The Malaysian defence mechanism
“After five minutes of your birth, they’ll decide your name, nationality, religion, and cult… And you’ll spend your life fighting and stupidly defending things you didn’t choose.”
Tham Jia Vern, The Malaysian Insider
I once saw this quote on Tumblr:
“After five minutes of your birth, they’ll decide your name, nationality, religion, and cult… And you’ll spend your life fighting and stupidly defending things you didn’t choose.”
I couldn’t help but relate this quote to the various stereotypes we Malaysians hold against anyone who’s different from us or what we believe in:
Malays are lazy, Chinese are money-minded, while the Indians are violent.
Friday prayers in mosques became a justification for Muslims’ reckless parking habits, and Hindus are generally inconsiderate when it comes to keeping the streets clean after any festivals.
Couples of different races or faiths have been broken up by traditional parents.
LGBT Malaysians are subjected to being criticised, physically harmed, or disowned by families.
Malaysia is supposedly known for the “harmonious ties” upheld within a multicultural society, which can be seen in the advertisements by Tourism Malaysia, annual messages for our Independence Day, not to mention the countless “Malaysian Nights” held in universities around the world that are mostly themed so. But by holding these events year after year, what are we defending exactly?
Let’s start with myself.
I was born into a middle-class Chinese family, and both my parents are Buddhists.
My mother loved dressing me up in beautiful dresses, took pride in putting me through ballet and piano classes while making sure I learnt the etiquettes of “being a female”.
Referring to the quote above, I am therefore a heterosexual, Chinese Buddhist girl by default.
