Racism in Malaysia is a recurring topic that often crops up in people’s blogs every 2 – 3 months.
It is an important topic. But frankly speaking, the topic has been done to death. Every man, woman, uncle, auntie, ang moh, cina, malay, Ah Beng, Ah Seng, and Hello Kitty have all written a blog entry on Racism in Malaysia. In fact, I think a Malaysian blog isn’t a Malaysian blog until you’ve written something about racism.
Even expats like ShaolinTiger wrote about racism in Malaysia. (No actual Shaolin tigers were harmed in the photoshopping of this photo)
Recently, the discussion on racism cropped up again after an e-mail from a so-called ‘very frightened Malaysian abroad’. Click here if you want to read it in full, but here’s a heavily-shortened version.
Dear Mr Ooi,
I have been meaning to pen some thoughts for some time now, to let people actually read the views of the typical ‘overseas Malaysian’ who is kept away.
I accepted a Malaysian government scholarship to study at Oxford University [and later] Harvard University for postgraduate study.
Now I am 31 years old and draw a comfortable monthly salary of US$22,000. Yet, I yearn to return home. I miss my home, my family, my friends, and the life in Malaysia. But of late, my idealistic vision of my country has really come crashing down.
I read about the annual fiasco involving non-bumiputera top scorers who are denied entry to critical courses at local universities and are offered forestry and fisheries instead.
I read about a poor Chinese teacher’s daughter with 11A1’s being denied a scholarship, while I know some Malay friends who scored 7A’s and whose parents are millionaires being given scholarships.
I read about the Malay newspaper editors attacking the private sector for not appointing enough Malays to senior management level, whilst insisting that the government always ensure that Malays dominate anything government-related.
I read that at our local universities, not a single Vice-Chancellor or Deputy Vice-Chancellor is non-Malay.
I read about a poor Indian lady having to pay full price for a low-cost house after being dispossessed from a plantation, whilst Malay millionaires demand their 10% bumiputera discount when buying RM2 million bungalows in a gated community.
As I read all this, I tremble with fear. I love my country and long to return. I am willing to take a 70% pay cut. I am willing to face a demotion. But really, is there a future for me, for my children and for their children? I am truly frightened.
I can deal with the lack of democracy, the lack of press freedom, the ISA, our inefficient and bureaucratic civil service, our awful manners and even a little corruption. But I cannot deal with racism in my homeland.
Yours sincerely,
A very frightened Malaysian abroad
After reading that email, my first reaction was “Wah! USD22,000 per month ar? Tio boh?”
But seriously speaking I can empathise with the guy. I’m lucky I don’t have to deal with racism in my everyday life because for some reason I seem to get along with all races very well. I’d like to think of myself as one who embraces cultural differences and I’d like everyone else to do that too.
The only instance I got accused of being a racist was when I wrote about Star Wars: Revenge of the Sikh, which is odd considering I was blasting the AiFM Chinese radio presenter.
Then there’s also once in Australia, an ang moh workmate of mine asked me why I call them ‘ang mo’, since the words ‘ang mo’ and ‘gwei lo’ are intrinsically racist. I stared at him with my mouth wide open as I struggled to find a less racist word for ‘Caucasian’ in Hokkien.
Its a different story when you talk about the Malaysian government, or ‘gahmen’, if you like. Digressing a little – I have no idea why some people insist on calling ‘government’ as ‘gahmen’. Here in Kuching, we call them ‘garblement’ because that’s what they do. They keep on sending out garbled messages to us all the time.
So anyway, do I think the Malaysian garblement is racist? Unforunately yes. I’d even go as far as to say that the Malaysian garblement has more racist policies than the Australian garblement, which is saying a lot considering how Malaysia once cried out against Australia over their ‘racist’ immigration policies and treatment of refugees.
But is it a surprise? Hardly. What do you expect when the ruling party ever since Malaysia’s independance is a Malay race-based political party called UMNO?
“Let no one from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land. Don’t question the religion because this is my right on this land.” – Badruddin, UMNO Deputy Chairperson
“Eh hello. I’m born here so its also my right to be here also wat. So hao lian for what?” – Kenny Sia, Blogger.
Btw, I always thought the name ‘UMNO’ for a political party is kinda cute. Can you imagine what their caucus sessions are like?
UMNO Minion: “Prai Minster! Prai Minster! Can we adopt another policy to increase our bumi discount to 30% pleaseee?”
Prime Minister: “UM… NO.”
UMNO Minion: “Then 20% can?”
Prime Minister: “UM. NO!”
UMNO Minion: “15%?”
Prime Minister: “UMNO!!!”
UMNO Minion: “Mmmk. :(“
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against pro-Bumi policies. Before Mahathir, a lot of Malays are living well below the poverty line. Look at them now, how many of them can go onto Universities and finally afford their own cars?
The wealth gap between Chinese and Malay had been far too wide for far too long, and I think its a bloody good thing that the situation for Malays has improved to the way it is today. A country like Malaysia needs pro-Bumi policies.
On the other hand, policies like these are exploited. By right, regardless of race, the poor and the needy should be the first in line to receive government assistance. But look at what’s happening. The richest Malays in this country are still receiving discounts when they buying houses. How about those who really need it? Clearly, something is wrong.
I’m happy pro-Bumi policies improved the welfare of Malays in this country. I’m happy that it quelled the 1969 racial riot.
But please give me a break lah. Pro-Bumi policies are supposed help the underprivileged bumiputeras stand on their own two feet, NOT hold their hand and walk the long hard road for them. Once they are rescued beyond the poverty line, its time for them to stop relying on the government and start working hard like everyone else to earn their place in society.
I believe Pro-Bumi policies exist as a privilege, not as a right. If these policies still continue to work in favour of the bumiputeras who don’t need it instead of non-bumiputeras who need it, that’s when pro-Bumi policies crossed to the Dark Side and become Racist policies.
Darth Badawi lives.
Do the leaders of this country know what’s wrong with their pro-Bumi policies? I’m sure they do.
But are they doing something about it? No. And I think it does not take a USD22,000-per-month salary to know why not.
The leader of this country is a Malay-race based political party. So long as there are Malays voting for them, they will always remain in power and they will always come up with pro-Malay policies to make their voters happy. Meanwhile, non-Malays will continue to cry foul. But they can’t do anything about it because they can never garner as many votes as the ruling party.
Its gonna take an UMNO leader with the balls of steel to risk losing votes and say to his supporters “Look, we’ve have done enough for you now. We’ve helped you out of poverty, but don’t worry if you fall because the government will always be here for you. You’re all grown up now so its time for you to stop relying on me and start working hard on your own.”
But until that happen, nothing is gonna change.
This is a sensitive topic and I urge everyone to practise vigilance when leaving comments. Meanwhile, I leave you with a question that’s been troubling me for a very very long time.
Is there anyone out there who can suggest to me a less racist version of ‘ang mo’ in Hokkien?
Let us not forget the non-Malay bumiputeras who are often left out in the NEP. Orang Asli, Iban, Kadazandusun, Bidayuh, Kelabit, Kedayan, Kayan et al.
couldn’t agree more Kenny. you hit the jackpot. there will always be pro-Malay policies and hopefully the gahmen reduce it little by little as our country grow. 🙂
cheers..
I am too comtemplating about returning to malaysia. I am willing to accept that we are not entitled to equal benefits in term of housings. But, education is considered the basic necessity, and so i am disappointed with the policy we have in malaysia in term of qouta system for the different races.
hmm. i dunno. i generally don’t think of people, individually, as a representation of a race. i think that we are not all created equal, cuz that would mean we could all do the same things equally well, and all guys would have equally short cocks and and all girls would have equally small boobs. rather i believe that all are made different to fit into a need that’s there for us. so, i don’t think there really is such thing as a race, but that’s just me.
however, if we look at the general sentiment on this, it’s a case of “i want to jaga my own” mentality. so the real question is, what is your own? in the case of our government, their own is their voters. so, duh, no way we can tell them to give up their racist policies, since they’re more interested in their own, rather than OUR own. therefore, the only really practical option is to vote them out of government, the only real challenge is finding enough people to do that. maybe the key is to make more people? lolz.
i don’t think we can take May 13th as a good reason for the pro-Bumi policy. it doesn’t really make much sense. how will helping one particular sect of society help to quell racial hatred? isn’t that kind of self-contradicting? sure, it may ‘help’ for awhile, but where does it really lead? dependency on the state for those benefitting from it, uneven distribution of wealth all around. how does that help? technically, the most fair system would be the capitalist. if you have it, you do. wouldn’t that work better? anyways, if you need to help one race in order for it to function, it’s kinda like saying they’re pansies, right?
forefathers’ mistakes should not be our own. they settled for compromise. we should settle for contract-that-makes-most-practical-long-term-sense (no idea what the equivalent word for that is).
You’re right Kenny. But I’m sure there is a reason for the pro-Bumi thingy and for that reason (whatever it is), I accept it. Life still goes on for us non-bumis.
This post is racist against bridges! Bridges have a right to have red hair all over them without being called racists!
ever wonder what UMNO is for??
U Must Not Object
For a less racist version of “Ang Mo” in hokkien => Peh Lang (white man) can ar?
Ang mo is not racistla. It just means red hair right.
Enough of this racism talks. Wuts with chinese and these sort of things.
never had i read something so insightful and OTT funny in my life. well done Kenny!! now i feel kinda guilty didnt vote u blog of the year. dont strangle me just yet coz i did what every racist wouldnt do. mwahs
Enough of this racism talks. Wuts with chinese and these sort of things.
Commented by: Wutever at June 7, 2005 01:26 AM
dude, embrace the “truth” please. it’s like sex education- children needs know it yet parents wanna hide so much. remember the way how kenny thought pansai is giving birth? not embracing the truth leads to more problem. if you’re not afraid to see light, why hide?? if you’ve nothing to hide, then why enough?
Before i say anything, I would like to mention I’m a Cantonese Chinese guy and have no affiliation to any religions whatsoever (Freethinker). Anyways on with what I have to say.
True to the extend that the Malaysian goverment is of course governt by the Malays and lots of implementation of pro-Bumi policies that tends to favor the datuks and datins aka royalists and formalist more than those who actually need it.
However it would have been the same if it were a Chinese or Indian were the ruling party. This is true to the extend that our country as much as every other country is tied down by tons of off-record politics that go by under the desk. Also it would take a lot of balls for the PM to say that but what other catastrophy could easily befallen us as well. Although I would nto say it’s the best overall but I am glad UMNO at current is the ruling party.
Lets put it this way, would you rather Keadilan or PAS? DAP is our main Chinese party if I’m not mistaken (Right? I can’t fully remember until next election) and ruling areas under DAP aren’t progressing as much that of those under the BN ruling seat. Not to offend anyone mind you but it’s just a point of perspective. This came in evidential for me for say Perak/Ipoh and Kuching.
Then there is also that “Tidak Apa/It’s Okay” attitude Malays have. Badawi is no doubt strict in his own ways ever since he became PM (cracking down corrupted local officials and datuks but of course whether or not things actually work out for the better or left dead beat as always that we wouldn’t know) and with what Badawi has done he almost lost lotsa powerful people if you ask me from a political point of view.
The slumber/partially laid back characteristics the Malays have kinda puts us in a point where we know our goverment is doing something for us, yet at the same time they do give a little space for us to breathe.
True that as Malaysians, racial issues pop up once in awhile if not frequently but no less are the same discussions are to take place in other countries as well. Atleast (for now) we’re considered one of the only country in the world to have real peace (aside from the daily crimes of course lol) and our race and culture being able to coincide allowing us to share and enjoy the various festives that each different religion and believe practices. This is unlike other countries where just even two major races could easily end up in a bloodbath.
All in all I love it. Our country and slowly growing and our goverment despite being rule by the Malay party hasn’t done too bad themselves in keeping our country at peace and culturally shared.
Also if you’ve dwelved into the history of the language ‘Bahasa Melayu’ you’ll find out very few parts of it are Islamic but it was mainly derived by the Sanskrit/Hinduism before the spread of Islam on Malaya.
After a lil more reading into it Bahasa Melayu has a huge mixture of Sanskrit altered text, Chinese and various other languages. As for examples try to find it online . By knowing this (for me atleast) can can see now better reasons for the Malays to represent the two main races over here in Malaysia which are the Chinese and Indians.
