HOW RACISM WORKS

It is often said that you have first-hand knowledge of the corrupting influences of Umno. It is said that you have sold your soul to the devil and reaped the rewards. Those rewards are said to be a car and a coffee shop. – Jane Har

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That was a comment posted by a reader by the name of Jane Har and since the comment is very personal and disparaging in nature, not just to me but also to all Malays, I feel I need to respond in a ‘proper’ manner.

Jane Har assumes that just because I am Malay then the only way I can afford to buy a car would be if I am a corrupt person who takes bribes or I have been bought off. And she made this opinion very clear in her comment.

I wonder if I am Chinese whether she would ask me that question. Chinese can afford to buy cars without having to take dirty money whereas the only way Malays can afford a car would be with dirty money, is what Jane Har assumes.

Actually, I have been driving a car since 1968 when I touched 18. At that time I drove my father’s car, of course, a huge gas-guzzler limousine, because I was not working yet and could not afford to buy a car. So I had to be contented with driving my father’s car, which he did not need anyway since he was a Director of Unilever and was chauffer-driven to work in the company car.

Hence, Jane, do not assume that just because I am Malay and if I own a car then it can only be because I am a crook who takes dirty money. I have owned a car since 1968 and none of these cars were bought using dirty money.

And with regards to my coffee shop, why do I need to explain to you from where I got my money? Do you ask any of the Chinese businessmen where they got their money from to start their businesses? So why do you need to ask me that question? Is it because I am Malay and the only way Malays can start their own business would be if they are corrupt and take bribes or have been bought off?

Can you see what a racist you are, Jane? You stereotype all Malays and assume that if you are Malay then you must be penniless and if you are not penniless then this can only be because you are a corrupt Malay who takes bribes or has been bought off.

Why do you assume that Malays are incapable of doing business and are incapable of raising money to start a business? When we depend on the government you call us rent-seekers who cannot survive without crutches. When we do business instead of depending on the government you say we are corrupt and take bribes. Either way we get insulted.

I have quite a number of Chinese friends in the UK who own restaurants, many with an investment five times what I put into my humble coffee shop. I bet it would not cross your mind that these Chinese must be corrupt Chinese who take bribes and that is how they could afford to start their very expensive restaurants in the UK.

They are Chinese so Chinese can start their restaurant business in the UK without needing to take bribes. But I am Malay so if I start a coffee shop business in the UK then it can only mean one thing: I am corrupt and take bribes.

Jane, you need to change your line of thinking. Do not always assume that when Malays buy a car or buy a house or start a business then this is a sign of corrupt Malays who take bribes and have been bought off.

Are you implying that Malays can only afford bicycles and if you own a car instead of a bicycle then you are a crook? What gave you that idea? Is it because you think that the Chinese are more superior to the Malays and if Malays, too, can afford to buy a car that must mean that this particular Malay is corrupt?

When Chinese succeed that is because the Chinese are clever. When Malays succeed that is because the Malays are corrupt. Is this the rule-of-thumb that you use? Malays must remain poor. Malays can only eat if the government feeds them. And if they are not poor and do not need government handouts then this Malay is corrupt.

What kind of mentality is this?

Don’t always look down on the Malays. Don’t always assume that the Malays are hopeless. Don’t always assume that if the Malays want to drive a car instead of ride a bicycle, and if they want to do business instead of work as a clerk in a Chinese company, then, for sure, these Malays must be corrupt Malays.

So you see, Jane, you did not just insult me. You insulted millions of Malays who want to make a success of their lives and prove to the non-Malays that not all Malays depend on the government for a living and that some of us can live in a foreign land and compete with more than 70 million British without needing to hide behind our Bumiputera status, which means fuck-all to the British government anyway.