malay community, even across generations.
Invited to speak was Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah, an engaging political commentator always open to fresh opinions and well-versed in the scholarship of those who have analysed Singaporean society and politics before him. The audience was a good mix of people from different backgrounds and communities, much like other Maktaba Books’ book club sessions. Professor Walid also acknowledged that this book, despite being difficult to read, continues to be popular, perhaps proving that the topic of race continues to be pertinent for Singaporeans.
Written by Syed Husein Alatas in 1977, the book discusses the way natives in Southeast Asia (SEA), – Malays, Javanese, and Filipinos – were framed as lazy by colonial powers, including the British, Dutch and Spanish. The book dismantles this trope by revealing how the imperialists reinforced this perception through factors like excluding natives from the colonial economy and psychological conditioning through methods like education and the selling of opium.
Before immersing ourselves in discussion, Professor Walid reminded us that the book talked about the impact of power and what is done with it, beyond ideas of race and skin colour. The book focuses on the colonial powers of SEA and how they used their power in the 16th to 20th centuries to control their colonised subjects. Technological superiority was insufficient to cement their rule – they had to utilise the ideology of colonial capitalism (page 2) to justify colonialism and continue exploiting the natives. The myth is a subset of related to the White Man’s Burden, an ideology that originates from Rudyard Kipling’s poem of the same name: “Your new-caught sullen peoples,/Half devil and half child.” The ideology and poem look down on the native population, and see the Western world as the saviour of these people, bringing them to civilisation.
Even at the height of anti-colonial feelings in the early 2000s, Professor Walid shared that colonial beliefs towards the natives, such as the Malay remained rooted in the minds of many, including himself.
Despite being an Indian Muslim who spoke and learned Malay and was surrounded by Malay friends, his identity did not exclude him from accepting the stereotypes of Malays as lazy, as perpetuated by influential figures such as Mahathir, Lee Kuan Yew and Malay elites. The book explored this subconsciousness as well too, with different actors passing judgement on others. First, the colonist to the natives; then the other races to the natives; the elite Malays to other Malays; even the Malays towards the Orang Asli communities, and so on. All of us carry our own biases and subconscious, as influenced by prevailing colonial narrators
One of the facilitators, Izza Haziqah, shared her own experience of believing that success stories, such as good academic performance, award recipients, among the Malays were only the exceptions. She too fell into the trap of subconsciously thinking that Malays were inherently lazy and less economically beneficial by default.
Izza raised the question of how we could reconcile with this and understand that this myth was a by-product of colonialism in our daily lives. Professor Walid responded that superstructures – defined in Sociology as culture, ideology, norms and identities – are inevitable.
To highlight how deeply ingrained the myth is, he cited the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment in 1968 that taught children about the discrimination faced by the Black community in the United States. Ethical concerns of the experiment aside, two days of differentiating between the students based on their eye colour through special privileges or mistreatment gave rise to discriminatory attitudes. If a mere two days could give rise to such prejudice, what more decades, centuries?
Another question asked was about offering advice to future generations who are successful and breaking the educational class ceiling. Here, it’s widely accepted that academic achievement is the key marker of success. As a result, Malays who attain such credentials are often met with remarks like, “Wow, you must be the smart or hardworking Malay,” implying that their success is exceptional within their race. The real issue, as Professor Walid has pointed out, lies in challenging the myth of meritocracy; the belief that hard work alone guarantees success, when hard work is the bare minimum. Other factors, such as social barriers and economic backgrounds, also play a huge part.
The discussion thus emphasised a need to talk about issues surrounding class and wealth when talking about race, as the former factor is a far more accurate predictor of success. By shifting the conversation from race towards property and income, it will show the correlation between class and “success”.
One may argue that challenging the myth of meritocracy could potentially create tension, disruption and chaos in this tiny red dot. To this, Professor Walid provided a profound insight: The myth of meritocracy does not have to persist if Singapore wants to maintain its status quo; however, the myth of the lazy native exists because of the myth of meritocracy. This makes it even more important to challenge the myth of meritocracy, no matter the challenges.
One part that I found profound was that these racial hierarchies still persist in Singapore because a lot of our founding fathers were educated in Western ideologies in the 20th century, when the myth still prevailed. One such leader was the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), who held a lot of problematic beliefs surrounding race in Singapore.