Pro-Bumi policies are supposed help the underprivileged bumiputeras stand on their own two feet, NOT hold their hand and walk the long hard road for them. Once they are rescued beyond the poverty line, its time for them to stop relying on the government and start working hard like everyone else to earn their place in society.
What kind of cold-hearted monster are you, Kenny? Making people take responsibility for their own lives, instead of letting them suck the gubmint teat forever. You must be some kind of right-wing nutcase! Where’s your compassion for those less fortunate? Don’t you know that we elites have been put on the earth to tend to the lower classes as if they were our pets? What would they do without us, handing down donations and “assistance” from on high? How could I assuage my guilt about having a few dollars if I didn’t have “the poor” to take care of? /heavy sarcasm
Hate to burst your bubble (aka “harsh your mellow”), but gubmints tend to grow larger and make more people dependent on their largesse, not the other way around. Sadly, people are all to willing to let it happen, if it means they get something “for nothing.”
all to willing
Fawk me! All too willing. *sigh*
Lets thank the British !!
i’m really proud of you kenny sia. i’m really proud. you can turn something this serious 180 degrees around and make it so funny. good job.
The 1969 racial riot should not be used as an excuse for racist policies.
Singapore had racial riots in the 1960s as well, but she still adopted meritocracy as the official policy of progress.
India and China are becoming bigger and more powerful now, perhaps in the future they will exert pressure on Malaysia to adopt a more meritocratic system (once they’ve solved their own bloody problems).
ehh….kenny, i send u a email u din reply oso…pls reply le…really appreaciate it…thanx
http://www.ray7nyc.blogspot.com
im yur faithful reader here fren….hope to meet up wit u soon…
http://www.ray7nyc.blogspot.com
After going to Jeff Ooi’s site to read up on the rest including the comments, I for one cannot blame the email sender and his complains over oppurtunities. Honestly if you want more money and higher education overall overseas is where you owuld rather be at.
However it is rather biased saying that the Islamic input in texts and all limits us in terms of ‘certain’ oppurtunities. For the fact that Malays are of course the primary race in Malaysia and that we are, as exposed to the media and the outside world we take for granted that Malaysia itself is a growing country. What more when you look at it, we are being compensate for cheap multiculture food all around us, piracy although not advisable by law does expose a large majority of the middle and lower class to entertainment access which otherwise would have been impossible.
I admit. It’s partially absurb about Bumiputeras gaining more focus as compared to the other races in Malaysia which is composed multi-culturally of different races (which is what makes up Malaysia it is today) and what more oppurtunity wise as getting into local U with scholarships and overall recognition the Malays are usually the ones who would be getting it.
However what differences would it make if overall, you were going to send your children overseas? Your children could well even stay abroad and none os this has anything to do with studying locally during the person’s highschool period. Also many private firms reject local graduates as they are deemed “Unemployable” due to lack of required skills aside from the basic graduated skill they intended to get.
Also I’ve noticed the various complains made by others about crime. I won’t deny that crime over here in Malaysia isn’t something to walk over but question this. Throughout the years was it because crime in country has grown or was it because previously, such information was supressed that only now we actually get to see the real deal (bit by bit) that goes around Malaysia? This is also like stating that other countries do not carry crimes with them.
I guess that if you want brighter future = more pay and prestige Malaysia of course isn’t the place to be (the currency exchange rate should explain that) but it isn’t right if we’re dealing with the government ‘shaping’ your future rather than you doing something about it. I don’t get it. The Malaysian government does not discourage oversea studies (unless you’re planning to be a government servent) therefore living in Malaysia, while studying or your kids wanting to go overseas should not pose a problem at all.
What people at Jeff Ooi’s site are saying that the government is at fault at every little thing when little do they know that if you can ‘miss’ Malaysian food, this country is still like no other in a certain way.
The point being?
…picking up from kennysia’s entry… (And no…this is not an entry about racism…cause this freaking topic has been talked about so much that anything I say at this point would not be something you wouldn’t already know. And I think
I believe that racism is a universal issue that exists everywhere. It’s based on human needs to ‘belong’. I came from being a ‘first-class’ citizen in one country to being a minority in another. In my opinion, perhaps because I have been fortunate to never feel ostracised on the basis of my race for the majority of my growing up years, racism is something that is inevitable and will take alot of dedication/time to improve.
Perhaps everytime racism is raised, it should be noted that there are only four major blood types in the entire human race. We are more alike than we’d like to think. And from a business/economist point of view, one can compare the protection of bumi’s to import taxes. Protect your local products (eg. Proton) too much and you will never develop products that can compete profitably on a global level. So if not for any other reason, the government should reconsider their over-protective stance for economic reasons.
p.s: BTW, I think missing the FOOD of a country is VERY different from missing the lifestyle in a country lor. Food cannot be compared to politics and lifestyle for godsake! It’s sacrilegious! =)
Then you’ve not been Malaysia too long to know our locals leh. Food = Lifestyle. Assuming where you eat every other day and where you CAN eat every other day it goes to show your income overall. We tend to overlook this fact because Malaysia has a strong Middle-Class section tehrefore it always seemed as though every other day we can eat at Chillis or Esquire Kitchen.
As far as politics go, Bumiputera over any other race = Government.
Private Sectors are not limited to this ya know lol.
This is a really good post.
The disadvantage of the bumiputra rules to the non-bumis has become increasingly marked over the past few years. and i realise the frustrations of my relatives who try to put their children into good schools despite the obvious fact that the children are really bright and have good grades. They just get stonewalled when it comes to transfers to better schools etc. and how many real-life stories of people trying to get into the national uni with 5 distinctions and not getting thru while their bumiputra colleagues gain entry with a scholarship with mediocre grades. very sad.
as much as i’ve grown to love msia by default with all the time i’ve spent there since childhood, this is one of the reasons why i know i could never seriously live there and why i’m glad (and sometimes guilty) of my parents having moved so many years ago (dad cos of the 1969 riots and not finding a job, and mom bcos she couldnt find a job there too and needed better pay).
and correct me if i’m wrong please, is there a new thing about having to apply for “permission” from the govt to leave if you’re intending on pursuing overseas further education? that’s what some of my cousins were telling the last time i was there.
At young age in high school we had always been hush-hush about it, seeing all my Malay classmates one by one taking on the gravy train to local universities, and most ended up in prestigious universities in Australia and UK. School fess, airfare and all expenses are covered by the generous government, generosity only extended to Malay but no one else.
At home, my mum and dad would spend numerous sleepless nights debating whether to send me to overseas university knowing very well that the doors at MU and others have pretty much pulled the welcoming doormat right before our eyes. Choosing the overseas university was the easiest part as it was really depending on which one costed the least, and so long as it offered a degree program. Keeping up with the school fees and living expenses were entirely another story altogether.
My family has always been involved in pepper farming, on a piece of hill slope that we have secured an eight-year lease from a local native. Being a Chinese, dad won’t be allowed legally to purchase any land from the native, and so are our neighbors as well. The pepper would take about five years to reach maturity for a decent harvest. They do best on the slope of hill, much like vinery where they get just the right amount of sun and drainage by gravity but is extremely hard to work with. Realistically, we would have three years to see the fruit of our back-breaking labors. At the end of the lease, we are at the mercy of the native landlord and if they decided not to extend the lease, that would be it, the land returned and pepper farm belonged to the landlord. It is an enormous amount of risks my parents took, but there is hardly any alternative, farming is what we know well.
While my dad glanced over the fourteen sacks of white and black pepper stacked up at the far corner of our farm house, he concluded after much assessments that our family would need at least five sacks of pepper to live on before the next harvest. The survival of our families would take precedent over my studies, which I fully understood as teenager. Dad would sell a sack or two when we need cash or when the price is good, and that was how it was for life in the farm. In between harvests, mum and dad would grow some chai-sim, kai-lan, long bean or whatever that is in demand to subsidize our income. The school fees alone would chew up twelve sacks of pepper, before even considering other expenses; lodging, foods and so on. Basically, we are short. There is no such thing as bank loan at the time as I don’t even recall dad having a bank account that we take for granted today. Dad eventually did borrow a few sacks from our maternal uncle who is from another town, and promise to return in the next harvest.
After a year overseas, the routine half-yearly allowance stopped showing up in the mailbox. Naturally I thought it might have been the mess-up with the mail delivery. There is no reason to doubt as it has always being on time, and knowing dad well he always makes allowances for time. It turned out the pepper farm was hit by disease that rotted at the roots, and slowing withering all veins to dead. It was spreading from farm to farm, including all our neighbors’. My normal day which used to consist of lectures and time for homework, now included six hours of work as kitchen hand at a local restaurant; doing all the dish-washing and the last person to leave the kitchen after mobbing the floor, that is long after the last customer has left. It would be 1 to 2 am on a typical Friday and Saturday nights or midnight on other days. (Be generous with your tips next time you are eating out in restaurant.) During summer break, I would work two jobs and miss the first few weeks of lecture so that I would have enough funds for the rest of the year. Little did I realize many years later, dad did plead to the Yayasan Sarawak at Tabuan Jaya for a scholarship with our circumstances and was flatly rejected as scholarship was intended for bumis only. Subsequently, dad filled out the form for loan application, the only avenue available to Chinese and found out a couple of months later that it was rejected as well.
There is a lot of sacrifices my parents have to make so that I have an opportunity, and so are my four other siblings who never did have the opportunity to study beyond Form-Five/Six. We are not alone in these sacrifices. Many others did too, so that the Malay can climb to the top at our expense.
I think we have come of age; at least that is how I like to believe we have so that we can reasonably revisit the same old wound without the threat and fear of casing animosity. We; Chinese, Iban, Dayak, Bidayuh, Kadazan, Indian and some less privileged Malay have been sidelined for at least three generations so that a segment of Malay would have it easy. Now that is has been twenty odds years in the making, frankly it has caused more resentments and division than ever. Any progressive society would not be able to compete and survive with this backward, outdated and lopsided policy and government. We are here to stay and so are you, without a doubt and for this country to work and not to be left behind, we certainly need leadership that could work for every Malaysians. For a starter, the typical irresponsible remarks against the Chinese to drum up support as a show of leadership is simply coward and everyone should recognize that. It can’t be possibly be viewed as leadership material in a matured society. Mahathir and Anwar both took that extreme path in their youths and I think we are way beyond that era. Many would concur with me that the bumis-only honeymoon is way overdued and is time to turn that in as well.
I like to think we really have came a long way since then. However the government is still a functioning one. Nontheless it is slowly taking shape in order to fit our current pace of today. Islamic extremist PAS has now been facing issues as younger generations of even in Kelantan, Terengganu and previous PAS dominated areas wish to study and take up subjects that benefit their future aside from just learning about Islam.
As of recent roughly 58 000 (if I’m not mistaken, it’s been awhile) local graduates were deemed unemployable in the private sector as they did not have side-requirements such as communicative skills in order to fit into the company (mminor example).
Honestly why local universities when at the end of the day, you’re going to go overseas to futher your studies. Also as of recent College/Universities such as TARC and UniTAR are open to any member of the public. I wouldn’t be as too sure to say that the majority could not afford to send their children to either of the institutes as although they aren’t ‘that’ cheap but if the increasing amount of young drivers with cars is any indication that the Malaysian public can afford a car I don’t see why they could nto pay for an entry in TARC or UniTAR (much cheaper than getting a car).
MMU and the some other local universities are now easily entered with only the requirement of 5 credits or Bs in order to enter.
Wah….now talking about racism….than i think a year later there would be BLOG WAR 1….Malay’s Again’s Non-Halal human… than i think we should be throwing Piggies to them…and having them to throw cows. No bullet and bom are allowes to be use. I think cow is a bit heavy but maybe Goat or something.
Good post. Jeff Ooi Jr? (j/k j/k!)
It is in the Constitution that the rights/priveledges of Bumiputeras are not questionable.
Fine. What I’ve wondered about is if its also stated therein that the non-Bumiputera’s LACK of rights are not questionable as well.
Constitutional reform, anyone?
So what if racism exists in every country? It doesn’t make it alright that Malaysia has got one of the worst laws of naturalisation. Third-generation Malaysian born Chinese – why not be conferred Bumiputera status? Can it be less obvious?
At the end though, gripe is all anyone can do because if a change were to be attempted, all hell will break loose.
The Malay race must learn the value of the individual man and its dependence upon other races and species and to comprehend its existence in the whole framework in physical reality.
