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SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Malays Re-invent Identity in Post-Apartheid Era
By Kalinga Seneviratne
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Mar 14 (IPS) - Slavery is a term normally associated with Africans being taken away to other parts of the world for forced labour, but the history of the Cape Malay community here is a slave trade going in the reverse direction.
They were brought as slaves by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries,
their voices were repressed by the apartheid policies of the 20th century.
But in post-apartheid South Africa, the Malay Muslim community here is
reinventing their identity.
Known as the 'Cape Malays', this community of about three-quarters of a
million has its own radio station, and their main base the Bo-Kaap area of
Cape Town on the slopes of Signal Hill next to Table Mountain, has become
a major tourist attraction in the city.
It has become so fashionable even white 'yuppies' - who shunned living
among the 'coloured' during the apartheid era - are buying property and
moving in here.
Bo-Kaap, situated between the hills and the city's commercial centre,
consists of cobbled streets, brightly coloured houses dating back to the
19th century, Muslim shrines known as 'kramat' and at least four scenic
mosques - one dating back to the 18th century.
The descendants of the current Cape Malays came mainly from Malaysia and
Indonesia, while some have also come from India and Sri Lanka.
They were mainly Muslims who were shipped to South Africa by the Dutch
East Indies Co as slaves, because they were creating trouble for colonial
rulers in Asia. Most were skilled artisans such as silversmiths, tailors,
cobblers, singers, masons and carpenters.
"Dutchmen bought land in this area and designed the houses. Slaves
brought from the East built the houses for the Dutch to live in," explained
Bradley Adams of the Bo Kaap museum, which recreates the interior of a
Muslim household in a 19th century Dutch house.
He said the museum is visited by people from all over the world who are
interested in learning about how a Muslim community came into existence in
Cape Town.
During the apartheid era, this community was lumped together as
"coloured" without a distinct identity. In 1966, they lost much of their
vibrant cultural life when the adjoining area known as 'District Six' was
bulldozed by the apartheid regime to make way for a white community that
was never established. The land remains barren.
"I was uprooted from my community and moved to a place 22 km from Cape
Town. They bulldozed all our buildings," said taxi driver Raj, a Cape Malay
in his 60s. "President (Thabo) Mbeki has promised to give us back the land
and we are waiting for him to fulfill his promise.''
While apartheid authorities tried to banish the community and its
culture , the post-apartheid authorities are encouraging the community to
reinvent itself.
So much so that the grand finale to the Cricket World Cup's opening
ceremony at the Wanderers stadium here on Feb. 9 came from Cape Malay
culture. Presented as giving "a taste of how Capetownians party", it
consisted of colourful dresses and music closely resembling the Malay Joget
dance.
Zainie Nussi Misbach, owner of Bo Kaap Bazaar Cafe, argues that her
ancestors who came from Java in Indonesia, were political exiles and not
slaves "because they were educated people". She resents the fact that
people of her generation were not allowed to learn about their history and
culture.
"We were not able to learn about Indonesia," she complained. " At school
nothing was thought to us about our history, culture and language. We were
not even given to go back there to visit our ancestral land. It's only
after 1994 (when apartheid was abolished) that we are able to go there.''
In 1994 Misbach visited Malaysia and Indonesia for the first time. Today
she proudly serves Malay dishes to visitors at her cafe, from which she
makes a living.
Community elder 82-year-old Ismail Petersen said his father even had to
take the name of his boss - Petersen. "We couldn't have an identity those
days. Ismail became Abraham and Daud became David," he said.
Ismail learned about his people and language through contacts he made
with Malaysian and Indonesian seamen who used to visit Cape Town. He
started meeting them as early as 1938 and ever since then, his home has
been open to such visitors.
He has even formed the 'Indonesian and Malaysian Seamen's Club' here.
Recalled Ismail: "I escorted them in their visits to the 'kramat',
burial shrines of our Malay ancestors in and around Cape Town, and often
used to take them home for meals.''
In Cape Town during apartheid, the Group Areas Act divided the Muslim
community. Malays were lumped with the coloureds and the Indians had to
live separately.
To unify the scattered Muslim community here, the Cape Malays in Bo
Kaaf launched a community radio station ' Voice of the Cape' in 1995.
Today, it is rated the third most popular one in the Western Cape, with a
listenership of over 200,000.
"We're a community radio station with Islamic ethos. We don't say we are
a Muslim radio station," Achmat Ryland, programme manager of the Voice of
the Cape, told IPS.
The station is mainly funded by advertising, but does not carry
un-Islamic advertising such as for alcohol. It broadcasts music, news,
discussions on topics from international affairs to HIV/AIDS to issues
within the local Muslim community.
It does live outside broadcasts from different mosques on Fridays and
special festival days.
"For years established media has been portraying Islam very negatively.
The news our community was given came from the white apartheid
perspective," explained Ryland. "That's why we applied for a broadcasting
license, but looking for alternative views was not the only reason.''
While the Cape Malay community is pleased with freedom after apartheid
was abolished in 1994, they are uncomfortable with affirmative action being
applied only to the black African community.
Like the blacks, the Cape Malays were denied good educational and
recreational facilities during the apartheid era, she said, and as a result
most of the youth are unemployed and out in the streets.
"I'm a patriotic South African. I fought in the struggle, my children
fought in the struggle" added Misbach. "Since 1994 we have been
marginalised because affirmative action has not embraced us.''
(END/2003)
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