Islam is between me and Allah.

Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Pagi Raya and I am writing! Not to worry, I have friends in the kitchen cooking Raya lunch and dinner. Me, and my son, will have Raya with them today. Some festivities to keep the Raya spirit alive 6000 km away from KL....now back to my writing.

One line in a recent article on the Malaysian Indian Community struck me.

“Within one generation we can reduce poverty amongst the Indian poor and move them into the middle class via education and support, just like what we did for the Bumiputeras under the NEP”

How true that is, not of the Indians, but of the Bumiputras.

I have seen within my generation, how Malays, whose parents are farmers, fisherman, Mata Mata, Malays who grew up in kampongs who were with me in my class and in the school that I attended…some of them friends, some acquaintances…how these Malays have become successful because of the NEP. All this happened within the time I took to grow up….within one generation.

Recently I was pleasantly surprised by another Malay whose father was a Mata Mata serving in one of those Felda Schemes….pleasantly surprised because from that humble beginning, she had become someone whom I admired and respect. Not only is she a success in her chosen profession, but also someone whose articles and comments on social media are stuff for which I have much respect for. I suspect that good genes has something to do with that...for after all, her Mata Mata dad was the recipient of the Pingat Gagah Berani for capturing a Communist with his bare hands!

I am proud of these Malays. They retain the grace and culture for which the Malays are known for, but, in our conversations today, we despair for the future of the Malays.

We despair because we are now witnessing a new breed of Malays around us who are the product of what Umno have made them to be. These are Malays made in the mold of Najib, and the Umno Court cluster. These are Malays who are the product of PAS - not of the TGNA era but of the Hadi era, that worship kebendaan. Cash is King.

More worrying, these Malays, who are of my generation, have passed on their kebendaan culture to their children. Two generations of Malays already wrecked asunder by greed and corruption. Who knows what the third generation of Malays down the road will be like?

So within two generation of Malays, mine and my children, the Malays have changed beyond recognition. Najib and his children are a case in point. If they have a father who calls himself BossKu and when your father has been convicted of stealing millions - what does it do to his children?

In my time of growing up, Islam for me, was a culture. We had rituals and did things that other Malays do - not because Islam dictate that we should do so, but because our family, our relatives and friends and our peers did them. And surely peer pressure, done with grace and reverence, makes one a willing proponent of anything - even Islam.

The displeasure of our elders would be reason enough to be a good Muslim. Imans and Ustazs rarely came into our lives - and if ever they do, it was mostly at weddings and funerals. They did not preach. How they carried themselves among us was enough to tell us that they were deserving of the respect and reverence we had for them. The Malay culture was gentle, graceful and not suffocating. No compulsion. No pressure of punishment from any religious authorities. It was between me and Allah.

For really, as it is often said, what you do, and your beliefs, is between you and ALLAH. I see no reason for any man appointed religious police, personals or authorities to tell me what I can or cannot do in my life, with my religion. What more, a government of corrupt and greedy Muslims!

Enough said.