Hopefully, there are some enlightened individuals being reborn at this time simply to help them understand. They are forcing the issue, and forcing the crisis, for there still have time to change their ways.
However, they faced two main critical problems and both involve the sacredness of the individual, and the individual’s relationship with others and with all physically oriented consciousness.
I didn’t know ang mo was a bad racist term. It’s definitely better than the terms Indonesians have for them “bulek” – sounds like “bluek” *stick out tongue* like that right!
But its very interesting when you think about it. How many other countries have such a multiracial composition as Malaysia? How is power distributed then, and can race be excluded from the equation in doing so? Lets say, maybe for the Chinese Thais in Thailand, it is much easier to assimilate and to think of themself only as a Thai, and not a Chinese-Thai, or the Christian Chinese in Philipines in regarding themselves solely as Philipinos. Or is it? From what I heard, the Hong Kong Indians are being discriminated in HK, even though the Chinese Honkies and the Indian Honkies are both (presumably Buddhists/Hindu). What about the situation in Fiji then, where a coup occured a few years back by the native Fijians to take power back from the minority ruling upper-class Indian-Fijis there? If differences in races have the propensity to cause so much instability and problems, what more of religion (since it provides an even sharper division among its people)? Can there really be a truly democratic democracy with a multiracial and multi-religious population? A look at the civil war in Lebanon between the Christian and Muslim Lebanese a decade ago makes the prognosis grim. Even in multiracial political parties, what assurances can we obtain that the internal power jockeying and struggles of these types of parties won’t again be divided along racial or religious lines?
Sigh…. Malaysia’s situation is truly unique and one of a kind. Interesting when viewed from afar, but when you’re in the think of it, *ahem* it doesn’t sound as fun now, does it? 🙂
That is not the picture of Ang Moh Kio but the Singapore river.If you want I can send you clearer photos of AMK or go the the Sin.Talking Cock web for more about Singapore
That is not the picture of Ang Moh Kio but the Singapore river.If you want I can send you clearer photos of AMK or go the the Sin.Talking Cock web for more about Singapore
Ang Mo Ka Na is another fruit that aint so racist.
😉
Peh Pueh.
Its a good name anyway. Everybody wants to be fair and lovely these days.
I think this is one of the main differences between S’pore n Malaysia. S’pore government (though also offers certain benefits to Malays) do a better job at helping the poor n needy (regardless of race). Malaysia government, however, tends to focus too much on the needs of the Malays !
I totally agree with Kenny that rich Malays (or chinese, Indians etc) DO NOT need such incentives. For a country to progress, every single citizen muz “feel” that there’s equal opportunity for them (Whether there really IS or NOT, that’s another thing :P)
Orelse, given the current trend of globalization, more Malaysians (esp capable ones) will simply migrate to other countries.
It’s time for UMNO to convince the rich Malays (haha… including themselves) that it’s a “loss of face” to recieve such incentives n hopefully (well…there’s always hope mah), that things might change in the next general election.
It is pretty obvious. The policies in Malaysia is discriminating by race. Blame it on those who have agreed on such policies at the first place. Once its implemented, those benefiting from it won’t let go so easily.
Great post Kenny!
I didn’t think the term ang moh was racist, I’ve always thought it was a neutral term. My boy doesn’t mind when I call him angmoh – I suspect he thinks its cute/quirky. Oh well, to each his own I guess.
ang moh mm si racist la!
goodness. how can you teach your 80 year old grandma to pronounce “Caucasian” just for the sake of not sounding “racisit”?
this is only not existed in Malaysia but also in Brunei too.. i ever been called “CINA BABI” (direct translation : Chinese Pig)by a group of Malays when i was walking on the street..
ops ST’s picture was taken in my room! bleh
u’re right kenny. everything happening in the msia government is so obvious. the pro-Malay policies is always there, and surely it will be there in future. hope the lauya ‘gahmen’ do sth.
I guess when it comes to racism, every single fucking person in Malaysia has something to say, hey even my dog has something to bark about too. BUT NONE OF THEM has any solution.
Honestly, IMHO, Jordan’s Malaysian’s 2 solitude (topic’s name, something like that) is the only good post. Others are just plain bitching. BLah bla bla bla bla, keep on bitching.
Ok lah other than kenny, because AT LEAST his post comes with funny pictures. Geee people, drop this subject and move on.
johan_johari,
ang mo kio is not just the name of a very popular town in singapore. translated from hokkien (colloquial chinese dialect), it means “red bridge”, hence the picture of the bridge covered in red.
McLearning – do you want understanding with that? 🙂
sorry. i didn’t mean hokkien was a colloquial chinese dialect. the term ‘ang mo kio’ is colloquial. hokkien is a chinese dialect.
Racism is alive and well, not only in Malaysia, but everywhere.
To cut all the crap, let’s all remember that each and every human being are ONE! A bretheren, all siblings, from the same source, Adam!
Let’s get back to ‘Let’s do unto others as you want others to do unto you’. Hopefully, the world, especially Malaysia would be a much, much better place.
Death to racism! Do your part! TAK NAK RACISM!
Lets not live in the past and move on. Wait, I cant. I hate BLACKS !!
i guess racism is everywhere whether we like it or not. talking about it openly is always a taboo. i am glad that we are able to talk about it in a place such as this. good on you kenny.
woah lau eh!!! later out of no where, kena interview by police.
Hi Kenny! I was first directed to your blog a few weeks ago by a friend who claimed that kennysia.com is funny enough to make me ROTFLMHO. He wasn’t wrong.
This is a great post. For once, the topic of racism is dealt with in a v funny yet effective manner.
I myself am a Chinese recipent of a JPA scholarship to do a twinning degree. The situation has sort of improved over the years from the scenario painted by Pope. At least top scorers of minority races have a better shot at winning goverment scholarships now. I’m grateful to be given this chance ‘coz i was part of the second intake i.e.second-best choice.
There’s never ever going to be an end to racism in Malaysia ‘coz i doubt that there is ever going to be a “Malaysian leader with enough balls” to remedy the situation. So, either bear with it or move away.
wah kenny. you’re gonna have a hard time reading all those comments. *my eyes crossed liao*
Good luck:)
Hey dude, your readers score really well in GP (General Paper…one of those Form 6 bullshit class back in the 80s).
ang tang sai leh?
I’m a proud chink.
No Ang Mo…den Kim Mo la
Actually ang moh can also mean ‘red hair’ (brunette, or maybe the Chinese in the past used to ‘hong’ to describe blonds) in Hokkien what, not necessary ‘red devil’. But nope, I don’t think in Hokkien there is another term for Caucasians unless you’re gonna categorise them under their nationality.
Chinese can’t get into Universities while Malays can’t get jobs. Indians and others can’t get both. Racism is alive and kicking but not that bad as people are still partying.
Actually there is a social phenomenon which is changing the landscape – the mixed generation resulting from mixed marriages who don’t realy identify with any race and at the same time with both (or more). Malaysians instead of a race.
ROFLMAO!
Nice pic dude…anyway I already talked about this enough.
And that’s my point too, the poor people should be helped and supported, not only the poor BUMI people, but ALL the poor people (orang-asli, chinese, indian and so on).
And Ang Mo = red hair,
RED HAIR IS NOT BRUNETTE.
Brunette = Brown.
Blonde = Yellow
Ginger = Red (But usually just called red head).
All the colours of the rainbow.
Sometimes I wonder why all the ‘poor’ people should be helped that much. There are those who definately need our support but if you’re going to count certain beggers and all I guess there is a reason as to how they ended up as such. I’m not trying to be an ass but think about it. MOst of them if not all are capable and are not disabled. SOmething must have happened along the lines.
Well,we have the kind of racism probably bcz of those malays think that thier numbers is the most in this land,so we chinese had to born a lot of kids too,so that our numbers will far more than thiers.but i think this is kinda impossible things la,chinese is good on planning but malays r not,chinese fuck by using thier brains and malays dont!!we can always read those article abt poor malay family having more than 5 or 6 children,the even worst part is when the Man of the house pass away,damn!!
Instead of saying ang mo lang, maybe can be more specific.
American – bi gog lang
English – ying gog lang
Chinese – di-ong gog lang
Singaporean – xing ga poh lang
Malaysian – ma lai se ya lang
Taiwanese – dai wan lang
Hong Konger – hiang garng lang
Thai – tai gog lang
Martian – huei xing lang
etc.
then a person is being a cipet leh?
cipetlang…
There’s only one race lor, the HUMAN RACE.
Is this considered to be racist???
Would a cannibal who ate a Chinese guy be hungry again in an hour?
I don’t think so, it’s just a silly comment about Chinese Take-away Food:)
BTW folks, when filling in any forms which ask the following questions, I alawys fillthem in as follows:
Race: HUMAN
Religion:FREETHINKER
We are all the same whatever our race, colour or creed, are we not?
Hm….how true. I’m just in my teens and just started college. Yet me and my friends already plan not to stay here. Why?. Pretty much an answer most knows.
You must realize that your present race is the one into which you were born, in your terms in this place and time.
Also remember EACH of you have been members of different races and so each of you have shared in both the advantages and ignominies attached, in historic terms, to such conditions of birth.
The significance of each race is highly meaningful and represents different aspects of humanity as a whole. Each race has a symbolic meaning to mankind’s psyche. The outside experience and structure of any given race’s experience may change but the inner symbolism will still remain
It is impossible to separate our daily experience in any of its aspects from our beliefs and those judgments we place upon them. The beliefs boil down to our ideas of right or wrong and involved all our attitudes concerning illness and health, wealth and poverty, relationships of the races, religious conflicts and our daily reality.
Individuals holding these beliefs feel very uncomfortable when they mingle with others of a different race, creed or color
Suddenly, I have a desire to jia kantang. And bananas as well.
someone once said the chinese are very racist when labelling others.
for those caucasian they refer to them as ‘ang mo kau’ – red hair MONKEY
for malays and indians they refer to them as ‘wah na kooi’ and ‘kay na kooi’ – malay DEVIL and indian DEVIL.
for chinese? just ‘th’ng nan’ – chinese, no devil or monkey there. 🙂
The way i see it, Malaysian Chinese have got 3 choices.
1. Leave everything as it is n suffer in silence.
2. Leave Malaysia altogether and watch Malaysia fall apart, then invade when they’re down.
3. OUT-BREED them. This i suppose would be a more favoured choice cos it’s more enjoyable doing this.
PS. anyone knows why the hell soursop is called ang mo liu lian? goodness, it doesnt even have red hair or wadeva…
“Wah….now talking about racism….than i think a year later there would be BLOG WAR 1….Malay’s Again’s Non-Halal human… than i think we should be throwing Piggies to them…and having them to throw cows. No bullet and bom are allowes to be use. I think cow is a bit heavy but maybe Goat or something.”
LMAO
Racism rocks. kinda nice callin ppl names like “jeng hai”, “mar chan”, “guai loh”, “dao si”.
I still don’t get it. Why are we Malaysian Chinese ‘suffering’? It’s not like we are deprived of having a home or steady income or something. Hell even the majority of the upper-middle class in Malaysia are made out of the Chinese community.
You know it’s like this thing when I go to college and friends would ask me how I get to college.
Friend: Eh how you get to college ah?
Me: Taxi lorh
Friend: Wah back a forth ah?
Me: Yalorh what to do. No other transport. Dad took car to work. LRT and Putraline inconsistant punya.
Friend: Aiyoh go get a car la!
As you can see cars ain’t cheap thanks to the Malaysian government and their import tax on imported cars which even Proton or Kancil should have been cheaper then it currently is but friends could easily just tell me off to go get a car just like that. And this isn’t one or two but alot of other friends of mine as well. Taking into loan and patrol it ain’t pretty if you ask me. Parking somemore and road tax.
All these Chinese people leh. At this rate how is it that we are suffering?? I don’t get it.
http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2005/06/not_another_rac.php#comments
The Star Online > News
Wednesday June 8, 2005
Top scorers fail to get scholarships
BY ZARINAH DAUD
BUTTERWORTH: Two months ago, Ng Ee Liang, Desmond Chee and Teoh Wan Ying were feeling on top of the world when they each scored 13 1As and were named Penang’s top SPM scorers.
But all their dreams and hopes came crashing down on Monday after finding out that their applications for Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships had been rejected.
“I logged on to the Internet website five times and each time, the words ‘permohonan ditolak’ appeared. I called my father and a friend to countercheck and they confirmed the bad news.
