MASSOC Essay Writing Competition - 'What does being a Malaysian mean to you?' First Prize

By Yew Aun, Quek

“Kau ni Melayu ke Cina?”

If I had a ringgit for every time someone asked me that question, I would be able to afford a diamond ring and a Birkin bag. But how could I blame them for thinking that I am of Malay descent when my tanned skin made permanent by playing basketball after school coupled by a passable KL-Malay accent; arguably my second language after English were indications of just that.

Upon closer look, my squinted eyes probably give me away.

‘Cina’ I would answer sheepishly as if I have committed a crime worthy of eternal shame. But have I? Does ethnicity really matter in multi-cultural Malaysia? More importantly, can you define being Malaysian? To do so, there must be such a thing as a pure Malaysian, someone we can benchmark ourselves against.

I believe that there is no such thing as a pure Malaysian. Our geographic location, political circumstances and historical pasts dictate that we come from various backgrounds and permutations of those. I do not have to look far for evidence of this. My Kelantanese father wears a sarong to bed, my maternal Straits Chinese great-grandmother chewed sirih, and many of my non-Chinese friends speak impeccable Mandarin (putting my banana* self to shame). All part and parcel of this melting pot we call home.

However if I could narrow down the essence of being Malaysian, it would be these three things:

First of all, the willingness to acknowledge and embrace these differences; at times even having a good laugh at it. You know there is integration when you can tease someone from another ethnic group without offending them. Back in high school, there was a group of girls that used to have pet names for each which corresponded to residential areas that were dominated by a particular ethnic group. The Malay girl would be called Kampung Baru whereas the Chinese and Indian would be called SS2 and Brickfields respectively

Going through the national school system, I was exposed to various cultures and religions. In fact, I was one of the four Chinese students in my cohort in primary school. And if you went through the same schooling as I did, you would know that the class would break for prayer time or religious classes every day. All the Muslim students would go for Pendidikan Islam (Islamic studies) while the non-Muslim students would study Moral (Moral Studies). Many a time, my Muslim friends would ask me to join them and teased me when I could not find a reason not to. All in good spirit of course. Eventually, I found the perfect answer that got them off my back and cracked them up at the same time. I told them I was perpetually uzur**.

Secondly, we Malaysians are a passionate breed. It does not matter what we get passionate about but when we do, we make sure that we make a fuss over it. Exhibit A: Food (and the origins of it). We could never be Malaysian without our nasi lemak, nasi kandar, wantan mee, roti canai, ayam pansuh, and the list goes on. We are so proud of our food that in late 2009, our Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen claimed that some were uniquely Malaysian. That did not go down too well with our neighbours, Singapore thus sparking an online debate across the causeway. Similarly, this happened when the rambutan was marketed as Singaporean Lychee to Hong Kong. How can like that?

Exhibit B: Our athletes on the world stage. Every Malaysian who is brave enough to identify themselves as so, had to be at the edge of their seats when our national hero Datuk Lee Chong Wei battled Lin Dan in the 2012 London Olympics. Although he eventually lost in a closely fought 3 set game, he had won everyone’s hearts with a gallant fight to the end.

Putting exhibit A and B together, Baskin Robbins offered free ice-cream to everyone nationwide if he came back with our first Olympic gold medal. Hence when watching the match with a raucous group of university students, I was confused whether they were actually supporting him or pining for the free ice-cream. Despite him losing, Baskin Robbins turned over their decision and gave everyone handouts anyway. To me it is very Malaysian to have watched our national hero lose on the world stage then have the audacity to queue an hour long for free ice-cream. That is Malaysian passion for you.

Finally, this might be cliché but our mastery of many languages (or lack thereof) makes us unique. And yes, to me Manglish does count as a language. In primary school, I was taught basic Tamil by my friends but of course, basic here meant that I was first exposed to curse words like naie, korengge or kunji. Please do not Google them.

The incorporation of a variety of languages in one sentence is also common, sometimes referred to as bahasa rojak. Rojak being the Indian-Muslim delicacy containing a variety of condiments like egg, fried flour, shaved cucumber and sweet turnip all topped with a healthy serving of peanut sauce. A very apt analogy I would say. “Aneh satu mee goreng makan here, satu lagi tapau” incorporating 4 languages is probably a valid order at any local mamak stall.

Of course, I would like to think that all Malaysians have these three characteristics. However, our variegated pasts mean the definition of a Malaysian identity will forever remain elusive. Throw in the idiosyncrasies of the different state cultures, the urban-rural divide, the East-West Malaysia divide and many others, this task seems insurmountable.

Then, it is quite possible to define being Malaysian as someone who is willing to work for the betterment of this country no matter who or where they are. Thankfully this is what I am seeing among my peers today. That no matter what charades our politicians pull, no matter what the economic climate might be in the years to come, no matter what the actual climate might be like in years to come, we will always call Malaysia home.

On a concluding note, between having my teh tariks and nasi lemaks, I would like to think of myself as Malaysian first, Chinese second. So the next time someone asks me the question I started my essay with, I will answer them with just that- Malaysian.

*A banana refers to a person of Chinese descent who is unable to speak any Chinese dialect. Yellow on the outside, white on the inside

**Having a period. In Islam, girls who are having their period are excused from performing prayers.