Racism: Different Race's Perspectives

By Michelle Peong Wei Ting

SANDAKAN: Racism, the different forms of discrimination, stereotyping, and hatred directed from and to people of different races.

When we talk about Racism, the social movement protest - the ‘Black Lives Matter’ issue would most probably come to our mind.

We Malaysians are all so focused on other countries’ businesses that we neglected the same racism issue happening in our country.

As Malaysia is a multiracial country, our multiculturalism is the main factor for conflicts among races which then develops the serious phenomena of racism.

Experiences of Different Races

As this discriminatory concept of racism impacts differently on Malaysians, different races encountered racism differently.

Khoo Chyuan Shing, a 21-years-old Graphic Design student at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), mentioned that it is quite normal for Malaysians to see or experience racism.

“Name-calling is the most common racist behaviour.”

Coming from a multi-ethnic secondary school, she said, “I did hear a lot of ‘Ching Chong’ and ‘Cina Babi’ in my secondary school.”

Khoo believed that kindness can be received by us showing it first - Image by Michelle Peong Wei Ting

A 21-years-old UTAR student, Kousalyamanju A/P Murugaiah who studies in Media and Creative Studies said that her skin colour is most commonly mocked by racists.

Manju expressed that she is used to the teases and mocks - Image by Michelle Peong Wei Ting

“There are some groups of people who prefer to only stay with their own race and would talk bad about the other races and even bully them,” said Shamira Kang Mohd Firdauz Kang, 23, an Architecture student from UTAR.

Not only does racism happen to the three main races, but to the mixed races as well.

53-year-old Munia Chee Muk Lan who is from a mixed-race of Chinese and Sino-Dusun said that she has been suffering from racism since primary school. “They mock at me, call me ‘Za Zhong’ and ‘Bodoh’, point middle fingers at me,” said Chee.

‘Za Zhong’ is an offensive Chinese word that means hybrid or crossbreed, while ‘Bodoh’ refers to stupid in Malay.

Chee has been a victim of racism by few races just because she is mixed.

“Why people do this? Why people like to label other races?” said Iza Sharina binti Sallehuddi, 40 years old UTAR lecturer whose great grandfather is Indian.

Iza has been called ‘Malay sia-sia’ when she is in Year 4 during primary school, in which ‘sia-sia’ is a negative term that refers to trash.

She said that the name-calling insult has been with her even until today.

Iza enjoys attending to open houses of other races since young- Image by Michelle Peong Wei Ting

Relationship with Other Races

Despite the unbearable experiences from racism, all the victims still managed to be friends with the other races.

According to Munia, she is more natural and happier when she is with the other races now.

Besides, Iza said that “I enjoy more of my working time during my 20s and 30s in the mixed culture environment, compared to only 100% with Malays and all of them are Muslim people.

“It sounds like kind of racist but maybe because I grew up with different races, we’ve been open, and we enjoy the differences,” said Iza.

She revealed that she realized discrimination comes more when working with people from the same race. She also added that her current workplace’s environment is positive and healthy, and she met incredible people from different races.

On the other hand, Khoo said that she has lesser friends from other races and is more comfortable with her own race.

“Since my English is not that good, it is very hard for me to communicate with them even though I want to,” explained Khoo.

Thoughts on Racism in Malaysia

“Why do we have Kampung Cina, Kampung Melayu? Why don’t we have ‘Kampung Satu Malaysia’?” asked Alex Peong Peck How, a 54-years-old businessman.

Alex (right 3) having dinner with his friends from different races – Photo courtesy from Alex Peong Peck How

He added that the division of races is created out of Malaysia’s policy, and because we are grouped only with our same race, we are unable to understand other races’ cultures and be closer to them.

“It is not the people to be blamed for the racism issue as the other races are just unfamiliar with us, same as how we are unfamiliar with them,” said Alex.

Iza opined similar thoughts as she thinks that the racism situation in Malaysia is becoming worse. “Not just the society, but the media and also our government that plays the most important role,” she said.

“If you can see who is into more of this, I would say those people from my age group who is very active using social media,” said Iza.

Iza believed that people simply think that it is not fair for their races and religion and that the government, media, and the other religions did not respect their race, therefore leading to racism.

“But on the other hand, there are still a group of people that always show the positivity from the different race.

Iza said that our NGOs and ordinary people can be seen helping other races when they are being hit upon certain issues regarding discrimination and racism.

“I think we should have that kind of people.

“Today, I can see that most of our people especially during this pandemic are lacking empathy, we don’t bother about other people, we don’t care about other people,” she said.

While empathy is what that makes us human, lacking it somewhat makes us racists.

Therefore, we should all work together in shaping a positive mindset towards the different ethnicities and educate younger generations on the importance of Malaysia’s multiculturalism. It’s not only the people that need to take responsibility, but the government should also pay more attention to the worsen racism issue in Malaysia.

It does not matter which race you are in, Malay, Chinese, Indian, or the local natives; we are all from the same home, Malaysia.