“People say boys don’t cry, but yesterday I cried my heart out,†said a dejected Ng, 18, in an interview yesterday.
“I do not know what went wrong. I was active in sports and other extracurricular activities. I studied hard so that I could become a doctor.
“There are 25 top scorers nationwide and I am in 14th position. All of us had lunch with Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and received certificates from both the Prime Minister and Education Minister for our achievements.
“Yet, the certificates do not seem to be able to support my scholarship application,†said the former student of Chung Ling High School, Butterworth.
The boy said one of his schoolmates who scored 9As won a scholarship to South Korea to pursue an engineering course, while another with 10As had the chance to pursue a biotechnology course.
“Besides Chee, Teoh and myself, other top students who were rejected included Pahang’s top student Khaw Chok Tong (who scored 12 1As) and Perlis’s top scorer Chew Ying Dee (who obtained 13 1As),†he said.
Chee, a Form Six student at Penang Free School, also expressed his disappointment, saying he had expected a “favourable reply†from the PSD.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor and was hoping to get a PSD scholarship. My father works as a technician and cannot afford to pay the high fees for medical studies,†he said.
Teoh, from Penang Chinese Girls High School, expressed similar sentiments, saying that she had to pinch herself when she saw the PSD rejection.
She said she wanted to take up a course in actuarial science and hoped to study either in Australia or Britain.
http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2005/06/not_another_rac.php#comments
aw c’mon. just because you didnt get a scholarship you’re already crying faul of racism, thats just reverse racism in itself. i swear….
wait, i didnt read the whole thing thru….
disregard me earlier post. i feel so stupid now….
There’s always the option “hol lan yan”….like “hol lan sui” (sodas) and “hol lan fan shu” (potatoes)
Of course there’s the itty bitty problem that it refers to stuff from Holland, but at one point it was generally used to mean “foreign white people”.
OMFG. I’m gonna reply 74 comments in one go. RECORD!
N-Kyokun, I think you got me wrong there. I am not hoping to overthrow the UMNO party. I am OK with a Malay leader because I don’t belive race is an issue when it comes to who we elect as a leader. I’m in favour of democracy, and if people vote for UMNO or BN and they win then I say good for them. UMNO/PAS/DAY, Chinese/Malay/Indian, it doesn’t matter. As leaders they should go out there and do a good job and serve the citizens/taxpayers/votegivers.
All I’m asking for is be fair.
The problem that I, as many others have, is with the National Economic Policy, which I believe was being exploited by Malays who don’t need government assistance, at the expense of non-Malays who do require government existence to break out of poverty.
Like you, I love this country. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t speak out if the govt is doing something that we don’t like isn’t it? I’m not badmouthing the govt. As a matter of fact I think they’re doing a good job running this country overall.
I’m questioning the effectiveness of the NEP. I believe its racist. Because the evidence speaks for itself. Many poor and needy people (not necessarily Chinese ppl) have been sidelined because of the NEP. Something is wrong. Nothing is being done.
I shall not comment on the commentors on Jeff Ooi’s site because I do not necessarily agree with their opinion entirely.
You and I – We are not suffering. We are lucky people because we have computers and internet. We don’t need government assistance. But don’t forget the people that DO require government assistance. They are made up of all races. I’m asking is that regardless of their race, the government should help THEM.
Why is that almost every major companies out there have a bumiputera as a ‘puppet’ on on their Board of Directors? Because its an open secret that the government award big jobs and tenders to them OVER companies that do not have a bumiputera. Its been happening for so long I don’t think its a coincidence anymore. Tell me that is not racist.
At the end of the day, when you have two people: one is a poor Chinese boy with 10As applying for scholarships/loan, and the other is an equally poor Malay boy with 7As also applying for the same scholarships/loan. The latter succeeded. Tell me that is not racist.
You asked if ‘poor’ people should be helped that much. I ask you should ‘rich’ poeple require help buying houses or not? Because that’s what’s happening. And our expense (tax), and at the expense of non-Malays who can’t afford accomodation. Tell me that is not racist.
To end off, I hope that I don’t come across as being arrogant/snobbish in my comment here. 🙂 You wrote long, and I thank you for engaging me in this stimulating discussion.
*shakes hand*
*bows*
*retreat*
*~*~*~*~*~*
NSDS3, I know Orang Asli’s bumiputera status is being disputed, but I didn’t know the other ethnic groups were being left out too.
fred, remember. Its not gahmen, but garblement.
Pulse, I can see it from the government’s point of view when it comes to the quota system. If Malays are Poor + No Place In University, then Malay will continue to be Poor + No Place In University, and the vicious cycle continues and they’re not gonna break out of it. The quota system serves to break that cycle and help them get a foothold in society. And in that sense, I think its good.
qsl, the 1969 tragedy (from my understanding, so correct me if I’m wrong) spurs from jealousy and frustration. In particular, some Malay race-based political party was upset that the Chinese race-based political party won in an election, and as you know, things quickly escalated to violence. The garblement, in an effort to satisfy this Malay race-based party, thus gives them these entitlements so as to maintain peace and order within the country. (But that’s just my understanding of the situation.) I think the NEP can serve as a short-term solution, but definitely not a long-term one.
Cherry, ahh of course. We can keep quiet, accept the inequality, accept that the poor (of all races) are not helped but one particular race is, and accept that life goes on. But maintaining peace does not always mean wishing the best for my country. Remember my post office incident?
eyeris, I AGREE! STOP RACISM AGAINST RED-HAIRED BRIDGES! 😀
Someone, that is strangely very appropriate.
Sharl1612, ‘white’ man is also making reference to their skin colour wattt.
tilia, yalah. But you know what the funny thing about racism is? Whether a word is racist or not is for us to decide, but for THEM to decide. And apparently nicknames derived from the physical attributes of a particular raace, is racist.
Wutever, dunno. Must be embedded inside our genes.
kimberlycun, YOU DIDN’T VOTE FOR ME!?!? WHYYYY!? I’m gonna give you a string of sad smilie faces. 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 No lah of course you can vote for anyone you like. 😉
aunty, gee I couldn’t say it better!
Curtis G, *grin* on the bright side, at least they’re not sucking MY gubmint teats! I’m already bottom heavy.
Anonymous, what does the British have anything to do with this? Oh, they gave us ShaolinTiger. Yes. THANK THE BRITISH!
kennysiasupporter, nice nickname. 😀
Andrew, I cannot agree more. All these talk about achieving Vision 2020. Malaysia will never be a first world country if it cannot accept first world ideologies.
RAY@NYC, sorry man I got your e-mail. 🙂 Thanks for that. Been too occupied these past 2 days to reply personal e-mails. Too bad I’m not going to New York any time soon. I wish though. 🙂
gracie, that’s a nice analogy – to compare pro-Bumi policies with import taxes. 🙂 I’ve never experienced overt racism in real life when I was in Australia. I must have to say I find it disheartening when people write to the newspapers and say things like “Its all the Australian government’s fault for not being tough on immigration policy. What gives those Asians the right to come into our country and cause all these crimes, bla bla bla.”
Anantya, “permission” to leave the country? I’ve never heard of that. “permission to enter the country” got lah. The only time when I’ve heard of “permission to leave the country” is China.
Pope, you know what? I know you’ve been trying to be anonymous, but this is the first time I see you sharing stories of your past and for that I really appreciate it. The question is, whilst politicians are hitting gongs on front page cover news and debating in parliament houses, how many of them actually understand what you went through?
Jordan, HAHA! Somehow that’s very wrong yet hilarious! 😛
reka, Jeff Ooi Jr is not me. Jeff Ooi Jr is his little bird. 😉 Yes, they can take away our scholarships, but they can never take away OUR FREEEDOM!
multidimid, …! WHAT? Wait lemme check the dictionary. Err… yes I agree with you! Only you put it in a more eloquent university thesis-like language. 🙂 Its nice of course.
shida, darn! Now you taught me a racist term for Indons!
cypher, it doesn’t sound very fun indeed. I have a solution, but it is NOT very practical. If I were the Agong or something, I SHALL MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO HAVE RACE-BASED POLITICAL PARTIES. No UMNO, no MCA, no PAS, no whatever-the-Indian-party-is. All those will be illegal. If someone want to form a political party, then they must be satisfy the rule of having at least three races in the party, and each race constitute at least 30% of the party. In other words, move away from race-based political parties and move towards issues/ideology-based political parties.
johan_johari, no need. 🙂 I know its not Ang Mo Kio. I just photoshop red hair on it to make it look like ‘Ang Mo’.
frostier, Ang mo ka na! Of course, that racist piece of fruit. Oops. Now I’m a racist and homophobic both at the same time.
minishorts, where got. You see all these ang mohs wanna get tan.
Juz, I think a lot of Malaysians overseas want to go back, but yet they are disillusioned. Can we blame them?
support, that’s when it cross over to the dark side… 🙂
Nadia, yea i know most caucasians don’t seem mind. Some do, of course.
FeR, answered in the next post. 🙂
Blu3qu3en, sorry to hear that. Of course I was talking more about garblement policies than uneducated mindless dicks you encounter on the streets, which they have in every country anyway.
KY, congrats! Your room is seen by 3500 ppl!
min, i think the evidence speaks for themselves.
CS, Macvaysia’s post was about citizens’ racial attitude. My post was about garblement policies. Solution? I have. Power? I don’t have. I only have one vote. Short of running another political party, talking about it is the best that we, as citizens/taxpayers/voteholders, can do and should do. I don’t believe we shouldn’t be talking (or as you call, ‘bitching’) about it just because we do not have power to do anything. That would be like being raped in the ass, and pretending that its fun.
Anonymous, thank you for clearing that up. 🙂
mamatd, I think racism among Malaysian citizens is still rather mild. That’s not my main concern. I just think the NEP is racist, that’s all.
vad3r, oi! 🙂 There are Nigerians reading this blog you know. According to my stats lah.
Feli, I know I’m risking my ass here. hehe.
Joe, POLICE?! ME NO SCARED POLICE! LAI LAH!! AI PAK AR!??! *shows off balls*
San, I’m hopeful that it’ll change but before that happen I’m still bearing with it.
Jayelle, you think reading them is hard ah? How about replying them?
e, oi. Don’t insult my readers! 😉 You are one also ok?
Geroithe, or we can create a new word.
Adam, what you described is true. But is the garblement policies changing?
Shaolin Harimau, we agree to agree.
JiunWuu, whatever happened to condoms.
suanie, then if a person is a blogger leh? siaw lang.
Sha, ask the garblement to enact a PRO-HUMAN policy then.
stu, that would be the politically correct way to fill forms yes. 🙂
Zer0, you can always come back and try to make Malaysia a better place.
suspiciousbastard, eh i wrote all this shit and now you want to eat fruit?
lucia, then Manchester United fans leh? Red Devils. Ang Kui.
Ice_Oaks, all I want is that the garblement helps the needy citizens instead of helping a particular race. My tax money is being used to support those who don’t need it and I’m not happy.
JesusJuice, not nice lah.
I just realised I am so bloody long-winded.
excuse me…please refer to them by their full name
debladigarmen
One thing I can say, if you able to have 10 children per couple and then after 200 years, I think Malaysia will be ruled my other race government. But who cares after 200 years since we not here anymore.. So forget it ahha.. Malay is dominating here so there is not way we can get what they have too since makes them happy means winning elections.
honestly leh, the best way to overcome this is to make everyone eat overripe durians. that way, everyone’s breath stinks as much, although some people may like it. don’t ask how it will fix everything. it just will.
Don’t forget we got ‘pek mo’ (white hair) in Sarawak –> The Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud!
Now.. there are plenty of white-haired people in the world!
Things that don’t exist
Man-eating vacuum cleaners. Grass in a starfish’s diet. A boring episode of Lost. Michael Jackson’s innocence. Sabahans who live in trees. A Malaysian blogger without an opinion on racism. The meaning of life. Hillary Duff’s talent. Enough milo in…
Hey ..Kenny !
Juz wanna say that i love ur attitude as in u make an effort to reply to every Tommmy, Dicky and Hairy.. (even though, u know u got bigger balls than them *wink*)
Steady !
