Malayland

Book excerpt: What does it mean to be Malay in the 21st century? Especially in a country like Malaysia where identity politics is questioned on an almost daily basis, and policed by the state. 16 years later after the publication of I Am Muslim, Dina Zaman returns to write a memoir, writing about what it means to be Malay, and Muslim in the 21st century. The writer embarked on Malayland during the Covid pandemic, to understand the anger and frustrations of her fellow ethnic Malays who were fighting against (imagined) enemies and a new world order impacted by a virus that killed over seven million people globally. She grew up in a Malaysia that was seething with anger, bubbling underneath the many nightclubs Malaysia was famed for in the 1980s, that witnessed how secularism killed its Malay Muslim heritage. The 1998 Reformasi movement changed Malaysia and whether for the better, is left up to Malaysians to decide. Today race and faith are discussed and embraced frenetically, where hateful extremism is hidden under the guise of nationalism. Young Malaysians are asserting their political and birth identities through social media. And along the way, the sense of irony and humour that Malaysia is known for, has lost its way. Malayland is a reflective book: memories and flashbacks of a childhood filled with earthquakes, spooks and a sense of wonderment and curiosity about a country that is fighting for a desired identity.