A MEDICAL physicist has quelled concerns of the Malay/Bumiputera community that their status as ‘son of the soil’ in the country remains in tact despite the recent discovery of a Buddha statue deemed to be older than the Angkor Wat in the Bukit Choras archaeological heritage site in Yan, Kedah.
Dr Muhammad Zamir Mohyedin who is also a social media influencer rationalised that history learnt in school has stated that prior to becoming Muslims, the Malays used to be Hindus-Buddhists ever since the beginning of the second century.
“This finding reinforces that statement.” penned the 31-year-old researcher at the Centre of Astrophysics & Applied Radiation of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in a post on the X platform.
Janganlah pelik (rujuk komen ciapan ini). Kita dah belajar sejarah di sekolah lagi memang orang Melayu dulu beragama Hindu-Buddha sejak sekitar awal kurun ke-2, bukan Islam. Penemuan ini menguatkan lagi kenyataan itu.
Islam datang ke Tanah Melayu kemudian iaitu sekitar kurun… https://t.co/Eupdu4ridc
— Zamir Mohyedin (@zamirmohyedin) June 26, 2024
“Islam came to Tanah Melayu much later, around the 12th century. The majority (of Malays) embraced Islam when the Melaka kingdom was founded in the 15th century.”
For context, Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry secretary-general Datuk Roslan Abdul Rahm had on yesterday (June 26) revealed the discovery of a Buddha statue dating back to the eighth or ninth century in the Bukit Choras archaeological heritage site which not only reflects the area as an important religious site at that time but older than the Angkot Wat in Cambodia and Borobudur in Indonesia.
The discovery was made by a research team from the Global Archaeological Research Centre (PPAG) of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) led by Nasha Rodziadi Khaw.
Roslan has hailed the discovery which was made between April 21 to May 21 this year involving a collaboration between the National Heritage Department (JWN) and USM as an archaeology tourism asset and tourist attraction for Kedah.
However, given the heavy politicisation of race and religion in the country, some netizens have voiced the need to emphasise that while Hinduism and Buddhism were among the early religions practiced by the Malays, “this does not mean that the Indians were the first inhabitants here”.
“Their entry (Hinduism and Buddhism) was mostly attributed to trade between India and Tanah Melayu. Hope ‘they’ understand,” opined one commentator.
Another claimed to be speechless when “engaged in a debate with some Indians” who remarked that “Indians had settled here for a long time prior to the existence of Tanah Melayu because Hinduism originated from India”.
Despite the above anxiety which thankfully came from only a handful of netizens, most are seemingly aware that the Malay world is considered a periphery civilisation flanked by two great ancient civilisations of the world – China and India.
“It is therefore impossible not to be influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism as a result of the overflowing power of those two civilisations,” observed one commentator.
Many are also able to accept that their ancestors could be a Hindu/Buddhist prior to embracing Islam.
In essence, as one netizen put it, those who paid attention in class during their “SPM history lessons” would have known that “our ancestors were influenced by both Hinduism and Buddhism or even animism practices”. – June 27, 2024
Main image credit: Bernama