Hello..Kenny
u taruh like that? not scared mer?
cool kenny! i like ur speech:)
we people(malay,chinese,indian,etc) going through “tough” daily routine. we travel by bus, bus always come late; we take taxi, they charge withour using meter gauge; we go to post office, we receive long face/smelly face with annoying tone; we go to majlis bandaraya, only 2 counters open; we call to the goverment service centre/complaint center, the line is being transfer around, waiting, end up u slam ur phone…
i wonder any of those “orang besar” has experienced on what we experiencing every single day. i doubt no. “orang besar” are suppose to help the people, by putting themselves into people’s situation and understand people’s bitter tears. obviously, and unfortunately most of them are not, they are only a bunch of big mouth buggers!
Firstly, excellent blog! Extremely amusing (you should post warnings on your blog’s detrimental side-effects on office productivity). Think I’m getting addicted…
Just my 2 cents. The NEP is obsolete; it WAS necessary during the 60s but to apply it now on 2nd, 3rd generation non-Bumi Malaysians? I can’t even find the appropriate term to describe this @$&*^&! Not only is it bloody unfair, to say the least, but it’s going to breed generations of Bumis who are going to just assume that the government will provide them with everything they want. This is an actual statement from a Bumi friend!
12A vs 7As? A friend of mine achieved 12As in SPM while her class mate (Bumi) got all Bs. Class mate gets into MU Medicine (no scholarship), she gets shipped off to some unknown uni somewhere in Terengganu to study Science (no scholarship). Fortunately for her, some generous patron sponsored her to study Med in the US. Well, that’s another highly-trained doctor that won’t be coming back.
And why should she? Get forced to work in gov’n service for 5 years with shitty pay for skills she earned entirely without gov’n aid?
Having spent 7 years in Australia, I can honestly say that I feel just as at home there, maybe even more so in some ways. Sure, perhaps I’ll be a 2nd-class citizen, but is it any worse than here? I honestly feel less discriminated against there. There will be no discrimination against my children when they enter uni, workplace discrimination is also less prevalent and I don’t have to worry as much about politicians bent on ruining my life with half-arsed policies.
Given a chance, I would probably leave…like so many of my friends. Unfortunately, circumstances prevent me from doing so.
Hell, might as well make the best of things…maybe I should run for office. Haha! Oh, I’m ranting…..
Racism is a normal issue, we being the non-bumi should be glad, that we’ve mca, mic or dap as our representing bodies…compare to other so-called multicultural countries like Ozzie,US…chinese is confined to selling chop suey, open small restaurants in ChinaTown.You don’t hear chinese peeps there opening major malls, construction companies and stuff..at least in Malaysia we’ve the substantial amount chance to have good houses, food on the table given by the malaysian government..If there’s anyone to blame, blame our poor ancestors who came here with rag-tag pants,forming some-kind of kampong mob – Ghee Hin and Haisan, and start chopping each other, reducing the chinese race over some tin mines.
Probably that’s y they are encouraging the Malays to have 4 wives so they can mass produce to control all future votes in the politics?? hm.. i’m just real disappointed in the education systen in Malaysia which is so so lopsided and unjust. They are just purely chasing away great talents. Malaysia spend 10 years to train youths, and later chase them away , deny them entry to local universities or offer these great talents with crappy courses. Other countries snap them up straight away and only need to train them 3-5 year max and have them working for these countries instead, building and contributing to their countries’ economy.. Ridiculous!!!
Probably that’s y they are encouraging the Malays to have 4 wives so they can mass produce to control all future votes in the politics?? hm.. i’m just real disappointed in the education systen in Malaysia which is so so lopsided and unjust. They are just purely chasing away great talents. Malaysia spend 10 years to train youths, and later chase them away , deny them entry to local universities or offer these great talents with crappy courses. Other countries snap them up straight away and only need to train them 3-5 year max and have them working for these countries instead, building and contributing to their countries’ economy.. Ridiculous!!!
Definition:
racism
n 1: the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races
(yes i know it is only one of the definitions)
how ironic that in this case it is because the members of one race are perceived by the garblement to be severely lacking in skills to make a decent living for themselves. intrinsically superior *snigger snigger*
oops. was that being racist? *blink blink*
Definition:
racism
n 1: the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races
(yes i know it is only one of the definitions)
how ironic that in this case it is because the members of one race are perceived by the garblement to be severely lacking in skills to make a decent living for themselves. intrinsically superior *snigger snigger*
oops. was that being racist? *blink blink*
some liken the bumi policies to america’s affirmative action policy. men’s attempt to make things fair for everyone sometimes seems a little loony.
All Bumboat and trishaw Cina bukits should just fuck off from this country as fast as possible with their pigtails in between their legs. Listen good…This Archipelago will forever belong to the Malay Race. Other so-called ethnic sons and daughters and bastards of immigrants dont deserve to step their filthy feet on my sacred land. Go back..you’re not wanted nor needed here.
eh budak, dun sesat, this post sudah lama…dun make it hot by picking a fight.
by the way, we’re here not because we’re wanted nor needed. We ARE here because we ARE here.
———————-
Read it all. In Mahathir’s Malaysia, over 40% of the population lives under Constitutionally mandated and perpetual state sanctioned racism. It is verging on illegality to even bring up the subject – even in parliament.
Non-bumis live under widespread and considerable electoral, educational, economic and even religious restrictions and also have to live with the risk of racially motivated stirring from malay politicians who could put one nation to shame. And don’t ask about illegal aliens, they’re safely locked up in detention centres.
Unsurprisingly, some malay policies have played upon resultant fears of racial tensions and the difficulties non-bumis face in creating their own political voice to shore up a captive vote in the ethnic electorate.
Starting up a company or even purchasing land and property is harder and more expensive for non-bumis. The only way to alleviate their permanent designation as a second-class citizen is to convert to Islam and thus enjoy partial legal acceptance as a bumis.
This Malaysia, a land where racism is used to justify racism, is Mahathir’s creation and if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, then I need a new palette.
Perhaps you may have heard of the axiom making its rounds among the Malaysian bloggers:
“If it is a malay issue, it is a national issue. If it is an Indian issue, it is not an issue. If it is a Chinese issue, it is a racial issue.”
That is the problem with Malaysia. The Chinese and Indians are made to feel as if Malaysia is for the malays, and not for the citizens of Malaysia. Even the textbooks are often written as if addressing the malays instead of Malaysians, with references to Islam and other malay cultural aspects.
Just look at Singapore. In spite of their being a multiracial society completely lacking in national resources, they are now a developed country. Why?
Because the people there are united. There is no presumption that the average citizen is a Chinese or any serious programme giving a particular race special rights.
The presumption that greed, dishonesty, and betrayal are innate qualities of a Chinese is simply as abhorrent as the presumption by some Chinese that malays smell bad, are lazy, and are extremely religious to the point of martyrdom. Such stereotyping accomplishes nothing.
If Chinese kids won’t die for Malaysia, we should not jump to the conclusion that Chinese cannot be trusted. Instead, we should consider it equally among other possibilities, such as the government’s policies creating a feeling of unfair treatment despite the premise that we are all equal as citizens of Malaysia.
We know what the original intentions of the malay special privileges provision in the Merdeka Constitution were, but to maintain that it is a carte blanche for all manner of discrimination based on the bumi/non-bumi divide is certainly straining credibility.
Now that the commanding heights of the Malaysian economy have fallen into the hands of malay capitalists 48 years after independence, is it wrong to appeal for a new consensus based on social sector and need instead of race?
From the above, it is clear that the question of the constitutionality of the quota system as it has been practised since 1971 especially in totally bumi institutions has never been tested.
Because the government imposes racial quota in education and government departments, therefore Singapore and other countries take fortune at the tide. For years, there has been brain drain to our neighbour.
I called my newfound friend earlier who works in Singapore. Somehow, the conversation ended up on Malaysians holding top positions in Singapore.
Well, I have a good friend who is currently working with a top-notch investment company in Singapore. When my new friend found out, immediately said, “No wonder that Pak Lah person was mentioning about the brain drain in Malaysia!”
Well, I know a lot of doctors and scientists are working overseas. A number of my school alumni are actually working overseas and not in Malaysia. Some are doing well in Boston, London, to name a few. It’s even funnier to hear stories of some of my school alumni to accidentally meet each other when they are overseas. Yes, my school is guilty for contributing to the brain drain……….
Closer to home, I wonder if Pak Lah knows about our own Malaysian companies that are also contributing to the brain drain. No name mentioned, but I know of one company, due to the change in business process has forced a number of the disgruntled staff to leave the company.
The worse thing, these staff left and joined the competitors that are not Malaysian owned. And even worse, some staff actually decided to leave Malaysia and work at greener pastures.
They could have stayed in Malaysia, but no company in Malaysia could afford to pay the expected salary due to the staff being former scholars and studied overseas during the economic crisis.
Sad really. Now wonder why Pak Lah has an uphill task.
Clearly, there has always been movement of highly skilled people in and out of a country. If there is brain drain from a particular country, it can scarcely develop. On the other hand, if it can keep its talents and successfully attract its skilled citizens to return as well as foreign talents to come, it will prosper.
—————————-
———————-
Read it all. In Mahathir’s Malaysia, over 40% of the population lives under Constitutionally mandated and perpetual state sanctioned racism. It is verging on illegality to even bring up the subject – even in parliament.
Non-bumis live under widespread and considerable electoral, educational, economic and even religious restrictions and also have to live with the risk of racially motivated stirring from malay politicians who could put one nation to shame. And don’t ask about illegal aliens, they’re safely locked up in detention centres.
Unsurprisingly, some malay policies have played upon resultant fears of racial tensions and the difficulties non-bumis face in creating their own political voice to shore up a captive vote in the ethnic electorate.
Starting up a company or even purchasing land and property is harder and more expensive for non-bumis. The only way to alleviate their permanent designation as a second-class citizen is to convert to Islam and thus enjoy partial legal acceptance as a bumis.
This Malaysia, a land where racism is used to justify racism, is Mahathir’s creation and if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, then I need a new palette.
Perhaps you may have heard of the axiom making its rounds among the Malaysian bloggers:
“If it is a malay issue, it is a national issue. If it is an Indian issue, it is not an issue. If it is a Chinese issue, it is a racial issue.”
That is the problem with Malaysia. The Chinese and Indians are made to feel as if Malaysia is for the malays, and not for the citizens of Malaysia. Even the textbooks are often written as if addressing the malays instead of Malaysians, with references to Islam and other malay cultural aspects.
Just look at Singapore. In spite of their being a multiracial society completely lacking in national resources, they are now a developed country. Why?
Because the people there are united. There is no presumption that the average citizen is a Chinese or any serious programme giving a particular race special rights.
The presumption that greed, dishonesty, and betrayal are innate qualities of a Chinese is simply as abhorrent as the presumption by some Chinese that malays smell bad, are lazy, and are extremely religious to the point of martyrdom. Such stereotyping accomplishes nothing.
If Chinese kids won’t die for Malaysia, we should not jump to the conclusion that Chinese cannot be trusted. Instead, we should consider it equally among other possibilities, such as the government’s policies creating a feeling of unfair treatment despite the premise that we are all equal as citizens of Malaysia.
We know what the original intentions of the malay special privileges provision in the Merdeka Constitution were, but to maintain that it is a carte blanche for all manner of discrimination based on the bumi/non-bumi divide is certainly straining credibility.
Now that the commanding heights of the Malaysian economy have fallen into the hands of malay capitalists 48 years after independence, is it wrong to appeal for a new consensus based on social sector and need instead of race?
From the above, it is clear that the question of the constitutionality of the quota system as it has been practised since 1971 especially in totally bumi institutions has never been tested.
Because the government imposes racial quota in education and government departments, therefore Singapore and other countries take fortune at the tide. For years, there has been brain drain to our neighbour.
I called my newfound friend earlier who works in Singapore. Somehow, the conversation ended up on Malaysians holding top positions in Singapore.
Well, I have a good friend who is currently working with a top-notch investment company in Singapore. When my new friend found out, immediately said, “No wonder that Pak Lah person was mentioning about the brain drain in Malaysia!”
Well, I know a lot of doctors and scientists are working overseas. A number of my school alumni are actually working overseas and not in Malaysia. Some are doing well in Boston, London, to name a few. It’s even funnier to hear stories of some of my school alumni to accidentally meet each other when they are overseas. Yes, my school is guilty for contributing to the brain drain……….
Closer to home, I wonder if Pak Lah knows about our own Malaysian companies that are also contributing to the brain drain. No name mentioned, but I know of one company, due to the change in business process has forced a number of the disgruntled staff to leave the company.
