Non-Malays are very racist towards the Malays

Faris Iskandar, Malay Mail Online

All Malaysians are racists, but none will admit they are more racist than the other. Over the years, I have noticed that everyone is more bold these days. On social media, Malaysians openly insult other races and religions, as though they forgot that Malaysia is multicultural and multifaith.

We no longer respect each other. What went wrong? Is it all really Umno and PAS’ fault or did we bring this on ourselves?

Firstly, I will start with the Malay stereotype. We are accused of being okay with cronyism and corruption. Some accused us of relying on “tongkat” and being unable to compete fairly with non-Malays. People also say we are too religious and conservative.

Malays are a majority of civil service staff. For this, we are also accused of caring only for a government that gives handouts.

Let me ask you this. Why is the civil service full of Malays? The logical answer is that because non-Malays do not apply to work in the civil service or do not want to. My non-Malay friends say that a civil service job does not pay well and that those in civil service are also lazy because of the many kopi breaks we take.

In fact, Pakatan accused the civil service as a “deep state” that prevented change from happening.

If that is true, then everyone must ask themselves how did the country still function when there was no steady government for a few days after Pakatan fell? Civil service held the ship steady and we did our best to serve the rakyat.

Yet the thanks we get is that we are lazy, too conservative and do not deserve good pay despite us making average lower pay than those in private sector.

Non-Malays are happy to criticise the civil service but not want to join them, how do you expect change to happen? Be the change you want to see, but yet I see many of you preferring to go to the private sector instead of yourselves serving the rakyat.

So of course the Malays will work in the government. We always have since before we gained independence from the British, and still continue to serve the country that way.

Secondly, non-Malays would not want to admit this but they are very racist towards the Malays. Look at job advertisements that say “Mandarin only” which is another way of saying “you don’t speak my language, then do not bother, you will not get the job.”

But yet, when the government wants to encourage Malaysians to speak Bahasa Malaysia, the same group of people say the government should not force them to speak a language that is useless and not commercial.

Don’t call yourself Malaysian if you cannot speak Bahasa Malaysia, it is our national language and it is how we can understand ourselves better.

This same group of people you can already see in university. If you go to a private university, you will see that these people will usually not want to mix with others. They usually are from Chinese vernacular schools and do not have good things to say about other races, even those who they think are “banana.”

I have tried many times to be friends with this group but they never want to mix, and in the end graduate with their same circle of friends. These will also be the same people who accuse Malaysia of being a racist country that doesn’t want to accomodate others.

To talk more about jobs, what about the employment process? There is a lot of news where a Malay is not hired for many reasons. If the person wears a tudung, the hiring manager assumes they will get pregnant every year or is too conservative and cannot do work. Or is lazy and will steal company time to pray too much.

These stereotypes are unfair. We Malays want to improve the economy and our livelihood, we want to work hard at our jobs. But already at hiring, these assumptions stop our fair chance. Why do you think Malays prefer to set up their own SMEs, join GLC or go work in civil service?

This private sector refuses to give us a chance, so we create our own opportunity. If the government wants to help because of this disadvantage, then what is so wrong about that?

We are also racist when it comes to renting. How many times have you seen a renting advertisement that says they are only interested in renting to certain races? Malays cannot pay rent on time. Renters worry that Indians will trash the place.

When criticised, the same people say that it is a private market, they can do whatever they want. So government then gives affordable housing to Malays and Indians. This one also, then suddenly they criticise. Just like jobs, people only prefer to get people who they are comfortable with rather than those who need it.

So you tell me who is being racist to who.

* Faris Iskandar is a Malaysian civil servant