KUALA LUMPUR: Historians believe the non-Malays, in this case the Chinese and Indians, rejected assimilation into the Malay culture in order to preserve their own.
Responding to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement during Keluar Sekejap podcast pertaining to assimilation, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies principal fellow, Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong said the Chinese refused to assimilate to the Malay lifestyle and it has been the stand the community took since Day 1 in Tanah Melayu back then.
He said the majority of the southeast Asian countries adopted the assimilation method and Malaysia was the only country that agreed for the integration of the non-Malays.
Main reason to reject assimilation was the sense of pride the non-Malays had on their cultural roots.
"For instance, the Chinese are proud of their 5,000 years of cultural identities, an uninterrupted development of their culture," he said when contacted today.
He said the non-Malays were in great numbers pre-independence era, which made a strong opposition to the assimilation method.
Despite that, there are minor traces of assimilation of the non-Malays into the Malay culture.
Such examples were the Peranakan Baba Nyonya and Indian Chetti in Melaka, he said.
He said there was a belief back then that assimilation meant that the non-Malays had to become Muslims, which was also the reason it was rejected.
"But it is not true, as we can see the Baba Nyonya community is not embracing the Muslim way of life, they still maintain their own cultural traditions," he added.
Visiting Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute Dr Mohd Faizal Musa gave a more neutral outlook on assimilation and integration where he said that both approaches were an integral part of nation building.
He said it was normal for minorities to be obsessed with their own culture and wanting to preserve them.
"I believe Chinese and Indians have no problem accepting a dominant culture while having theirs.
"In fact, it is their rights, human rights," he said.
In the Keluar Sekejap podcast session, Dr Mahathir said Chinese and Indian immigrants in the past refused to assimilate to Malay culture.
He said immigrants in the past, particularly during Malaysia's post-independence, wanted integration instead of assimilation as they wanted to preserve their culture from their originating countries.