Chinese couple kena racism in Kg Baru, social media SATAY storm ensues

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So this status popped on our Facebook timeline during the weekend (clik on the tajuk below to expand):

Click to read the rest!

Today is probably the saddest day in my almost 30 years of being Malaysian.

Went to Kampung Baru to look for Satay cos Andrew wanted some. We went down a one way street and got stuck. I went down, moved a chair from a parking compound so that Andrew could turn out. Went further to the other street and found a spot to eat. The next thing I knew, a guy on his motorbike stopped next to us gesturing for Andrew to lower his window. He started shouting at me, sticking his hand in to point at my face, calling me profane racist names because I moved his chair. I was apologetic and tried to explain that I didn’t know that was his home and that it was an honest mistake but he kept on, so much anger in his voice. Andrew was completely clueless (he doesn’t understand a lot of Malay, much less angry profane Malay) up to the point he became aggressive. I told him to wind up the window and go.

The guy came over to my side of the window and hit it. He told me to ‘turun’. I’m sure if I did he would have hit me. The look on his face will forever be etched in my mind. That look of hatred and anger as he told us to “Keluar dari Kampung Baru”.

As we left, I started crying. I was angry, hurt, disappointed and sad. Sure, I shouldn’t be a stranger to racism in Malaysia but that was the first time in my entire life here that I’ve personally encountered something like this. I am still pretty shaken. I can’t get his face out of my mind.

My initial reaction was hopelessness. I felt a strong urge to give up and leave this country. Leave all this bullshit and racism behind. But then Andrew reminded me that the guy is the product of segregation and the lack of education. How could he not be racist? His entire life probably set him up for it. He probably never had a friend from a different race.

Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world, said Nelson Mandela. For Malaysia to stand a chance, we must ensure that this man’s children do not get brought up in the same environment as he was. In communities such as this, schools are probably the only place where children get exposed to a person of a different race – their teachers. If we truly want change in Malaysia, we need more people to serve as teachers in communities isolated from the rest.

We need to expose our children to the rest of the world. Whether or not they’re from Kampung Baru, they should have easy access to other cultures and perspectives. Technology and the Internet is the only way I can think of to combat segregation and small mindedness. When a child is connected to the rest of the world with a wealth of knowledge and perspectives at their finger tips, borders that narrows the mind will diminish.

On nights like this one, it is hard to remember why I chose to stay in Malaysia. It is hard to remember why I love this country so. But I guess incidents like tonight’s mean that there is a lot more we need to do for the country.

Afterall, nobody said that love doesn’t hurt.

***

This post has been getting a lot of attention so I’d like to call out that this isn’t about any particular race but about how segregation breeds racism. I have grown up with and worked with many different races whom I don’t identify by race but as friends. It just so happens that this incident happened to me in Kg. Baru and that we were unfortunate to meet a very angry, racist and sexist man.

What happened to us could happen in any community that is isolated from the rest. That is a problem and it is one of the main causes of the racism we see in our society today. We can’t pretend that racism does not exist in Malaysia because we know that segregation still exists. The sooner we’re willing the talk about it like a real problem, the quicker we’ll be rid of it.

I have received many kind offers from random people for Satay and we want to extend this invitation to everyone. smile emoticon Let’s all have a Satay Party in Kampung Baru! We don’t want to let one bad apple define our experience there so we’re going to go back and we want to invite everyone to come along.

Come join us!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1769306926623536/

TL;DR version: A Chinese couple were in Kg. Baru to look for satay. They moved a chair to exit the road, and an angry biker started knocking on their window, yelling racist remarks and telling them to “keluar Kampung Baru.”

This status could’ve easily turned into one of those ‘name-and-shame status’, complete with a photo of that brader. But Amelia, being a true-blue Teach For Malaysia staff that she is, saw it as a bigger problem that a proper education system could fix. (Writer’s note as an ex-TFM staff himself: Every time a traumatic incident happens to a TFM staff, they’d most likely attribute it to education inequality :-))

She even tried hard not to call out any ethnicity or go into details about the specific racist, sexist, and body-shaming insults hurled against her. Because it’s not really about that one brader anymore, but instead, the larger issue at hand: racism that stemmed from segregation. And this affects everyone in Malaysia regardless of their skin colour.

As for the incident itself, thankfully despite the Super Saiyan anger from that brader, nobody ended up getting hurt (physically at least, dalam hati siapa yang tahu). At the end of the day, the incident was just one of many… but it went viral with 4K Likes and 1K shares, and the responses have been no less than epic…

She received outpouring support from Malaysians, especially Malays

The comments on her status weren’t just sympathetic and supportive, but also generally very positive, with people choosing to focus on what could’ve been done instead of complaining:

A lot of people reminded her that that this instance of racism is actually in the minority!

Some comments lead to a more serious discussion about racism and racial/economic segregation, all done in such an open and mature manner.

But more importantly, people started talking about the real issue…

… WHERE’S THE BEST PLACE FOR SATAY?!

(At this point all you satay connoisseurs might be wondering, which n00b goes to Kg Baru for satay? Well actually Amelia and Andrew wanted to go to Keramat, but it was closed.)

So all was good. Everybody could go home and feel a little better about Malaysia, rait? Well, not just yet.

Plot twist…

The couple organized an impromptu satay party, and Malaysians joined!

Again, if this is just another “mohon viralkan” Facebook status, the victim could’ve simply asked everyone to avoid the satay place so it would run out of business. But that would be perpetuating the problem, wouldn’t it? So, being inspired to break this cycle of prejudice – also inspired by Andrew’s intense desire for satay – they ajak everyone to eat satay in the very area the racism happened – in Kg. Baru! #satayforandrew

sate_kl3 — Image taken from the FB’s event page.

It was incredible because the Malaysians who attended were strangers in real life. In fact, 4 guys even drove all the way from Nilai! (That’s 1 hour away by car yo.)

The best part was, everyone was so engrossed in talking to each other that they stayed in Sate KL even after the lights and fans have been turned off. Sorry abang kedai. It was where strangers turned into friends, and an incredible bond was created when racism reared its ugly head.

So… what’s the takeaway from all this little drama? Other than where’s the place to find good satay, of course…

For every instance of hate and racism, there is an abundance of love and understanding (Ngawww!)

Amelia told CILISOS earlier in a phone call that she received a lot kind words from locals AND officials of Kg Baru themselves, plus messages from random Malaysians who shared their own experiences and hopes. So, what started out as a traumatic experience turned into something that united Malaysians, from the barrage of emotional support on Facebook to a joyful get-together between strangers!

Even when there were some disagreeing comments, she engaged with them personally, saying that it’s uncool to utter racist, sexist, and body-shaming remarks no matter how angry one might be. These kinda conversations are good too, else what’s the point of just preaching to the choir, betul tak?

So we at CILISOS think, ekceli right, we aren’t doing too bad as the rakyat, aren’t we? In Amelia’s on words:

There are so many lessons to learn here. That the only way to cure hate is through love. That adversity brings people together. That we can initiate change through leading by example. And most importantly, that there is A LOT MORE kind and compassionate people than there are hateful ones.

P/S: Amelia and Andrew run a social enterprise called 100% Project, where you can donate to classrooms so the kids can learn better… like these cute little patooties who need to replace their broken LCD projectors! <3

P/P/S: No they didn’t ask us to plug their organisation. Love people… Loveeeeee