Reclaiming Adat
Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature
Khoo Gaik Cheng, 2006, Chapter 1, p. 5-9.
Adat and Islam are integral to Malay identity and exist in a complementary fashion with each other (Wazir 1992; Sharifah Zaleha 2000). Originally an Arab word, adat is used to describe the local customs or customary laws that existed before the advent of Islam. It acts like the “residue” of all customs that are considered Malay but not Islamic (Nagata 1986, 42). Among such customs are bilateralism in gender relations, an openness about sexuality and sensuality, belief in magical healing, and mysticism. Many aspects of Malay adat are regarded as traditionally tolerant (though still patriarchal) and more open to sensual or sexual matters than resurgent Islam is - this feature of adat is also aligned with secularism, a product of modernization. Because adat encourages women’s power and autonomy, it continues to function in Malaysia as “a system of ‘checks and balances’ between incompatible or conflicting ideological systems [resurgent Islam and Westernization] which culturally determine the distribution of power and responsibility between the sexes” (Wazir 1992, 230). While anthropologists study state-led Islam and how it serves to further a patriarchal agenda that contravenes the more egalitarian practices and beliefs of adat, one should be aware that adat in itself delineates gendered spaces (see Peletz 1995). What needs to be challenged is the notion that adat and modernity are mutually exclusive and represent opposing spheres of East versus West. While Wazir Jahan Karim may argue that there are differences between adat and Islam, one advocating gender bilaterality and the other emphasizing its patriarchal aspects as promulgated by state discourse, I argue that, in the modern constructions of culture by Malaysian writers and filmmakers, adat is not impermeable to patriarchal interpretations; in fact, patriarchy responds through various channels: through the secular discourse of nationalism and the nation-state, through the conservative interpretations of Islam promulgated by PAS (Pan Malaysian Islamic Party, the Islamic opposition party), certain fringe dakwah (Muslim proselytizing) groups such as Darul Arqam and Jemaah Tabligh, and perhaps more subtly, through the more moderate dakwah group ABIM populated by Malay urban professionals.
What constitutes an “Asian Canadian”? Can the concept represent the broad spectrum of individuals and communities it is literally supposed to represent? What exactly does it mean to be “Asian Canadian” culturally? Conventional notions of ethnicity, which emphasize one’s cultural heritage, cannot adequately explain self-fashioned identities such as “Asian Canadian” or “Asian American.” Since its conception in the late 1960s Asian American Studies has conducted extensive research on the formations of Asian American communities and, in particular, on the formation of Asian American identity. Without a specific institutional space similar to Asian American Studies, Canadian studies of the Asian population in Canada have been restricted by single-discipline approaches and narrow conceptual frameworks. Asian Canadians as objects of study are largely treated as distinctive, separate ethnic groups, and their identities are analyzed mostly in terms of their maintenance vis-à-vis the dominant culture. Literary scholars’ recent engagement with “Asian Canadian literature” and “Asian North American literature” indicates a breakaway from conventional conceptual frames and approaches.
