GOTONG ROYONG

In the Malay community there is one word called gotong royong which mean working together. Gotong royong occur when there are things to be done by a family or community. When a family is planning to held a wedding, most family members far and near will come to help. Neighbours especially the wives will come to the house 2 or 3 days before the event armed with knife to help in the kitchen. The men will be responsible to cook [best cook are always men], cleaning the premise, construct tentages and setting up dining tables. Few months before that they would sit down and discuss the matters in a very formal but cordial meeting. The family head will chair the meeting and if he is unable to lead the meeting he will ask somebody else to lead the meeting.

Most Malay are Muslim. Therefore it is only natural that they held the meeting in the mosque normally after maghrib prayers [sunset].

I dont know gotong royong has been in the Malay community since when. But this is another management approach which has been part of this community [society value and culture]. It is worth to see how this value and culture exist this community and many other communities in the world.