Most of us have grown up having experienced some form of racism in our beloved country Malaysia. I should know; I’m ‘Indian’. It doesn’t help that I have a ‘hangus‘ skin from spending way too much time under the sun with my camera. Here, I would like say my piece with a focus on the Chinese community. Only the government had my best interest by reminding me of my roots when I filled out forms. Let’s see, I’m definitely not Melayu even though I grew up listening to quotes of the Qu’ran from my father and celebrate Hari Raya each year with my uncle. I read and loved all the Malay pantuns and folk stories. I’m not even Cina even if I understood Cantonese better than Tamil, grew up watching Chinese films and TVB dramas and looked forward to Chinese New Year. That leaves me with ‘India’ or ‘Lain-lain’. In primary school I was taught to be ashamed and offended with the word ‘keling‘. I’m not sure how it started really but children only imitate and they must have learned the usage of the word from their elders or friends.
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