An academician believes that the adoption of Arab culture, or ‘Arabisation’, by the Malays will have an effect on the community’s culture.

National University of Singapore (NUS) professor Syed Farid al-Attas said problems can emerge when Malays shun their culture by wearing jubah (robes) and skull caps.

“Malays wear jubah, white kopiah and they shun Malay dress. This will lead to shunning the Malay culture and the Malay language,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said this will not lead to problems from the viewpoint of Islam.

Syed Farid said this at a forum titled ‘Arabisasi dari mana’ (Where did Arabisation come from) in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Apart from Syed Farid, other panellists include historian Eddin Khoo and social activist Marina Mahathir.

Meanwhile, Marina questioned the Malay community’s perception if cultural traits were taken from another community.

“It’s only human nature that when we want to show our culture to others, we would follow those who are better.

“But at the same time, we think that our culture is behind times.

“This becomes a problem because if we take Arab aspects, is it because we think that our culture is not at the same level (as the Arab culture)?” asked Marina to some 100 attendees at the two-hour long forum.