The worse thing, these staff left and joined the competitors that are not Malaysian owned. And even worse, some staff actually decided to leave Malaysia and work at greener pastures.
They could have stayed in Malaysia, but no company in Malaysia could afford to pay the expected salary due to the staff being former scholars and studied overseas during the economic crisis.
Sad really. Now wonder why Pak Lah has an uphill task.
Clearly, there has always been movement of highly skilled people in and out of a country. If there is brain drain from a particular country, it can scarcely develop. On the other hand, if it can keep its talents and successfully attract its skilled citizens to return as well as foreign talents to come, it will prosper.
—————————-
———————-
Read it all. In Mahathir’s Malaysia, over 40% of the population lives under Constitutionally mandated and perpetual state sanctioned racism. It is verging on illegality to even bring up the subject – even in parliament.
Non-bumis live under widespread and considerable electoral, educational, economic and even religious restrictions and also have to live with the risk of racially motivated stirring from malay politicians who could put one nation to shame. And don’t ask about illegal aliens, they’re safely locked up in detention centres.
Unsurprisingly, some malay policies have played upon resultant fears of racial tensions and the difficulties non-bumis face in creating their own political voice to shore up a captive vote in the ethnic electorate.
Starting up a company or even purchasing land and property is harder and more expensive for non-bumis. The only way to alleviate their permanent designation as a second-class citizen is to convert to Islam and thus enjoy partial legal acceptance as a bumis.
This Malaysia, a land where racism is used to justify racism, is Mahathir’s creation and if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, then I need a new palette.
Perhaps you may have heard of the axiom making its rounds among the Malaysian bloggers:
“If it is a malay issue, it is a national issue. If it is an Indian issue, it is not an issue. If it is a Chinese issue, it is a racial issue.”
That is the problem with Malaysia. The Chinese and Indians are made to feel as if Malaysia is for the malays, and not for the citizens of Malaysia. Even the textbooks are often written as if addressing the malays instead of Malaysians, with references to Islam and other malay cultural aspects.
Just look at Singapore. In spite of their being a multiracial society completely lacking in national resources, they are now a developed country. Why?
Because the people there are united. There is no presumption that the average citizen is a Chinese or any serious programme giving a particular race special rights.
The presumption that greed, dishonesty, and betrayal are innate qualities of a Chinese is simply as abhorrent as the presumption by some Chinese that malays smell bad, are lazy, and are extremely religious to the point of martyrdom. Such stereotyping accomplishes nothing.
If Chinese kids won’t die for Malaysia, we should not jump to the conclusion that Chinese cannot be trusted. Instead, we should consider it equally among other possibilities, such as the government’s policies creating a feeling of unfair treatment despite the premise that we are all equal as citizens of Malaysia.
We know what the original intentions of the malay special privileges provision in the Merdeka Constitution were, but to maintain that it is a carte blanche for all manner of discrimination based on the bumi/non-bumi divide is certainly straining credibility.
Now that the commanding heights of the Malaysian economy have fallen into the hands of malay capitalists 48 years after independence, is it wrong to appeal for a new consensus based on social sector and need instead of race?
From the above, it is clear that the question of the constitutionality of the quota system as it has been practised since 1971 especially in totally bumi institutions has never been tested.
Because the government imposes racial quota in education and government departments, therefore Singapore and other countries take fortune at the tide. For years, there has been brain drain to our neighbour.
I called my newfound friend earlier who works in Singapore. Somehow, the conversation ended up on Malaysians holding top positions in Singapore.
Well, I have a good friend who is currently working with a top-notch investment company in Singapore. When my new friend found out, immediately said, “No wonder that Pak Lah person was mentioning about the brain drain in Malaysia!”
Well, I know a lot of doctors and scientists are working overseas. A number of my school alumni are actually working overseas and not in Malaysia. Some are doing well in Boston, London, to name a few. It’s even funnier to hear stories of some of my school alumni to accidentally meet each other when they are overseas. Yes, my school is guilty for contributing to the brain drain……….
Closer to home, I wonder if Pak Lah knows about our own Malaysian companies that are also contributing to the brain drain. No name mentioned, but I know of one company, due to the change in business process has forced a number of the disgruntled staff to leave the company.
The worse thing, these staff left and joined the competitors that are not Malaysian owned. And even worse, some staff actually decided to leave Malaysia and work at greener pastures.
They could have stayed in Malaysia, but no company in Malaysia could afford to pay the expected salary due to the staff being former scholars and studied overseas during the economic crisis.
Sad really. Now wonder why Pak Lah has an uphill task.
Clearly, there has always been movement of highly skilled people in and out of a country. If there is brain drain from a particular country, it can scarcely develop. On the other hand, if it can keep its talents and successfully attract its skilled citizens to return as well as foreign talents to come, it will prosper.
—————————-
It is true NEP has its good and its bad points depending on whose view you are looking at it.
The non-bumi has been straddled with this law for a long time and I can see lots of dissatisfaction emerging from their rank. This can be seen by the ever-increasing number of emigration taking place as well as non-returning students from abroad.
I cannot start to call them traitors, as some of the bumis here seem to imply on them. Put yourself in their shoe first and feel the full effect of the discrimination for over 30 years……….Do you think you will be happy? Anybody?
Want to know why the so call non-bumis are all running away from Malaysia for greener pasture as bumis call traitors and rats? Know that even rats must be wise to jump ship when the ship is sinking.
The government has been pushing the unity theme for Malaysia for a long time – The so-called Bangsa Malaysia. How do you unite people? How are you going to unite people of different races where one race enjoys more rights than other races? Unity can never happen if there is inequality.
So, if you don’t want people to comment on your special rights, then don’t talk about unity in front of the non-bumis.
The next reason why the non-bumis keep on condemning the special rights is because of the implementation of it. Does every bumi has the chance to enjoy their special rights? From what non-bumis have been seeing since the past till now, only the rich and powerful are enjoying it. The poor bumis are still poor. How many poor bumis were transformed from poverty to middle class?
Sure, what you talk about your experience might be true if you put it in a nutshell. You cite examples of success cases and stories which is what it should be. But don’t use special rights to deny a fellow deserving Malaysian of that chance too.
If you don’t trust your fellow countrymen, whom in the world are you going to put your faith into?
The reasons have been given, countless in fact. And I believe you can also see it for yourself what kind of state Malaysia is in now. No unity, no improvement in the competitiveness in Malaysia.
I believe no community will get stronger if it depends on protection all the time. In face of globalization, each one must pull its own weight but work as a team. Otherwise we go down together.
Even when we were children we were taught the strength of sticking together. Ultimately, we probably won’t affect policy much. But it will satisfy me to know, someone reading this, will accept my argument. If only one person reads this and is willing to change their way of thinking, then I have succeeded.
Because they will then carry that idea to the next person.
Like myself, I will seriously wish that my future children would not have to endure the same pain as I did. The system hasn’t changed much in the past (even if they do change, the change usually isn’t beneficial to non-bumis), and as I can foresee, the system won’t change much in the future too.
I know things cannot be as ideal as everyone would wish. We all are persevering. Nevertheless, when there is a better opportunity worthwhile to pursue, we will go for it.
Forty-seven years after independence, the people of Malaysia are still searching for an identity. Are they malays or muslims first; are they Chinese, Indians or Malaysians first?
This identity crisis is a result of the failure of the BN government, which has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, later as the expanded Barisan Nasional.
The truth is that the malays of this country partly owe their independence to the non-malays. The reason was that the British refused to give independence without an agreement from the non-malays.
Another argument put forth by the pro-malay special rights group is that, they made a compromise by giving the non-malays their citizenship and in exchange the malays must be given their special privileges.
This argument is the most ridiculous I have heard thus far but in their ignorance some Malaysians still think that citizenship is for a certain race to give. This logic would mean that the minorities will always be seen as foreigners who will never be equal to the malay bumis.
The Chinese and Indians must accept they are immigrants and they were given citizenships in 1957 on the agreement that the malays are given special rights and privileges.
Stretching your logic a bit further, are you also suggesting that in America, the Negroes continue to be slaves to the whites otherwise they give up US citizenship and go back to Africa?
This is stupid idiotic logic. Even if the so-called contract was valid, it was so only in the 50s and 60s.
We are nearly 50 years after independence and all Chinese and Indians have begun citizens. They are no more bound by the so-called social contract which enslaved their ancestors.
Umno is afraid to give up ketuanan melayu because it is bankrupt of ideas in competing with others in this 21st century democracy.
Umno’s warped logic is that it is better for country to be backward so long as malays benefit than for country to prosper, where malays are marginalized.
This warped logic is in fact the beginning of the end of the malays who will never progress and compete with others on equal footing and level playing field, so long as they subscribe to ketuanan melayu and have crutch mentality in forever relying on special privileges……….
Malays will crumble from internal weaknesses and disappear in era of globalization……….no need for others to colonize them as Mahathir had constantly raised this bogey.
My dad is a racist; so is my mom. Similarly racists are my brother, sister and relatives. All the Malaysian friends I now have are, and those I had were or at the least had been, racists too.
Well, perhaps thanks to all these people, I have become – and remain – a racist as well.
You see, we are the members of a much larger community: Malaysia – the racist nation!
The term community is somewhat misleading. We are not united as such as a nation should be. We are only united by the fact that all of us – at one time or other – had been are or will become, racists……
All of us formally became racists in the year of 1971, when racism was institutionalised in Malaysia. Not that racism didn’t exist before: it did; it lurked underneath, which — as everyone knows — erupted as the May 13 ethnic riots. Hence came the New Economic Policy, set up to divert the winds off the sails of racism. Ballasting the boat, and listing it in favour of the economically disadvantaged malay-Malaysians may lead to Malaysians seeing each other as equals, it was thought.
Then came the 80s, which also gave Dr Mahathir.
Still, racism remained somewhat otherworldly to me. All of us practiced racism, on the streets, in shops, in schools and in the house, but racism was never blatant – at least in my life. That changed as the 80s came to a close.
…………
Please tell me, can anyone even imagine a multi-cultural Malaysian nation — where no one discriminates the other on the basis of race, where everyone treats the other as a brother or sister – being run by the same racist parties that exist now? Is such a future even conceptually possible?
It is time for me to descend to earth and crawl back into my racist carapace, and be a realist again. And heap praises on our nation and on the ideals that are so central to its psyche: long live, racism! Long live, racist Malaysia – the model racist nation!
It is no wonder our civil participation is as backward as it is.
Do you have any idea why Singapore is almost the first world country or 20 years better than Malaysia?
One could argue every country has its own policies and laws that place prejudice on certain parties – yes, that is true, but none so shamefully as those who (Malaysia) not only boast about it, take the credit for the successes of these people whom they slam their discriminatory abuses on, and have no intention to change it (and that said with a smug look on the face).
Bangsa Malaysia? Bah, humbug!
This country would be a great country if there is no division of races. With its richness of natural resources, Malaysia should be one among the most developed nation in Asia.
Bitter to say, all those money lost to corrupt politicians and cronies, and unprofitable projects.
This is what saddens me as Malaysian.
However, I do believe a brain drain is inevitable. I believe it is happening. As a student in long-ago school, I see it every year. Each and every year after the holidays, there are a few less people in class. Why? Their parents emigrated down under West.
I left the country in the 90s because of the injustices in Malaysia perpetrated by Umno. I made my fortune and no returned home but I thought Mahathir had somehow managed to turn the mindset of Umno around into focusing on global competition, instead of petty race-based competition.
Now I am certain that those in power want the affirmative action policies to continue, not because these policies benefit the general malay population, but because these policies give Umno the right to continue to plunder the country.
Legalised theft is what they are after, and if anyone dares speak out, they just tell you to leave the country so that they can continue their plunder.
It’s sad, but my children don’t have to live through this injustice. They can go anywhere they want in the world, and I encourage them.
There are many people who made big names as Malaysians only when they are treated better in other countries, not because they are Malaysians but because they are treated as one of their own.
That’s explain why they choose not come back. Treatment was so good that they offered their family to emigrate over there.
Since Umno is playing the race cards openly, the coming future for non-malays is suffering through endurance. How many more years should we Malaysians suffer? It is not only the non-malays but also the poor malays struggling for survival in isolated villages.
Anyway, these people voted with their feet and wrote about their experience. They wanted to tell you about this country and how its government discriminated its minority people.
