Rilek1Corner

Tag: Malay community

  • Other Malay Stereotype Stories Surfaces After Viral Google & Canteen Helper Story

    Other Malay Stereotype Stories Surfaces After Viral Google & Canteen Helper Story

    After Singaporean woman, Atikah Amalina, who goes by the handle @thetudungtraveller, shared with the public of her experience with microaggression due to being Malay and wearing a tudung, a similar experience was shared by another lady named Ezura Al-Barakbah.

    Like Atikah whom a driver assumed worked in the canteen in Google, Ezura was stereotyped as a “kakak canteen who is uneducated and knows nothing but cooking.” Some even questioned how she got invited to Pesta Perdana and whether she religiously queued up at Mediacorp in order to get her hands on the tickets.

    This was her post in full,

    I know how it feels.

    They stereotype me as kakak canteen who is uneducated and knows nothing but cooking.
    So when they saw Medic Kid on TV then somemore got the cheek to say, ooh i thought you are a fulltime kitchen help.😢

    And asked me how come you got invited to Pesta Perdana ah?
    Is it you go Mediacorp queue up for the tickets ah😅

    I dont care about what others may think about me.
    All i know is i want to help the school and cook for the kids.
    It takes a huge village to raise a kid ok!!!

    I dont care if you look down on me pushing my trolley cart, wearing instant tudung and makeup less.

    Coz at the end of the day I loove cooking for the kids and arranged my busy schedule just to make time to cook for them

    Hey even though if I am just a kakak canteen in your eyes,
    A canteen cook is more knowledgable than you ok!!
    Must know costing, accounts, marketing be it for groceries or marketing on social media

    The stereotypes of a Malay lady wearing a hijab.. what else have you encountered?

    Share with us in the comments section.

     

    Rilek1Corner

  • Commentary: Maybe Non-Malays Would Not Vote For A Malay In An Open PE, But PAP, LKY And LHL Are Jointly Blamed For This

    Commentary: Maybe Non-Malays Would Not Vote For A Malay In An Open PE, But PAP, LKY And LHL Are Jointly Blamed For This

    Dear Prime Minister,
    if you sincerely believe that the Chinese majority and other non Malays would not vote for a Malay in an open presidential contest, you are probably right. But you also must be honest and have the courage to admit that your old man, your party and yourself are jointly to blame for it. All of you had the opportunity to forge unity among Singaporeans but you blew it, perhaps due to the ill advice and instigation of others who have no stake in our future.
    The distrust and discriminatory policies directed against the Malays are the main cause. The ill effect of these discriminatory policies, I suppose, would make the Chinese ask themselves why should they vote for a Malay as president if on the whole they cannot be trusted.
    For decades we have wasted the opportunity to get our youth to think and act as one people. Friendship built up from young would last a lifetime. Such friendship can naturally be forged when young men train, struggle, laugh and even cry together while performing their national service. The same thing goes with prejudice and suspicion. They also last a lifetime. The marked absence of Malays in the armed forces, especially in the navy and airforce is telling. The silly explanation to justify your government’s actions – no space for halal kitchen in naval vessels, etc – shows your contempt towards the discriminated community. Though only males are involved in national service, as head of their families such prejudice and distrust would somehow be transmitted to their spouses and children. I don’t have to belabour the point.
    Beside this there are other policies that are equally prejudiced and divisive like the SAP schools and selective immigration policies, just to name a few.The sad thing is, such policies are still in place.
    If you and your party have done it right for Singapore there would not have been necessary to have a reserved PE or even the GRC. After all we are Singaporeans are we not? You should give meaning to our national pledge – regardless of race, language or religion!
    Your calls for unity in the face of current threats sound hollow.

     

    Source: Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood

  • PM Lee: Why Didn’t Malay Candidates Come Up In PE2011? Cause They Knew Non-Chinese Have No Chance

    PM Lee: Why Didn’t Malay Candidates Come Up In PE2011? Cause They Knew Non-Chinese Have No Chance

    Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made it plain that he knew the reserved presidential election would be unpopular and would cause the ruling party to lose votes, but said it had to be done because it was the right thing to do.

    Addressing the unhappiness over the election for the first time at a dialogue last Saturday (Sept 23), he said: “Did I know that this subject would be a difficult one? That it would be unpopular and would cost us votes? Yes, I knew. If I do not know that these are sensitive matters, I cannot be in politics.”

    “But I did it, because I strongly believe, and still do, that this is the right thing to do,” he added.

    The candid remarks were the first by the Prime Minister, since Madam Halimah Yacob was declared President in a walkover at the election reserved for Malay candidates.

    PM Lee was speaking at a People’s Association Kopi Talk dialogue with about 500 grassroots leaders last Saturday, and the Prime Minister’s Office released an edited transcript on Friday (Sept 29).

    During the dialogue, he spoke about race, multiracialism, terrorism and the elected presidency, and gave a stout defence of why constitutional changes were made to reserve elections for groups that have not held the presidency for some time.

    Acknowledging that there was “some unhappiness” over the election, PM Lee said: “I can feel that; you don’t have to tell me.”

    He noted that the Government had spent nearly two years preparing to make changes to the Constitution, and had discussed and debated the issue continually since he first raised the subject in January 2016 during the opening of Parliament.

    “But it is only now that people are seized with it, after a reserved election in which only one candidate qualified,” he said.

