“We are proud of our Sri Lankan Malay roots”

In 1872, an All-malay team of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment played a game of cricket against a British Regiment team. The Malay team won, surprising the colonisers.

But it resulted in the British Government gifting the Rifle Green Parade grounds in Slave Island, which eventually led to the founding of the Colombo Malay Cricket Club.

With roots that run as far back as the 13th century, the Malays say they feel extremely proud about where they stand as a “Sri Lankan Community” today. To learn more about the evolution of the Sri Lankan Malay Community over the past 75 years, we spoke with Mr. Rilwan Lantra, the president of Sri Lanka Malay Association (SLMA) and Mr. Rizwan Badoordeen, president of the Colombo Malay Cricket Club (CMCC).

As staying alive is a prime factor to protect a community, Mr. Rilwan Lantra said that the membership provided by the Sri Lanka Malay Association to every Malay, is one key aspect that keeps the community together. And to keep this going on across the island, there are 26 other associations in areas like Badulla, Hambantota and Kandy, where the Hill Country Malay Association is situated apart from the Colombo Malay Association.also the Colombo Malay Association organises many sports, entertainment programmes and cultural events such as the “Pasar Malam - the night market” and gets other associations to participate as one community. Likewise every area that has an association has its own activities to keep the community of the respective area alive which works best at keeping the community together.

Supporting each other through various committees spanning across education, healthcare, water donations, natural disaster assistance, social and environmental needs, literary and cultural affairs, religious affairs, women’s affairs and also by research is also taken care of by the SLMA. Through these committees the SLMA keeps their community up and running by archiving their heritage, fostering friendship with all communities, providing various charitable services and presenting cultural performances. The SLMA also spoke of the government approved charity service called the “The Sri Lanka Malay Association Rupee Fund”, which started in 1953 and is functioning to date. The project commenced in order to fulfil the educational needs of the children of the poor families.

To celebrate and preserve their culture and identity as a community, the SLMA strives to present various cultural performances at national events and showcasing their culture and lifestyle at annual shows such as the Pesta Melayu. They also hold the popular Pasar Malam, which is a Malay food festival with costume, music and dance performances. They also work diligently in maintaining a library and disseminating Sri Lankan Malay language tutorials as preserving the Malay language is a crucial task for them due to the decrease observed in its usage. “We proudly identify ourselves as Sri Lankan Malays” said Mr. Rilwan, smiling. “Honesty, trustworthiness and loyalty have always been there in the Malay community and wherever we work, we strive to showcase this and keep that benchmark. We are very happy about it and hope to preserve this identity of ours in Sri Lanka at all times.”

“To talk about our clothing, us being descendants of Indonesia we mostly follow their apparel style such as wearing the Songkok cap worn by the Indonesians and Malaysians, and also prefer the Indonesian batik, continued Mr. Rilwan.

“We are a community that would do anything to protect our country,” said Mr. Rilwan. The SLMA recalled proudly how a majority of the Malay community fought for the independence of Sri Lanka including prominent figures like Dr. T.B. Jayah who is considered a national hero. Mr. Rizwan explained how the CMCC has the oldest Malay Cricket Ground in the world and how it’s an immense pride for Sri Lankans. Mr. Rilwan also added how almost thirty Malays from the triforce, have sacrificed their lives during the war to protect the sovereignty of this nation and the community holds a hero’s day in honour of them. “The fire brigade at the time of independence was almost 100% Malays and the police consisted of around 75% of Malays as well” Rilwan said.

“We hope that the government will take care of us and identify our community properly as Sri Lankan Malays.” said Mr Rizwan explaining how they often lose their identity in the country and get blended in general with the Muslim community. They explained that their associations are non-political and solely community focused. They want to preserve their identity and form international connections with other countries in the future as well. They also hope that the younger Malay community would honour and preserve their heritage through their associations and move forward in unity together with other communities as a peaceful nation.