Salam

One of my Chinese frens asked me," why do Malays always shake their hands when u meet with each other?". He was actually referring to the Salam that Malays often do upon meeting or upon departing.

Well,Salam is a gesture of seeking forgiveness from the person u asked to salam with,who is often a elder or close frens. Normally, Salam is restricted to family members or ppl that u idolized.Usually,Malays would have a Salam ceremony on the 1st of Hari Raya whereby the young ones would seek forgiveness for their past mistakes or grudges and the elders would forgive them.This is typically of the Malay culture where small gestures or sayings carries greater weight that what it seems.Malays especially the older generation hide their displeasure or discontent in words or gestures that seem to be normal to the naked eye.

Well,why do Malays salam ppl on other days too? We salam ppl upon meeting them to seek forgiveness on mistakes that we did unknowingly behind their back and prior to the meet,its like starting anew with a clean slate. We salam again on departure to show that we bear no discord on the things that we might say during the meet and again starting things with a clean slate. Its a befitting act as in Arabic,it means "Peace".