Hmmm.. it makes me ponder. I just realized I don’t have any new non-Bumiputera friends except those from my student days (whom I still keep in touch via FB. Yeay FB!) and my non-bumi students whose numbers are dwindling every semester. Sad.
But I do live in a small but very mix residential area. A balanced 50-50 portion of Malays and non-Malays residents and a handful of Singaporeans too. So, that’s nice and healthy.
When my friend Juril showed me the Letter of Offer by RTM, one of Malaysia’s tv stations, little did I know what I was getting myself into. I have left the set a bigger person and most profoundly, with a better understanding of the Malay community. I was the only Chinese person on set. I was wrapped up in a culture that was so close to me in my country and yet so far from me.
Malaysia is a multicultural country consisting of 3 races – Malays, Chinese and Indians. I’ve always thought myself an open-minded person and enjoyed friendships with all races, although my friends are mainly English-speaking Chinese/ Indians/ Malays. I hang out also with Malay-speaking Malays and Chinese speaking Chinese and I consider myself more tolerant than the average chauvinist racist.Malaysia is a beautiful country consisting of different races.
While we put on the front of multiculturalism in my country, the truth is we’ve been pretty segregated for the last couple of years since independence. Off late, the segmentation is greater than ever. When I was in school, I had a Malay best friend and who didn’t converse in English. We would call each other on the phone and speak for ages. At one point, I was hanging out with a group of Malay girls in the canteen. The majority of them were children of soldiers while my dad was in the stock market. But we were plotting schemes in all the typical ways of 10-year olds and my being the only Chinese was an invisible factor. I’ve always been open like that, and I admit, language plays a huge part in fostering closeness. Most of us Malaysians are proficient in Bahasa (Malay) and in our school days, it was effortless for most of us.
Many years since those multicultural years have passed. Politics and bad governance have intervened and Malaysia is a little divided today. I’ve had less associations with Malay-speaking Malays since I started working. Corporate Malaysia is predominantly English or Chinese and I suppose I have gotten stuck in that segment. And then, I fell into Fesyen Fantasia.
In Fesyen Fantasia, everyone was a Malay-speaking Malay and English was hardly spoken on set, if only for me. I stood out very clearly. “Who is she?” People asked. I fancied my Bahasa to be good but it faltered during tea time and meetings. There was too much slang involved and while I understood Bahasa, I was not able to articulate myself comfortably from too many years of corporate English.
I suppose I was a bit of a novelty on set too. This was a Malay production and there I was in my shorter hemlines and exposed arms. If there was a Malay girl on set (aside from the artists and sponsors) she would be in a head scarf and dressed in conservative fashion.
Juril the Director and me the Producer The Malay world opened forth for me. Malays, Chinese and Indians bump and interact with them on a daily basis but it’s nothing significant. Our social circles are not tightly intertwined and we go back and justify and reinforce generalisations we know of each other. Being around them everyday gave me a better understanding of how they thought and their lifestyle. We think we know them from the generalizations all of us are guilty of making. But generalizations are the worst kind of brush you can paint on someone. People who stick within their race and mentality are not doing themselves any favours really. When we understand each other better, we become better neighbours.
I see with more clarity how the Malay-speaking Malays live. Perhaps, I walked away from set feeling most enlightened about the Malay race, a race that has been with me all my life and yet, how I do not know them intimately.
Read the whole story at: What I Learn Being the Only Chinese on a Malay Set. – Mogul