    PM Lee added that while some people think “we may be going backwards towards racial politics”, the reality “is the opposite”.

    In fact, he said, ensuring that minorities are elected president from time to time will strengthen Singapore’s multiracial system.

    The current state of affairs, where Singaporeans of different races and religions live in harmony, is not a given, he said.

    “There is nothing natural about where we are – multiracial, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive. We made it happen, and we have got to protect it, nurture it, preserve it, and never break it.”

    Referring to the recently-concluded reserved election, Mr Lee said that three Malay candidates had put themselves up for the presidency, of whom two did not qualify.

    “But they came forward,” he added.

    In the 2011 presidential election, there was not one Malay candidate, he noted.

    “Was there a Malay candidate? Where were the Farid Khans and the Salleh Maricans? Why didn’t they come? It did not cross their minds? No. So why didn’t they come? Because they knew that in an open election – all things being equal – a non-Chinese candidate would have no chance,” he said.

    Citing President Halimah, who said when she was sworn in that she looked forward to the day when reserved elections are no longer needed, Mr Lee said: “I too hope that we will eventually not need such a mechanism to ensure minority representation.”

    But he said it would take time to work towards this ideal state.

    “In climbing towards that ideal state, we need guide-ropes and guard-rails to help us get there and to prevent us from falling off along the way. The reserved election for the President is one such guard-rail,” he added.

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com

  • Woman Claimed That Her Hijab Friend Was Spat On And They Have The Photo Of The Culprit

    Woman Claimed That Her Hijab Friend Was Spat On And They Have The Photo Of The Culprit

    According to Lyza, her hijab friend was spat on by a rude man. She uploaded a photo of a man on the MRT that is believed to be the culprit.

    It was unsure if there was any confrontation with the man, but Lyza claimed that the man “act stupid act blur”.

    She mentioned that the man pretended to be deaf and maybe ignored them.

    This was what was written on her FB post:

    “This idiot here, just spitted on my fren who is wearing a hijab. Den act stupid act blur. Excuse me, if u have a fucking problem with muslims who wears hijab, u can spit anyhow at them ah? Den u step pekak badak ah u asshole. Ur face mintak kene spit actually. Disgusting face u have there.”

    Editor’s note: In our multi-religious and multi-racial society, why did this even happen? Apa korang rasa?

     

    Source: Lyza Nassir

  • Commentary: Majority Superiority Complex Is Real, I’ve Personally Encountered Discrimination Against Malays

    Commentary: Majority Superiority Complex Is Real, I’ve Personally Encountered Discrimination Against Malays

    So, when there are Chinese SAP schools and no Malay SAP schools, we did not make any noise about being multicultural. When someone up there stated that we are not ready for a Malay PM, we did not make noise about being multicultural. When Channel 5 showcased so many Chinese adverts and gazette, and almost no Malay ones, we did not make noise about being multicultural. When so many SMEs chose to put up “only Mandarin-speaking candidates shall apply” on their recruitment ads (we know they simply don’t want to hire us), we did not make noise about being multicultural. When the cabinet typically consists of mainly Chinese, a few Indians and only 1 Malay at any point of time (until recently) despite several very capable Malay MS & SMS (and the nation’s racial ratio), we did not make noise about being multicultural.

    My point is, majority superiority complex is real. Many times I have encountered it personally.

    One incident which vividly triggered my memory was a mother of my primary school friend. If you know me enough, many of my close friends are Chinese. My friend, let’s name him A. A was a close friend of mine since Primary 2. We used to eat together (despite some old man saying that Muslims refuse to sit with non-Muslims to eat, which never was a problem) during recess and play together. One day, in Primary 4, I decided to play with him after school nearer to his residence. He had the permission of his mother, initially. After a while of playing at the basketball court, his mother came down to go to the minimart, if i do remember correctly. When she saw him playing with me, she walked towards us and told him in very stern atas English, “I told you not to mix around with Malays, you’ll become stupid” (along those lines, this happened almost 20 years ago, mind you.) Upon hearing that, my heart sank, I’ve never felt so humiliated. That was the last time I played with him, and we only hi-hi bye-bye in school since then. Well, it was probably because he mixed around with me that he dropped out half-way from JC and decided not to continue studying, sorry auntie.

    That didn’t deter me from making so many more close Chinese friends, though; I met my best friend Silas Yeo in P5.

    My race in my IC is always a factor, when I do well or don’t do well. I tutor maths well, suddenly, the comments are, I’m “not so Malay”, but when I failed Maths in Sec 1, that’s expected coz I’m Malay. When they see me (a young Malay man) drive a BMW, they ask whether I’m an Uber driver now. In fact, just the other day, my brother Muhammad Irshad’s BMW was reversed into by an MPV driven by a middle-aged man, the friend of the man asked my brother twice if it was a rental car (hinting that it may be a PHV). My aunt, Suriati who stays in a landed property house took a taxi home one day and the taxi driver’s comment when she was alighting was, “Here is cheap ha? So many Malays stay here”.

    It will never be a problem until a minority gets a little bit more. Anyway, a Malay president is not at the top of our wishlist, either.

    This is in no way a racist post. I posted this because I feel strongly about the discrimination against my race. I’m sorry if it had hurt anyone, but I’m just creating an awareness that such mentality exists and we need to work together to eliminate such thoughts, so that we can move forward as one Singapore.

     

    Source: Muhammad Syaheer Noorhalim