dr alicia's article

THE ORIGINS OF THE MALAY OBSESSION WITH THE TUDUNG [ie HIJAB]

It seems like women who do not wear the hijab in Malaysia have become an endangered species. The question is, endangered by what and by whom. Not illegal poachers, but a culture with a short history.

This culture began to take root amongst Malay Muslims since the late 1970s. This was the era of Islamic resurgence inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran that successfully brought down the secular and US-supported govt of Reza Shah Pahlavi.

At the same time, Malaysia was rapidly developing from a third world country to a... it doesn't matter what world of a country we are. This modernisation process prioritised Malays from the countryside so that many of them migrated to the city(ies) to pursue education and job opportunities.

Malay women in particular gained the biggest benefit from this modernisation. For the first time, many young unmarried Malay women from the countryside were given the opportunity to work, to further their studies, and to stay in the urban area beyond the supervision of their parents.

However, the freedom of these Malay women especially the 'minah karan' [lit. 'electric janes' ie factory workers] who were employed by the electronics industry at the urban outskirts were seen with a jaundiced eye. Thus arrived the pro-PAS [Islamic Party of Malaysia] and pro-ABIM [the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement, a strong Islamic student activist organisation] agents of dakwah [missionary/evangelising work] who acted as 'saviours' of these Malay women who were believed to have drifted far away by the currents of modernisation.

The number of Malay women who wear the hijab have been rising since the 1980s and have continued to flourish until women who do not wear the hijab - like me - have become the few. This minority then continue to face admonishments, insults and oppression until every piece of our hair has been covered by the hijab.

It can be said that the process of Islamisation in Malaysia is obsessed with Malay women's dressing and behaviour. This administration of the daily life of the Malay women goes hand in hand with the modus operandi of an ethnic group who are too consumed with the act of preserving the Malay-Muslim identity, an act that is rarely challenged in this country.

So, why don't I wear the hijab? As a feminist, I reject the social differences between men and women. It includes definitions that differentiates the aurat (or 'awrah' ie the proscribed areas of the body that cannot be revealed in public) of men and women. What is so different between them that even a strand of a woman's hair must be hidden?

To me, the hijab represents the fruits of the social tension that arose between the process of Islamisation and the pattern of economic development which has prioritised the Malays since the 1970s. This tension still exists and can be seen in the pressure on Malay women to adopt the hijab.

The evolution of the hijab from a symbol of Islamic resurgence to a consumerist symbol that is individualist is a result of the modernisation and development of the middle class Malays, who are the hegemony in Malaysian society. The hijab can also become capitalist and neoliberal. The Islam of the Malays is also capitalist and neoliberal.

I understand that the hair of the Malay women is merely symbolic and has a further subtextual meaning. It signifies the differences that separates men from women in the domestic and public sphere. The hijab is just a fetish - a focal point for all the desires and obsessions of all Malays.

Now, the identity of the Malay women is so synonymous with the hijab. The hijab is Malay. Any attempt to segregate the hijab from the Malay woman's identity can produce an existentialist crisis that frequeently occurs in the social media spaces such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. A Muslim woman is considered a 'success' if she adopts the hijab. Therefore, the extinction of the un-hijab-wearing Malay woman is a victory for all Malay Muslims.