The Malaysian Malay History
History of Malay comprises of four distinct phases of foreign influence followed by the final phase of Malay independence. The first phase marks the advent and domination of Hindu culture which was imported from India. The Hindu culture reached its zenith during the Srivijaya civilization based in Sumatra, which dominated the entire Malay world from 7th to14th centuries.
The second period in the history of Malay began with the advent of Islam in the country during the 10th century. The Islamic rule in the country resulted in the conversion of the entire Malay world to Islam and the disintegration of the Srivijayan Empire indigenous. The Islamic phase left an indelible impact on the people of Malaysia.
Third phase of the history of Malay saw the invasion of the European Colonial powers. The Malay world was first invaded by the Portuguese followed by the Dutch and finally the British. The Portuguese invaders captured Melaka in the year 1511 and the British formed bases at Penang and Singapore. The most significant event in the history of Southeast Asia happened during this period; the Anglo-Dutch treaty in 1824 resulted in the creation of a frontier between British Malaya and Netherlands East Indies which later on christened as Indonesia. The frontier created on the fateful day is still operational today and has resulted in the permanent division of the Malay world.
The fourth phase of the country is an offshoot of the third one, in order to fulfill the demands of the colonial economy the British in the Malay Peninsula and North Borneo, Chinese and Indian workers were transported in Malaysia and they became a major threat to the indigenous people because of their total control over economic life and the professions and the at one point of time it seemed that the Malays would become a minority in their country.
However, The British grip over the country loosened with Japanese occupation of the region and resulted in insurgence of Malay nationalism and subsequent civil unrest. In fact this phase also saw the rise of Communist insurgency and the formation of an independent, multi-racial Federation of Malaya in 1957.
Finally in the year 1963 Malaya became Malaysia that included British territories in North Borneo and Singapore. Nevertheless, Singapore separated form Malaysia on account of the fact that Singapore had a majority of Chinese inhabitants. The country faced other setbacks in the form of conflict with Indonesia and the breaking out of racial riots in the year 1969.
From 1970 onwards, Malaysia has been ruled by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). The country developed remarkably and prospered under the UMNO rule and is fast becoming an economically developed and socially integrated country.
This is where Malay Restaurant start to grow in Malaysia and Singapore. With the influence from foreign food during the 7th century until today, the Malays start to venture into restaurants offering all types of Malay food.
The Food
Malay food commonly refers to ethnic Malay dishes from Malaysia and Singapore. Dishes include mee rebus, mee soto, mee siam, nasi padang, lontong, gado gado, satay, roti john, mee goreng, nasi goreng and many others. Some of the aforementioned dishes have Indonesian origins - gado gado being the more obvious one. Other dishes in this category may be of Indian-Muslim, Thai or even Pakistani/ Middle-Eastern origins. It is believed the 'siam' in 'mee siam' refers to the early source of the vermicelli noodle used in the dish, Thailand (formerly called Siam) from where it was commonly manufactured and imported during the earlier part of the 20th century. Roti john, has a more recent history. It was purportedly invented in the 1970's by a Malay hawker, Shukor, to cater to the English(hence the 'john') knack for bread and omelette, by combining the two into a 2-in-1 snack-meal. The dish is classified under 'Malay' purely because it is mainly sold by Malay hawkers.
Malay cuisine is an amalgam of traditional dishes from Peninsular Malaysia, with strong influences from places like Sumatra and Java. Rice is the staple food, balancing the spicy cuisine of this region. As most Malays (not all Malaysians are Malay!) are Muslim, pork or any food that comes from a pig is never used in Malay cuisine. Even cutlery and crockery used to serve Muslims must not have been used to serve pork. Pork is not used due to religious reasons.
They are also prohibited from consuming the flesh of predatory animals and predatory birds (ducks are allowed), rodents, reptiles, worms, amphibians (frogs) and the flesh of dead animals. Muslims can only eat meat that is halal. Halal is a way of slaughtering according to the Islamic rites.
Coconut is an important ingredient. The flesh grated and squeezes to make the coconut milk which is used in gravies as well as cakes, drinks and desserts. The freshly grated coconut is also sprinkled over many cakes. Another vital ingredient is pungent dried shrimp paste (belacan), often combined with pounded fish chilies to make the universally popular sambal belacan. Varying amounts of chilies are used in most Malay food. Fragrant herbs like the kaffir lime leaf and lemon grass, shallots and garlic, rhizomes such as ginger and galangal, and grinned spices including coriander and cumin are all skillfully blended.
The staple food of the Malays is rice, boiled to a white fluffy texture. It is served with dishes of meat (chicken or beef), fish and vegetables. Meat and fish are usually prepared as sambal (chili paste) or curry dish. In fact, Most of the Malaysian food can not be eaten without some spices.
Satay is the best known Malay dish- skewers of succulent pieces of seasoned mutton, beef or chicken, cooked over a charcoal flame. They are often eat with Satay sauce ( rich coconut sauce thick with ground peanuts sliced cucumber), sliced cucumber and onions and chunks of compressed rice.
Many Malay food outlets offer Nasi Padang or Nasi Campur, a range of spicy meat, fish, poultry and vegetable dishes which originated in the district of West Sumatra. Another local Malay favorite, based on a Javanese dish, is Soto Ayam, spiced chicken stock served with chicken, bean-sprouts and either potato croquette or compressed rice. Beef Rendang, chunks of beef cooked with lashings of coconut milk, spices and herds, is a perennial favorite. Malay desserts and cakes, generally rich in coconut milk, are great for those with a sweet-tooth.
Why Malay Malaysia Eat Using Hand?
The Malays use the tips of their fingers only, rarely staining their palms. Deft finger movements tear meat, pick up vegetables and gather it with rice into a tight bite-size grip. Then using the thumb, this food is gently and neatly ‘shoveled’ into the mouth. Traditionally, Malays eat with their right hand even if they are left-handed because it is considered taboo to eat with the left hand. The left hand, it is understood, is reserved for an unmentionable personal use.
I would say eating with fingers is a Malay custom. It’s awkward if you’ve never tried it before but somehow, food always taste better when you eat with your fingers… must be the chemical makeup on the skin, i think. However, over here, we only eat with fingers for certain kind of food - certainly when eating nasi lemak, malay mix rice and the various rotis and tosei. When it comes to Chinese food such as noodles and such, we fall back to the fork and spoon or chopsticks. At some Malay or Mamak restaurant, it is the understanding that you’ll be eating with your hands, therefore cutleries would not be provided… if you really need them, you’ll have to ask for them. They would probably give you a pair wrapped in paper or a whole stack in a basket
There are mainly 3 major ethnic group in Malaysia; Malay, Chinese and Indian. Malay and Indian usually eat their mix rice using hand but make sure you are using right hand, eating using left hand is considered inappropriate. The Chinese usually use their chopstick. But in almost all restaurants/stalls/food court do provide clean cutleries.
