This collection of essays about what it means to grow up Malay in multicultural Malaysia is essential reading for all Malaysians. Edited by Ooi Kee Beng and Wan Hamidi Hamid, it showcases nine young writers of rare insight and honesty who share their unique experiences about growing up in Malaysia.

As Haris Zuan, Wan Hamidi Hamid, Zairil Khir Johari, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, Altaf Deviyati, Izmil Amri, Syukri Shairi, Raja Ahmad Iskandar and Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof share, there is no single defining experience to describe what it means to be a “constitutional Malay”. It is also very clear in the stories of these various writers that being Malay comes into collision at many turns with the national state-sponsored project of being Malaysian.

As Ariffin Omar says in his foreword: “This is all a learning process towards understanding the richness and complexities that life has to offer. It is not only about being Malay, or being Malaysians. It is about being humans”.