I can feel they love this country too but this country or rather this government did not love them. I can also feel their sadness and how things are turning for their malay brothers and sisters who are getting weaker and weaker in this globalised world, and all this is Umno’s fault.
They realised if this is not stopped immediately, this country will eventually go down the drain like those fourth world banana republics.
Their ancestors have helped this country to fight for independence and even fought off Japanese invaders but our government has never been grateful and instead discriminated against them to the hilt.
They also saw that they have become second-class citizens in their country of birth, and were very disappointed when Indonesia labours can become first class citizens whereas foreign spouses of non-malays took years just to get a PR. Even terrorists like Hambali and Abu Bakar can become PR holders easily. Something is definitely wrong with this country.
Here maybe you are malay and oblivious to others who are suffering and as a Muslim yourself, is this injustice reconcilable to the tenets of Islam?
Tony Gunawan also voted with his feet and went on to become USA’s first world badminton doubles champion. Instead of helping his original country to badminton glory, he helped another country to become a potent rival.
The same could be said of our citizens who voted with their feet. Many went to Singapore and worked for companies that became our competitors. If our country and government has been kind to some of its citizens, this additional competition wouldn’t have been created. I hope the present government will realise its folly and there is no substitute to real meritocracy.
The non-malays don’t want everything but only fairness and social justice, a very tenet of your malays great religion. If you can’t even subscribe to the tenets of your own religion, I am afraid you may be branded a hypocrite and a very racist one at that.
Chinese getting straight As are not allowed into universities. Not allowed civil service jobs. That is blatant discrimination.
Why do you support such discrimination?
Chinese Malaysians have built very successful businesses, hence they have the wealth that they have. This is not greed. They worked for what they now own.
Why do you envy what does not belong to you? Is this not greed?
It is quite untrue that business offers are conducted on the basis of race. Starting any business is very very hard work, but the malays did not have a hard working tradition to persevere. This is a cultural change the malays need in order to conduct businesses successfully.
Armed with this knowledge, do you still insist that Chinese Malaysians are greedy, and therefore it is right for malays to take what does not belong to them?
Your perception of business in Malaysia has got to be wrong.
Most goods and services can be conducted in open markets, and there is no particular reason to single out malays so that Chinese businessmen should swindle them. There are lots of swindlers in business so it is not just malays who get swindled.
Successful businessmen depend on providing real benefits to customers and partners so that it is worthwhile for them to do business again and again to both parties benefit. It is only when customers also get rich that businesses can grow.
The discrimination against Chinese, Indians and other peoples cannot be tolerated in the modern world. Countries that do this will face long-term decline.
Hard working people are not greedy as you accuse them. They are hard working because they have a mission in life to prosper, to give offspring a good chance in life to live to the full, to contribute their talents to the betterment of society……….
This is not greed.
Whereas, envy of others wealth and taking what they have not worked for is greed.
I would put is stronger. It is robbery and corruption. You talk like a Mafia extortionist when you said that worse could happen to the Chinese, so be thankful because there are more malays than Chinese, and therefore they can take even more from the Chinese if they want to.
You have to be joking to believe that your greed and prejudices are the wonderful things about Malaysia. Well, may be you do.
Malaysia as describe it is a country based on racism, lack of a conscience, and greed (taking from hard working foreigners).
Meritocracy is denounced. Robbing the wealthy is promoted.
How can there be a good future for such a country?
Looking from outside of Malaysia, it is easy to see that the malay-controlled government is enforcing a wealth-robbing programme from the Chinese who earned their wealth through hard works.
By barring bright well-qualified Chinese Malaysians from entering Malaysian universities, Malaysia is pursuing a discriminatory policy based on race.
This is not tolerated in civilised countries. It is a policy that gives Malaysia a very bad reputation and deprives itself of its most talented.
It is a policy which tells the malays that robbing from the rich is not greed because being rich, being educated is the same as being greedy.
This is moral corruption and self-contradiction which Malaysia will pay a very heavy price.
Can’t tahan that Anonymous budek(Aug 3). Must…not…curse…
Eh budek, YOU listen good. If not for Parameswara 400 years ago, the only Malay on this part of the Archipelago is the Orang Asli. That makes you no less an immigrant as we are. Sacred land you say? My god, this is so ludicrous considering the corruption we have in this country. And your sacred land is in Palembang, Sumatra. Now how about the rights for the Orang Asli?
I think Islam is great religion. The Islam world has contributed in many areas of human development. But those are the Muslims from the Middle East and Europe, not the Archipelago. So, there’s no point for the Malays here to perasan lebih of other people’s achievements.
No Chinese is going to shed a tear, much less die for this country when the Chinese are being treated as 2nd class citizens. Why sacrifice for a country that don’t see you as one of its people.
HI SIR,
sir please i need your help to continue my study sir i’m noy a fraydlers neithe i’m a wicked man please i really need your help in my study i’m from NIGERIA please their may be some fraudlers in NIGERIA but not all please sir i really need it your help in concecration of my heart aas you help GODS ALMIGHTY will prosper the work of your hand in JESUS NAME(AMEN)
Some malays juz suck! they cant live without the support from goverment! they’re the reasons malaysia never grow!they are leeching all the benefit that we earn!Hmmm..like.. Rafidah Aziz.. CHAUCIBAI!
how bout peh lang?
Fuyyoo.. me pulak can’t tahan this N-Drool..
Must..teach.. geography.. and.. anthropology..
I am a man of fact and the fact shall I give.
So N-drool, you listen good also lah.
Orang Asli didn’t just come out from the Malay Peninsula soil just like that lah.
THey also came from somewhere else lahh.. So what’s the point of involving this orang Asli thingy ?
And the Malay didnt came from Palembang lahh..
You know where is Palembang ? It is in Sumatera.
An island, tho it was a large land mass connected to the Asian continent until 25,000 yrs ago, when the mammoth still roaming the Earth…
The point is, Sumatera is an island down south. Therefore, like the orang Asli, Malay ppl also didn’t come out from the soil or the sea lah.. ishh.. they also came from somewhere else, at least from the north.
If you studied Anthropology or at least watched the Nat Geo on Astro,
the Malays are the people who came all the way down from Southern China of Mongoloid (Asian) stock, thousands of years ago in the form of what still left today – the Jakun people ( an Orang Asli tribe, or anthropologically known as proto-Malay ). As time passed, many of them mixed marriage with the Indians (during the time of Hinduism / Buddhism ) and also with the Arabs (and also some more Indians)during the Islamic era, producing whole new breeds of Malay like we know today – i.e slightly different from the original “proto-Malay”. Not to mention, Malays from the Thai, Khmer or Chinese breeds too.
And even before Parameswara, there were already old Malay Hindu Kingdoms of Majapahit and Srivijaya (to name some, long before Melaka !) and these peoples have been scattering all over Malay Archipelago for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, from Acheh in the West, to Mindanao in the East. Ever wonder why the Iban of Sarawak looks more Malay-like than Negrito-like ? I just explained why.
Even the Chinese classical text proves such things. Please bare in mind that, those people were Malays but they didnt identify themselves as Malays because they looked the same, spoke the same and even lived by the same rules and therefore racial classification just didnt work back then ! They only identified themselves by the place they came from like Javanese, Palembangite or Banjarese. Still, anthropologically they were from the same stock and they still are !
This whole “racial” idea started to sprung out when the Western powers came to the region shores. They brought in immigrants from lands far far away to fuel up their own economy of their distant homelands but the bad part was, they also introduced racial segregation along with it, where, unlike the Kingdom of Melaka in the old days, these people of different races just cant fairly mix with each other and finally.. voila ! From all of that, we finally got this “dark side” of MALAYSIA !
Seriously, come to think of this topic, I just dont know who I could rightly blame!
Just ask yourself lah… or you can just continue with this debate till the end of time.
p/s:
N-Kyokun : I just wondering. Having read your fourth comment, have you been to Kelantan and talk to the locals there ?
it is a sad country. i foresee no future at all.
there is also another aspect that is ever so frightening about this race: their arrogance and stupidity.
they are forever so arrogant that they are even unwilling to learn about their own culture and religion.
once i was chatting with an educated person from this race group.
he has a degree from a foreign university, supported for course by the gahmen.
he now works for an mnc in a comfortable non-technical postion because of his race.
our conversation accidentally touched upon islam.
and wow, for a muslim certainly knows less about his religion than i.
but they still act as though they are the authoritatve voice of the religion.
i was in a campus of a northern religion university the other day. the campus was having an aerospace engineering day.
i spoke english to one of the students about the projects they are exhibiting.
he could not understand me. so he went to get his lecturer, who looks no better than the cab driver who drove me there.
using some very broken english, he manage to convey to me what the exhibition is about.
he can’t pronounce the name of his degree or diploma properly nor the university in germany he attended.
he wrote down the words ‘jerman’ and said that his degree or diploma was from germany.
i couldn’t figure out whether he has a degree or just a diploma because he too was not so clear himself.
but when i asked: “are you a dr?”. his response was a positive “yes”.
last week i returned some pirated dvds to a shop that i frequent for dvd movies.
there is a malay couple who man the shop.
i use english to convey some of the problems of the dvds.
the man could not understand it and so he went to get the woman out.
using very broken english, i manage to let her know what the problems are.
what is the difference then between the lecturer at the university campus and the malay couple at the shop?
now wonder our universities standing has dropped.
in other universities in the world, you have to work to get extra credits and a B gpa at least to get an honours.
in this country, honours degree are automatic. no gets a general degree.
i dun mind sharing the wealth of this country with them.
but it is their arrogant and stupid attitude that is intolerable.
it is such attitude that leads them to bully the other races.
I tried my best to understand what this keong kan liao wrote up there in the most optimistic manner but seriously, I don’t get your point there mr keong.
They guy at the counter was a Malay, so what’s wrong with using Malay instead of English to convey your problems ? Or do you have problems speaking Malay ? Or speaking English will simply make ppl think that you are some sort of civilised dude with the best attitudes human race could offer? What makes you think that everybody in this world should understand English to be great like you ?
Seriously I have no idea what is your real problem with this English thing.
If you go to the Middle East, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, France, Russia, Korea or even China, and decided to test your out-of-this-world English on the peoples there, you will meet with the same problem. And then, you can continue bitching on this topic forever, as long as you like.
Now tell me,
who is actually with the arrogant and stupid attitude here ?
So, stop pointing your crooked finger at one race and if you wish to start the blaming game, trust me, it just won’t end.
Instead, ask yourself what are your contributions for a better future.
No wonder this sad country has no future. D’oh.. Grow up !
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“Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country – John F. Kennedy ”
i’m not against the pro-bumi policies. but it got to change to help the have-nots no matter what their race are. the rich do not need any housing discounts. make sure there r no places for dumb students n dumb n lazy lecturers in public n private universities n colleges. teach a man to fish instead of giving him a fish. now it’s time for country over race. a lazy man cannot be rich 4 a long time…the non-bumis work hard to move foward. it’s a surprise to c more indians in malaysia r succesful in business despite competition from the chinese n the malays. it’s the law of nature the fittest will survive…the weak will eventually die.
DAMN YOU’RE BRAVE!
Hmmmm….this is realy interesting. Most of the commentors’ here are commenting against racism,but in the process of doing so,they themselves have become their own enemy. Weird huh?
I’m kelantanese,well,because my parents’ are. If you r x infomed,most kelantanese have at least one chinese ancestor in their family lineage. My point is….I have no point. Precisely!Do I give a shit about my lineage or care about what colour of skin they were??Because I have chinese blood in me,do I need 2 be more sympahetic towards their wellbeing?,if I do,I might as well care about my homo habillis’s ancestors well being as well,that dwell in caves hundreds of thousands years ago,if they are still alive. Same goes for the malays.DON’T ONLY GIVE JUDGEMENT AND MAKE DESICION ACCORDING TO YOUR CLOSELY SURROUNDING OR IMMEDIATE FAMILY’S RACE.See people as they are. That’s why we have this problem,beacause people just can’t help but classify other people.It makes them feel much secure knowing and labelling other ppl.It is human nature,I’m afraid,fear something we DON’T know or think we don’t know.
My dad,my lovely dad,he came from a poor family. He work his way through life,got the best results for A-levels in the whole country(during his time) and got to three of the most respected unis.He got two doctorate n a master. He opens up his own software n engineering company and is dealing wth ppl frm all over the world.
