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    Who Is Malay

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    Shahrul Iman
    The document discusses the origins and definitions of Malays. It notes that Malays are traditionally defined as people living in Peninsular Malaysia who speak the Malay language and practice Islam. Constitutionally, Malays have special privileges regarding land allocation. Definitions of "Malay" vary between states' land acts but generally refer to people of Malay descent who speak Malay and are Muslim. The definitions are important for determining who can own protected Malay reserve lands.

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    Who Is Malay

    Uploaded by

    Shahrul Iman
    75 views5 pages
    The document discusses the origins and definitions of Malays. It notes that Malays are traditionally defined as people living in Peninsular Malaysia who speak the Malay language and practice Islam. Constitutionally, Malays have special privileges regarding land allocation. Definitions of "Malay" vary between states' land acts but generally refer to people of Malay descent who speak Malay and are Muslim. The definitions are important for determining who can own protected Malay reserve lands.

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    Who is Malay

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    The document discusses the origins and definitions of Malays. It notes that Malays are traditionally defined as people living in Peninsular Malaysia who speak the Malay language and practice Islam. Constitutionally, Malays have special privileges regarding land allocation. Definitions of "Malay" vary between states' land acts but generally refer to people of Malay descent who speak Malay and are Muslim. The definitions are important for determining who can own protected Malay reserve lands.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    75 views5 pages

    Who Is Malay

    Uploaded by

    Shahrul Iman
    The document discusses the origins and definitions of Malays. It notes that Malays are traditionally defined as people living in Peninsular Malaysia who speak the Malay language and practice Islam. Constitutionally, Malays have special privileges regarding land allocation. Definitions of "Malay" vary between states' land acts but generally refer to people of Malay descent who speak Malay and are Muslim. The definitions are important for determining who can own protected Malay reserve lands.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    The Origin of Malays

    According to a definition embodied in a dictionary, Malay is a race and also a


    language that could be found in Peninsular Malaysia which the people follow the traditional
    way of life, embrace the religion of Islam and show the characteristic as a Malay 1.
    Commonly, the Malays are the race of people who spread across the Malay Peninsula,
    which is known today as the Peninsular Malaysia and areas of adjacent islands of Southeast
    Asia, including the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and smaller islands that
    situated between these areas.
    Regarding the privileges of the Malay, the Article 153 of the Federal Constitution of
    Malaysia has granted the special power to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the responsibility for
    safeguarding the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah
    and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities. The first clause of the article
    provides that the government should act "in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
    Looking back to the history before the Malaysian Independence, a report from the Reid
    Commission2 has provided the basis for the formation of our Federal Constitution. In the
    report made by the commission found that the existing privileges accorded to the Malays
    included the allocation of extensive Malay land reservations. The existing privileges should
    be continued as the "Malays would be at a serious and unfair disadvantage compared with
    other communities if they were suddenly withdrawn as being recommended by the
    Commission.

    1 Kamus Bahasa Melayu terbitan Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka


    2 An independent commission formed to review and recommend the Constitution
    of the Federation of Malaya in preparation for independence on 31 August 1957.

    Definition of Malay
    As we have known, there are a lot of definition of Malay. Literally, it is not a problem
    to have a lot of definition of Malay in the normal context. Somehow, legally, it will lead to
    problems in construing the exact meaning of Malay especially in the context of Malay
    Reserve Land. This is due to the fact that only the person that being recognized as Malay
    could fully utilize and benefit from the said land.
    With no doubt, Malay Reservation Land Enactment is the land law intended to shield
    the interest of Malays in the term of land. The existence of this enactment is enforced by the
    state authorities, in line with the general law embodied in the National Land Code 1965 of
    Malaysia. The pure aim of this enactment is to ensure that the land hold by the Malays will
    be absolutely held by Malays in the future. Interestingly, every state in Malaysia have
    different definitions on the term of Malay based on their own specialised Malay Reservation
    Land Enactment despite their main aim is the same which to uphold the right of Malay over
    the Malay Reserved Land. Somehow, the differences in the term of the definition have led to
    confusion in the legal context because there are some definition provided in each
    enactments by each states do not have the same gist as provided in the Malay Reservation
    Enactment3.
    The definition of Malay in the Malay Reservation Land Enactment are divided into
    two types which are Melayu Definisi and Melayu Polisi. Obviously, most of the Malay
    Reservation Land Enactment by the state authorities are almost the same but there are
    some differences between them. In addition, the Melayu Definisi is anything that fall into
    the definition of Malay in the Malay Reserve Land Enactment. The differences of definition in
    the term of Melayu Definisi can be seen in the diagram below;

    3 (FMS Cap 142)

    Malay Reserve Land Enactment


    MRE Chapter 142

    Melayu Definisi
    Whoever who is Malay and normally
    speaks in Malay Language or other types of
    Malay language and professing the religion

    MRE Kelantan

    of Islam
    Malay is a person coming from any
    Malayan races which speaks in Malay
    language and professing the religion of
    Muhammad and must include the a) Islamic
    Coucil

    b)

    Pegawai

    Pemegang

    Harta

    acting as the Administrator or Trustee on


    ERM Kedah

    behalf of the deceased.


