Race
When I came to KL, I was surprised at how much resentment there is among my Chinese friends towards the Malays in general (we shall not go into details). This was mainly because I had good friends in Kuching who were Malay and were pretty cool guys.
And then I read this on Lim Kit Siang's blog.
It was very thought-provoking, especially with elections coming up. And I'm sure it's not just a single isolated case.
But then again, if we screw the Malays and badmouth them because "they started it", does that really help the problem? After all, look on the bright side. Malay taxi drivers are less inclined to rip you off or charge RM10 for a 2-minute ride from KLCC to Bukit Bintang; their mamaks and nasi lemak are a blessing to our stomachs (if not our health); and P. Ramlee movies are actually quite entertaining...
And then I read this on Lim Kit Siang's blog.
It was very thought-provoking, especially with elections coming up. And I'm sure it's not just a single isolated case.
But then again, if we screw the Malays and badmouth them because "they started it", does that really help the problem? After all, look on the bright side. Malay taxi drivers are less inclined to rip you off or charge RM10 for a 2-minute ride from KLCC to Bukit Bintang; their mamaks and nasi lemak are a blessing to our stomachs (if not our health); and P. Ramlee movies are actually quite entertaining...
Is this mostly a Peninsular problem? Racism isn't much of an issue for us East Malaysians. Either it's because I only read 'The Star' that I get the perception that racism is a Peninsular issue that's unfortunately flooded into East Malaysia, or because I don't read 'Borneo Post', so maybe I don't know whether there's actually racism in East Malaysia itself.
But that aside, didn't most of the racist issues originate in Peninsular? Barring a larger chunk of the Malaysian population residing in Peninsular, and that there's more Malays there, so the differences are larger. Although I have to say National Service was a mind-opener. 98% of my camp comprised of East Malaysians, and racism was very apparent.
I have my own theories on the glaring racial divides in my camp, but I'll leave that for some other time.
For the present, I'll still believe that racist issues in East Malaysia are caused by the 'Peninsulans' who politicise racial differences and attempt to 'convince' us East Malaysians to support them. Then again, you only start seeing this more clearly when elections are around the corner.
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