It sadden me that people like my dad are labelled lazy and an oppurtunist(since he is malay) by most people here.
For his part,he never once took any scholarship for us because he knows that he can afford it.in fact,it’s hardworking people like him tat gets scrutinisedd by the government. U think all malays are priveliged??think again. Richer malay family sometimes can ‘steal’ scholarships from a poor malay kid. And teh government x do anything abt it.
If you want to rebel,scrutinised,please let it out to the government. Don’t start scrutinising a certain race.That is called premature judgment.Join hands with anybody who suffers the same fate,despite their race,and voice out your opinions.
Stop with all this barrier of race n language,cause i’m sick of it. I know..I know..y malay have to be national language?well,same as why english have 2 be the internatinal language?Do U guys ever question that?No,I don’t think so…By ur guys’ writtings. Even if the national language is mandarin I wouldn’t give a damn…s long s there’ 1 uniting language that helps us better understand and communicate efficiently wth each other.
I love malaysia for what it is. N i have so much faith in it. THings will need 2 change in the future, but isn’t that what is needed 4 the making of a great country??(I know ppl would hate me saying this but look at america n it’s history of racism)
Loads of love from united kingdom.Love ur blog,btw!!!Their really something.Samihah mustapha.
I mean they are really something
is singapore racist???answer it urself…!!
[KS: Racist comment removed]
Definately something is wrong with our garmen. Chinese have been around for five generations and yet we can’t compare to Indonesians who will eventually be “bumiputras” when they migrate here.
The Malays are bunch of losers
Great Blog Kenny!
Everyone had a place to voice out, of course they were not able to do it in the Malaysian newspapers because,… you know what I mean.
But,… after this bloggy thing I hope everyone still love each other. It’s just frustration they wanna get out from em,…
U all should know that pro-bumi in M’sia does not refer to other races like us. I am an Iban girl from Sri Aman, Sarawak and we all (native, eg. Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, etc.) are considered to be the 2nd class or the lower class of the `kaum bumiputera’. Still Malays have all the privilleges all the time in every sense, eg. scholarships, sponsorship, job offers, etc. That is one thing that I’m sure my Chinese friends do not know yet. Even in our own land (Sarawak) where the native communities especially Iban are more than Malays, still they are the one taking the leads in everything. But sometime I cant blame them bcoz we native let ourselves being ‘overpowered’ by them. Nobody dare to say much as they only ‘mahu jaga periuk nasi sendiri’. So being ‘stupid’ and just keeping quite is still the best way to live in their own land.
Post on racism – writen in Chinese please visit: http://the-little-corner-space.spaces.live.com/
Seriously speaking, malays are not capable in doing business. If you look into the top 500 world billionaires list, there’s no malay in malaysia who labelled as Billionaire except for the Lim Goh Tong. Just type in Google search column and you’ll find out the rest of malaysian billionaires. But do take note that whether you like it or not “there is” still no malay in the list cause they not even reached to minimum of 1 bil. So, i suggest malays should not racist and/or be so mean with chinese and other races if they want to be success or labelled as what Lim Goh Tong is. Thanks and may god forgive any sins you guys have done.:)
Seriously speaking, malays are not capable in doing business. If you look into the top 500 world billionaires list, there’s no malay in malaysia who labelled as Billionaire except for the Lim Goh Tong. Just type in Google search column and you’ll find out the rest of malaysian billionaires. But do take note that whether you like it or not “there is” still no malay in the list cause they not even reached to minimum of 1 bil. So, i suggest malays should not racist and/or be so mean with chinese and other races if they want to be success or labelled as what Lim Goh Tong is. Thanks and may god forgive any sins you guys have done.:)
The M’s just wanna suck the money of the non-m because they can’t work for it themselves. The gov spoon speeds them everything like a baby.
Now tell me,
who is actually with the arrogant and stupid attitude here ?
So, stop pointing your crooked finger at one race and if you wish to start the blaming game, trust me, it just won’t end.
Instead, ask yourself what are your contributions for a better future.info
It’s been interesting to read such free-flowing comments on an all “Malaysian” free for all. While we are on the subject, how many of you have read the book entitled “Contesting Malayness”? Written by a Professor of National University of Singapore. Cost S$32 (about). It reflects the Anthropologists views that there is no such race as the “Malays” to begin with. If we follow the original migration of the Southern Chinese of 6,000yrs ago, they moved into Taiwan, (now the Alisan), then into the Phillipines (now the Aeta) and moved into Borneo (4,500yrs ago) (Dayak). They also split into Sulawesi and progressed into Jawa, and Sumatera. The final migration was to the Malayan Peninsular 3,000yrs ago. A sub-group from Borneo also moved to Champa in Cambodia at 4,500yrs ago.
Interestingly, the Champa deviant group moved back to present day Kelantan. There are also traces of the Dong Song and HoaBinh migration from Vietnam and Cambodia. To confuse the issue, there was also the Southern Thai migration, from what we know as Pattani today. (see also “Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsular”)
Of course, we also have the Minangkabau’s which come from the descendants of Alexander the Great and a West Indian Princess. (Sejarah Melayu page 1-3)
So the million Dollar Question… Is there really a race called the “Malays”? All anthropologists DO NOT SEEM TO THINK SO.
Neither do the “Malays” who live on the West Coast of Johor. They’d rather be called Javanese. What about the west coast Kedah inhabitants who prefer to be known as “Achenese”? or the Ibans who simply want to be known as IBANS. Try calling a Kelabit a “Malay” and see what response you get… you’ll be so glad that their Head-Hunting days are over.
The definition of “Malay†is therefore simply a collection of people’s who speak a similar type language. With what is meant by a similar type language does not mean that the words are similar. Linguists call this the “Lego-type” language, where words are added on to the root word to make meaning and give tenses and such. Somehow, the Indonesians disagree with this classification. They refuse to be called Malay…. Anyhow you may define it. Watch “Malays in Africaâ€; a Museum Negara produced DVD. Also, the “Champa Malays†by the same.
With this classification, they MUST also include the Phillipinos, the Papua New Guineans, the Australian Aboroginies, as well as the Polynesian Aboroginies. These are of the Australo Melanesians who migrated out of Africa 60,000yrs ago.
Getting interesting? Read on…
“Malay” should also include the Taiwanese singer “Ah Mei” who is Alisan as her tribe are the anscestors of the “Malays”. And finally, you will need to define the Southern Chinese (Funan Province) as Malay also, since they are from the same stock 6,000yrs ago.
Try calling the Bugis a “Malay”. Interestingly, the Bugis, who predominantly live on Sulawesi are not even Indonesians. Neither do they fall into the same group as the migrating Southern Chinese of 6,000yrs ago nor the Australo Melanesian group from Africa.
Ready for this?
The Bugis are the cross-breed between the Chinese and the Arabs. (FYI, a runaway Ming Dynasty official whom Cheng Ho was sent to hunt down) Interestingly, the Bugis were career Pirates in the Johor-Riau Island areas. Now the nephew of Daeng Kemboja was appointed the First Sultan of Selangor. That makes the entire Selangor Sultanate part Arab, part Chinese! Try talking to the Bugis Museum curator near Kukup in Johor. Kukup is located near the most south-western tip of Johor. (Due south of Pontian Kechil)
Let’s not even get into the Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekiu, and Hang Lekir, who shared the same family last name as the other super famous “Hang” family member… Hang Li Poh. And who was she? the princess of a Ming Dynasty Emperor who was sent to marry the Sultan of Malacca. Won’t that make the entire Malacca Sultanate downline “Baba” ? Since the older son of the collapsed Malaccan Sultanate got killed in Johor, (the current Sultanate is the downline of the then, Bendahara) the only other son became the Sultan of Perak. Do we see any Chinese-ness in Raja Azlan? Is he the descendant of Hang Li Poh?
Next question. If the Baba’s are part Malay, why have they been marginalized by NOT BEING BUMIPUTERA? Which part of “Malay†are they not? Whatever the answer, why then are the Portugese of Malacca BUMIPUTERA? Did they not come 100yrs AFTER the arrival of the first Baba’s? Parameswara founded Malacca in 1411. The Portugese came in 1511, and the Dutch in the 1600’s. Strangely, the Baba’s were in fact once classified a Bumiputera, but a decided that they were strangely “declassified†in the 1960’s. WHY?
The Sultan of Kelantan had similar roots to the Pattani Kingdom making him of Thai origin. And what is this “coffee table book” by the Sultan of Perlis claiming to be the direct descendant of the prophet Muhammed? Somehow we see Prof Khoo Khay Khim’s signature name on the book. I’ll pay good money to own a copy of it myself. Anyone has a spare?
So, how many of you have met with orang Asli’s? the more northern you go, the more African they look. Why are they called Negrito’s? It is a Spanish word, from which directly transalates “mini Negrosâ€. The more southern you go, the more “Indonesian†they look. And the ones who live at Cameron Highlands kinda look 50-50. You can see the Batek at Taman Negara, who really look like Eddie Murphy to a certain degree. Or the Negritos who live at the Thai border near Temenggor Lake (north Perak). The Mah Meri in Carrie Island look almost like the Jakuns in Endau Rompin. Half African, half Indonesian.
By definition, (this is super eye-opening) there was a Hindu Malay Empire in Kedah. Yes, I said right… The Malays were Hindu. It was, by the old name Langkasuka. Today known as Lembah Bujang. This Hindu Malay Empire was 2,000yrs old. Pre-dating Borrobudor AND Angkor Watt. Who came about around 500-600yrs later. Lembah Bujang was THE mighty trading empire, and its biggest influence was by the Indians who were here to help start it. By definition, this should make the Indians BUMIPUTERAS too since they were here 2,000yrs ago! Why are they marginalized?
So, in a nutshell, the “Malays†(anthropologists will disagree with this “race†definition) are TRULY ASIA !!! (main continent and West Asia included)
We should stop calling this country “Tanah Melayu†instead call it, “Tanah Truly Asiaâ€
For once the Tourism Ministry got it right J
Here maybe you are malay and oblivious to others who are suffering and as a Muslim yourself, is this injustice reconcilable to the tenets of Islam?
if the non-malays marry the malays then we all get the same rights lo. haha.
i’d like to add that the true bumis are the aborigines.
i read somewhere up there that the dayak and similar races are 2nd class. chinese/indians must be 3rd class then. =\
no malay billionaires bcoz their wealth usually cant be made official ma… hur hur hur.
I don’t agree with what was written in this blog. the truth is I’m kind of furious with what i read. i think this blog’s writer did not study history back then and even if he did, he must had failed in this subject. history is not a school time story that you can just ignore it after you had graduated from school. in fact, history actually teaches you what had been going on from pre-independent’s time until now. it was written in the agreement before our country reaches it’s independent; which had stated that the bumi people will be given lots of privileges as they should not be questioned no matter what. for those who know about it, they will not even try to question what had been stated in that agreement with any stupid discontent reason at all . it was all written before independent was reached and we, no matter what our races are, should follow it as how it is. those who do not respect the rights of certain races in malaysia is actually an ungrateful person and to tell the truth, he is eventually beyond his own knowledge threatening and against this country and turning himself into a very serious terrorist.
For a detailed discussion on asian racism (Singapore and Malaysia included) goto http://www.asianracism.blogspot.com
and YES, Ang Moh IS racist. It’s in the eye of the beholder.
hmm..i believe that every race should be given a chance to run the country.i mean..malaysia is a multi-racial country right?why not give other races a chance?and i still dont quite get it when everyone says malaysia is a muslim country.what happened to the other religion?(i know majority is muslim and malays,no offence to them but try thinking from other ppl’s perspective) im not against it..just wondering.religion will always become an issue,together with races..without fail.that’s sad because anyone can practice any religion they want.what’s the point of condemning other religion?i thought religion is supposed to give moral values in a person but there are some individuals fail to keep those values within them.condemning other religion won’t bring u straight to heaven.what good does it bring anyway?
I’m half English, half Chinese. My chinese family still hasn’t really accepted me and I feel rather like an outcast when I’m around them. Also when I attended government school ( I have switched to an international school for obvious reasons), everyone used to speak behind my back in Malay thinking I wouldn’t understand, and even now when I go out I hear whispers of the word “ang mo”, and I still feel really uncomfortable. My only consolation is that I have many friends of all races but, being a Malaysian citizen, I desperately would like to feel at home in my own country.