    Malay is a person professing the religion of
    Islam

    and

    normally speaks

    in

    Malay

    language, at least one of the parent is


    ERM Perlis

    coming from the Malayan race or Arabian.


    Malay is a person coming from any races of
    Malayan that normally speaks in Malay
    language or any other types of Malay
    languages and professing the religion of

    ERM Johor

    Islam.
    Malay is a person coming from Malay race
    or any other Malay races that normally
    speaks in Malay language and professing
    the religion of Islam and that term must be
    characterized as the Authorities, Board,
    Societies, Organization and Companies
    which are listed in the Second Schedule of

    ERM Terengganu

    these Enactment.
    Malay is a person coming from any race of
    Malayan that normally speaks in Malay
    language or any other type of Malay
    language and professing the religion of
    Islam.

    Other than that, Malay is also being categorized as Melayu Polisi as provided in the
    Malay Reservation Land Enactment as it allowed by the Article 89(6) of the Federal
    Constitution of Malaysia4. The Malay regarded as the Melayu Polisi is still being allowed to
    participate in the Malay Reservation Land Enactment in any forms and to be allowed to deal
    with all types of transactions in the MRE and especially in disposal of land and any types of
    transaction involving the sale and purchase of the lands. The diagram below illustrates the
    definition of Melayu Polisi in the Malay Reservation Land Enactment of certain states;
    Malay

    Reserve

    Land

    Enactment
    Chapter 142 and Federal

    Section

    Explanation

    Section 2

    Polisi
    In the

    Territories

    MRE

    characteristic

    Regarding
    Chapter
    of

    entity

    the
    142,

    Melayu
    there

    stated

    to

    one
    be

    regarded as Malay which are;


    1. The company must be registered
    under the Companies Act 1965 which
    is private limited companies, which
    disregard any Syarikat Kerjasama
    which being registered under the
    Akta Syarikat Kerjasama 1946.
    2. 2. The companies must be construed
    as Malay companies or all the
    members of the said company must
    be a Malay.
    3. There must be provided in the
    companys

    constitution

    that

    the

    selling of the shares must be done


    only to Malay or Malay companies
    MRE Kedah

    Section 19

    only.
    Institution and companies in the Second
    Schedule is to be declared as Malay under
    Section 19 which provides protections and

    MRE Perlis
    MRE Kelantan

    Section

    privileges as enjoyable by the Malays.


    Not defined
    Declared by the Raja Dalam Mesyuarat as

    MRE Johor

    13A
    Explanation

    Malay.
    1. Authorities, Board, Bodies, Societies,

    4 In this Article Malay reservation means land reserved for alienation to Malays
    or to natives of the State in which it lies; and Malay includes any person who,
    under the law of the State in which he is resident, is treated as a Malay for the
    purposes of the reservation of land.

    in Section 2

    Association and Companies listed in


    the Second Schedule being provided
    all the protections and privileges as

    Section 19

    enjoyable by the Malays.


    Public Trustee and estate administrator
    being regarded as Malay in certain cases (in
    circumstances where a person being a

    MRE Terengganu

    Section 2

    representative to a Malay)
    1. Syarikat Pegangan Melayu obtains
    all the protections and privileges as
    obtained

    by

    the

    Malays.

    The

    companies must;
    a) Being established according to
    the law of companies.
    b) The article of association

    to

    restrict the transfer of shares to


    non-Malay and
    c) One of the intention is to manage
    the transaction of Malay lands.
    (Syarikat Pegangan Melayu for the
    purposes of (a) and (b) is to be
    Section 20

    regarded as Malay.
    2. Administrator is regarded as Malay in
    certain cases (when acting as trustee
    to a Malay)

    References
    Resali Muda. (n.d.). Melayu Definisi, Melayu Polisi dan Bukan Me1ayu dalam 11: Enakmen
    Tanah Rizab Melayu: Satu Tinjauan. Jurnal Undang-undang.
    (n.d.). Retrieved from http://prpm.dbp.gov.my/Search.aspx?k=melayu
    Reid Constitutional Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from
    http://www.arkib.gov.my/en/web/guest/suruhanjaya-perlembagaan-reid
    Malay Reserves Enactment. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from
    http://www.kptg.gov.my/en/content/malay-reserves-enactment

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