LAZY MALAYS? THE RIDICULE OF DERISIVE STEREOTYPE FROM THE POST-COLONIAL COLONISTS

Abstract

Malays have long been stereotyped with certain negative characters and this has been prompting for decades. They had been blamed for their inability to compete against other races in many aspects. The main objective of this study is an exploration of how British writers stereotyped the images of the native Malays through texts. A thematic content analysis involving articles published by Singapore Free Press were analysed for this purpose. The findings showed that some of the contents of the articles were misleading and far from being accurate. The British managed to portray Malays as lazy and apathy through the publications. These accusations were not explained in an intellectual manner, a result of civilizational and cultural discrepancies between the British colonial writers and their Malay subjects. Such stereotype was actually being planned ahead to legalized the colonization in the Malay land.