In the book The Man and His Ideas, written by Fook Kwang Han, Warren Fernandez, and Sumiko Tan and published in 1998)”, the late LKY stated the following infamous remarks:
“There are deep and abiding differences between groups. And whatever we do, we must remember that in Singapore, the Malays feel they are being asked to compete unfairly, that they are not ready for the competition against the Chinese and the Indians and the Eurasians. They will not admit or they cannot admit to themselves that, in fact, as a result of history, they are a different gene pool and they do not have these qualities that can enable them to enter the same race.” (Chapter: Culture, the X-Factor, page 20)
He also stated, “I have said openly that if we were 100% Chinese, we would do better. But we are not and never will be, so we live with what we have.” (Chapter: Culture, the X-Factor, page 18)
This further damaged the image of the Malay and reinforced the colonial myth by asserting that Malays are lazy and somewhat an obstacle that stands between Singapore and the country’s success.
Thankfully, in recent years, there has been a growing distance between late LKY and Singapore’s new leadership that is further than the safe distance during Covid-19. Rather than being commonly-heard and accepted tropes, many do not know about LKY’s past controversial statements, and Professor Walid even noted that even his biggest supporters today would not agree with such harmful sentiments about race. This sends a message of hope that such racial stereotypes are gradually being phased out.
As our hands were getting cramped and ink-stained while writing, the questions from fellow participants made us pause and process, serving as a brief respite. Very soon, we clicked our pens back into action, urged to write about how the media is one of the biggest purveyors of the myth and hence, a key battleground.
Professor Walid elaborated on examples in mainstream Singapore media. Among them was the 2020 article published in the Straits Times about how families from different races handled Home-Based Learning (HBL), which received widespread flak for perpetuating racial stereotypes linked to economic status. According to Professor Walid, unintentionally acting on one’s racial stereotypes shows how insidious the colonial myth is; when one does not think twice about linking a certain race with being less well-off, it could show how one has absorbed such beliefs and taken them as facts.
Another question raised was whether those who believed in the myth were malicious or victims themselves, especially if they were fellow natives. Professor Walid responded that even if our intent was not malicious, our beliefs can be. Urging people to be accountable for their beliefs and actions, he stated: “If we have such big (sweeping) beliefs about a certain race, shouldn’t we do research?” He then voiced a silent truth: one of the biggest challenges is talking about difficult topics like race with our friends who are not as involved or aware of its issues. iIt is more necessary to talk about these issues in everyday conversations than broaching the topic in academia, where flaws in the racial deficit theory are already known. This helps to provide awareness beyond a limited bubble.
As the session neared its close, many questions emerged about activism and identity. What were the steps we could take after this session? How should the Malays move forward in spite of this Myth that has been sitting on our shoulders for decades? Professor Walid’s voice rose, and with these words, it brought the room to a standstill: “Call it out”. He shared how he and a few others would write to newsrooms, calling out the Straits Times or CNA on their negative portrayal of different races, including the way different families from different races handled HBL. Like a man on any mission, he also called out a Singaporean children’s book, which was supposed to be a diverse portrayal of all Singaporeans, that illustrated the only Malay in the book as a Malay Makcik car park warden – as if that’s the best Malays can ever be represented. He also raised how the local show, Triple 9, which was shown during the late 1990s, represented the only Malay as the lowest-ranking officer in the police force.
When someone asked if Malays today should always call others out and whether that was an ethical and religious thing to do, Professor Walid reminded us that there is wisdom in knowing when to be harsh when we call out flawed beliefs and when to be gentle when we educate our peers. In our work to call out and educate the masses, the goal is the same: It is to break the chain of Myth within the majority and see the Malays for who they are. “In whatever we do, the end-goal is moving people towards us”, he offered as a guiding principle.
In preparation for the second part of the Myth of Lazy Native session that will be happening on 25 May 2025, Sunday, at Wardah, readers are highly recommended to finish reading the book. In case the reader is panic-reading (like us), you can focus especially on the introduction, conclusion, Chapters 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
The book is difficult, so we’d also personally and highly recommend starting it with Bismillah.
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Written by Nurainun Mardhiyah Binte Khairullah and Siti Nur Najihah Binti Ismail