Research/ Studio: BVA 303 - 12/08/2019 (Questioning myself, what is Malaysian Chinese)

Questioning myself: 

I am a Chinese Malaysian, but I do not feel like a Chinese nor a Malaysian. Studying abroad, planning to get a residency makes me feel like I am filthy little rat, constantly looking for a place that I would call it home. 

I sometimes questioned myself, where do I necessarily belong to? When I was living in Malaysia, different ethnicity were seldom seen going out (hangout together). Coming here is similar too maybe it’s because of the mindset that we had before. 

Malaysia was ones a harmonious country, didn’t have severe problem of discrimination going on. But as time goes by, things started to changed. The government chose to use “ethnicity” to win the election for presidency in governing Malaysia. However this clause leaves a life time disappointment. Malaysian were not seen united, different ethnicity basically hated each other. 

-      I wish something this horrible will not happen in the multi-diversified country, New Zealand. 

*New Ethos, where we are is not important but who we stay with will always be the “home’ to me. 

Theory: definition of the term Chinese Malaysian. 

Some thoughts coming from a Chinese Malaysian 

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2016/09/18/growing-up-malaysian

https://cilisos.my/this-girl-shares-what-its-like-growing-up-as-a-malaychindian-in-a-chinese-school/

This website is the expression of a young adult on her own identity as a Malaysian (a malaycindian) 

When I was 7, my teacher asked me what race I was, and I told her, everything, because that’s all I knew. She wasn’t too happy with that answer. “So are you Kadazan? Are you Iban?” she taunted, pointing to the Moral Studies textbook. I didn’t know and I started to cry as both her and my whole class started to laugh at me.

Looking back, does that question really matter? Since colonial times, we have been separated by race and struggle to this day to move on. But there is hope. From East Malaysia removing the lain-lain column in forms to the increase of mixed marriages, I am reminded how my rojakness could not exist if not for the blend that is Malaysia.

So to answer that question, I identify with the late night mamak sessions and early morning nasi lemak breakfasts; I identify with watching Lee Chong Wei in a packed room and the SEA games football final on TV. I identify with being Malaysian.

There’s a sentence that inspires me:

-I cried because I have no idea who am I.

-Malaysia categorized people with their races. 

Cartoonist’s good old grip on Malaysian diversity - Lat ( Kampung Boy) 
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/08/12/cartoonists-good-old-grip-on-malaysian-diversity#X5uBbA24pLLxMqr0.99

“The key is to draw everybody from all walks of life. I used to study the subjects for my drawings, especially the people, traditions and culture.

“The more we understand people of other races, the more we are attracted to each other.

“We need to learn about other people’s backgrounds too, ” said Lat.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/08/12/cartoonists-good-old-grip-on-malaysian-diversity#X5uBbA24pLLxMqr0.99

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/generation-emigration/10-things-i-ve-learned-from-10-years-living-in-malaysia-1.2826766

Some comments on Malaysian from an Irish perspective. 

Chee-Beng, T. (1997). Chinese Identities in Malaysia. Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, 25(2), 103-116. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24492399

In china, a Cantonese and a Hakka belong to different ethnic groups, but in Malaysia, all the Chinese see themselves as belonging to one ethnic groups vis-à-vis the Malays and other Malaysians, and the Cantonese and Hakka are usually described as ‘dialect groups’ or ‘speech-groups”. 

Chinese has different categories too (in different part of Malaysia). Example, in north-eastern Kelantan and parts of rural Terengganu, the Chinese have also become as culturally localized as the Baba, but they are influenced by the Malays of Kelantan and Terengganu. (PG 105)

Chinese Malaysians in different regions have different localization experiences, and their Chinese identities are perceived differently by themselves and by the Chinese from other regions, even though they are all Chinese. From example, the Chinese from Iban majority regions in East Malaysia, who can speak Iban easily and ear some local non- Chinese food, are perceived differently from the Chinese in Kuala Lumpur. 

** However, it is their language of literacy, which they use for reading and writing, that has the greatest influence on their cultural taste and on identity. 

In Malaysia, the Chinese do not have an equivalent label for the so-called ‘pure’ Chinese. [Unlike Indonesia, such cultural contrast of the Chinese are known as Totol (“pure Chinese) and Peranakan (i.e., the Baba)

-Only offspring from mixed marriage has the problem of choosing ethnicity. [this is why I didn’t felt the cultural barrier until coming to New Zealand] 

The problem of education (school) is important too. 

The definition of Chinese Malaysian:

It is also the socialization experience which makes the Chinese in Malaysia Chinese Malaysians. They are culturally different from the Chinese of other countries. Part of the difference is the result of localization in Malaysia, the transformation and recreation of “Chinese” ways of life in Malaysia. There is also the influence if the “national culture’ of Malaysia, as well as the experience of living in the multi-ethic Malaysian society, and this is reflected in their ways of life, including the love of Malaysian food and certain attitudes. They display, for example , more sensitivity towards the feelings of Malays – the majority people – than, say, Chinese Singaporeans, who lives in a Chinese majority multi-ethnic society. Chinese Malaysians are culturally and attitudinally distinct in a number of ways. 

** Chinese Malaysian are united in their views that there should be equal opportunity for all citizens, and they share common sentiments against any form of discrimination, such as the use of quotas for university admission . 

Language is one of the things that separates people apart.  

(Language is culture, also separates and identify people too)