ABSTRACT
Recent trends related to offensive language on social networking sites (SNSs) have raised concerns regarding the possible fading of traditional Malay moral identity and values. As a research topic, moral identity is relatively neglected in psychological studies in Malaysia. In this study, 1,000 comments posted on two political Facebook pages were analysed using NVivo to identify moral attributes of Malays. In addition, an open-ended question—“Who is a real Malay?”—was asked to 21 Malays. The analysis revealed 14 attributes: passionate, courteous and polite (budi bahasa), considerate, respectful, patience, loyal, fatalistic (redho), shy (malu), rude and offensive, outspoken, obscene, judgmental, sarcastic, and emotional. In response to the open-ended question, 10 characteristics were reported: well-spoken (lemah lembut), courteous and polite (budi bahasa), respectful, helpful, kind, prejudiced, lazy, close-minded, envious, and gives up easily. In a second study, Study 2, 1,093 comments posted on non-political most-liked Facebook pages were analysed using NVivo to identify Malay attributes. We found 13 attributes: sarcastic, rude and offensive, outspoken, tactful, sympathetic, judgemental, likes to gossip, emotional, caring, courteous and polite (budi bahasa), adheres to religion and adat, fatalistic (redho), and considerate. Finally, 200 Malays responded to the open-ended question and 40 moral attributes were found. The top six moral attributes revealed were respectful, friendly, well-spoken (lemah lembut), helpful, kind, and courteous and polite (budi bahasa). In sum, overall, the findings have indicated that the context of discourse determines types of moral identity and values. Moral attributes which relate to the Malay adat, or traditional norms and values, are still evident in both online and non-online communications. Parallel with past studies, flexibility is apparent in self-representations.
