I'm not racist

I make jokes about the Chinese, Indians, Anglo-Saxons and basically just about everybody. But I make them with all the love in the world. I recently got some funny stares from British people when I made a crack about 'white people'. I guess I've always been privileged enough that my family is quite diverse - Chinese mother who obviously came with a Chinese side of the family, British aunt, cousin and granduncle, and later in life, a Chinese sister-in-law and French brother-in-law. I never took racism in Malaysia seriously, because I thought, well we just aren't racist.

Lately I've had to grow up a little bit, thanks to racially-based policies and recent remarks by Malay politicians. Tun M said that Malays are so scared of being labelled racist that they even wrote in Malay newspapers that the Malays are not racist. He says that the Malays have been insulted before without apology from other races (The Star: Dr M: Why must Malay leaders say sorry?). I'm not scared of being called a racist. I didn't make the infamous remark. What I'm scared of is that Malaysians and the rest of the world may mistake the sentiment for something that pervades all Malays. It's not.

The timeline:

• 25 August - Ahmad Ismail, chief of UMNO Bukit Bendera referred to Chinese Malaysians as pendatang (migrants), and was reported to have said:

  "Chinese were only immigrants (Orang Cina cuma tumpang di sini) and it was impossible for them to achieve equal rights among races".

• 27 August - MCA Youth demands an apology.
• 31 August - Pak Lah says he didn't mean it.
• 1 September - DAP assemblyman lodges police report against Ahmad Ismail.
• 2 September - Datuk Seri Najib apologises on behalf of UMNO.
• 4 September - Ahmad Ismail refuses to apologise.
• 6 September - Tun M questions the need for Malays to apologise.
• 6 September - BN leaders sell out Ahmad Ismail.
• 6 September - Journalists who reported the story stand by their original stories.

• 9 September - Ahmad Ismail gives another gem:

“I urge the Chinese not to become like the Jewish in America,where it is not enough that they control the economy, but they also want to dominate politics,” Ahmad told a news conference late Monday in northern Penang state.

"Consider this a warning from the Malays,” Ahmad said. “The patience of the Malays has a limit. Do not push us against the wall, for we will be forced to turn back and push the Chinese for our own survival.”

I get suspicious when things like this aren't reported. The first statement was only reported in Chinese newspapers, which goes to show the chokehold that the government has on the newspapers and just how right wing the English language newspapers are. Regardless of the exposure, the second statement was still only reported in newspapers other than The Star or NST. Matter of fact, a quick Google search tells me that it was picked up by international newspapers including the LA Times, Forbes, Turkish Daily News and ABC News. Congratulations, Malaysia. We've finally become famous.

So what actually happened? Ahmad Ismail says that his speech was taken out of context and he was talking about pre-Merdeka days (The Star: Defiant Ahmad demands apology). It's entirely possible, but not according to the statements by the journalists who were there (The Star: Journalists: We did not hear it wrongly). Then where did the second quote come from? And why did I have to Google it to find it?

Just to be clear, I don't agree with the sentiment. I don't believe the Chinese (or any of Malaysia's minorities) are migrants and should be marginalised. I don't believe that government or economic policies should be racially discriminating. They should discriminate by income. To answer Tun M, we should apologise because the remark is hurtful. It doesn't matter if we've been hurt and they didn't apologise. Apologies are a sign of respect, and respect needs to be earned.