Racing agaisnt the current  

Posted by Kamelia

Call us Malays, say Indian Muslim youth

KUALA LUMPUR: Members of the Malaysian Indian Muslim Youth Movement (Gepima) want to be known as Malays and not Indians.

And they do not think this is an outrageous request since the Federal Constitution states that an Indian is a Malay "if he professes the Muslim religion, habitually speaks Malay and conforms to Malay custom". Read more...

When does the identification of an individual based on their race ends? Maybe never. For years, I grew up with people mistakenly identifying me as a Chinese. Sometimes I correct them, sometimes I politely nod and amuse them. Filling up forms was confusing sometimes. Logically, I should tick the "Malay" box, conforming to the social standard of following the father's ethnicity. But sometimes, I feel that I am denying my own heritage of being half chinese by doing so. There are times when I hover over the "Lain-lain" box, joining my other friends who are of Portuguese, Ceylonese, and Eurasian descent.

It's a tricky thing. It was only after I have known Baby for some time, that I realized just how much some yearned to be known as a Malay. Not only for the perks that comes with it, but the recognition that they are Muslims, and not Hindus. Yet others I am sure, are still proud for their Indian heritage, and insists on calling themselves Indian Muslims.

It boils down to people being identified by their race and ethnicity. Skin colour and body hair volume usually being the tools of measurement. Sometimes the face, the protrusion of one's nose or the shape of one's eyes betrays one's carefully filled document.

Profiling according to race and ethnicity, is becoming a norm in the world's major airports. I'm sure, if Baby was to travel to the United States, he would not only have to submit to a full body search, but also to playing 21 questions with the officer in charge.

How is it, that something that was created by God to enrich humankind have been manipulated by us, pitting each other against a battle that has no end.


This entry was posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .

1 comments

man..i dont read NSt so i dont know about this.

im going to write about this.

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