I'm Muslim, Melayu, Malaysian :)

            I grew up at a time when my religion is termed "Melayu". Reverts were described as "masuk Melayu". "Melayu" was synonym with "Muslim" then. Back then, it would suffice for me to describe myself as "Melayu" and "Malaysian". Everyone took it for granted that all Malays were Muslims. Period.
            It was 1968. I started standard 2 at an "English" school. My exercise books were printed with SRK(I) on their front covers. English was the default language. I hardly heard Malay, Chinese or Tamil being spoken among us schoolkids. I had spent 3 months of standard 1 in a Malay school, got seriously ill for a year, and landed in an English school in time for its 2nd term [after undergoing a test at some Education Department]. And the start of another round of discrimination of sorts.
            Lets backtrack for a bit. When I was in standard 1, I was somewhat discriminated against as I didn't "look Melayu" with my long, reddish hair and brown eyes. Also the fact that my spoken Malay was different from the majority. I was in a SRK(M) - bapa's bright idea to promote "assimilation into the community"...hehe. My family had lived in Kg Kemansah on and off since 1963, among the predominantly Minang/Nogori-speaking fraternity. We stood out like a sore thumb - bapa had the ONLY car in the kampung, we could speak English, we were deemed "spookily" polite with our "thank yous", "hellos", "tolong...", "saya/awak" [all spoken in a moderate, soft voice] etc amid the "den/aku", "kepalo bapak kau", "kocik2 dulu tak nak mampuih" etc [normally spoken in a loud voice for half the kampung folks to hear], we didn't swear [mak would kill us if we did!], we didn't fight with our siblings [mak's doing too!], we hugged and kissed each other; however, to this day, I still believe that we were deemed different more because mak made us wear shoes instead of selipar Jepun - she got tired of mismatched/missing slippers after games of "baling selipar" to amass cards and "getah". The kampung kids were never too comfortable around me except for my immediate neighbours. When they were upset with me, I was called names like "anak Koling", and "anak Benggali". Also the fact that we were city kids and were so "jakun" as they termed it. We got excited over rivers/hills/insects/river stones/snakes....you get the drift! :D
            Back to 1968. I was placed in B class. Many viewed me with disdain as I came from "sekolah Melayu" so I was deemed to be English-illiterate and "bodoh". The class teacher [an Indian] jumped on the discrimination bandwagon with great enthusiasm, and would always pick on me and the other Malays in my class. I was even accused of copying when I scored at class tests.  I was made to stand in the hot sun whenever I missed school and, hence, couldn't hand in my homework - despite my explanation that I was sick [I was a sickly child]. But there was an up-side to this. My classmates warmed up to me by virtue of the fact that they hated that teacher. So I became a cause for a rebellion! Anyway it culminated in the teacher being transferred out of state....when the "Eurasian" deputy HM caught the teacher being mean to me, and he interrogated my classmates as a result of my account of "teacher from hell"... and me being saved from roasting in the hot sun and lashes from the "rotan". NB: Back then, we didn't complain to our parents. Teachers were highly respected and viewed as only slightly lower in stature than God.
            All through my years in primary school, my best friends comprised Malays, Chinese and Indians. They were Anis and Ruby, Yew Sim and Mei Lin, and Bhajan Kaur. There was this unspoken/unwritten rule:
1)   Food brought by the Malays can be consumed by all.
2)   Food brought by the non-Malays will not be offered to the Malays.
3)   Food made from beef will not be offered to the Chinese and Indians.
4)   When the Malays went to the homes of the non-Malays, we would be served bottled drinks and store bought snacks - no cooked food.
5)   When cooked food was served to Malays in a non-Malay home, it was often still in the packet it came in from the shop/restaurant. We'd also be informed that, "Ini uncle beli dekat kedai Melayu/Bilal ooo".
6)   When the non-Malays came over to Malay homes, no beef was served.
7)   Food from the school canteen was shared by all.
8)   Drinks were shared by all - whether it was brought from home/school canteen.
9)   When you hear, "You Malay. Cannot eat this", you can be rest assured "this" contained pork.
          Although we didn't really understand religion then, we respected each others' faiths. We respected each others' culture and traditions. We didn't ridicule the Indian kids who came to school slathered in "minyak bijan", or the Chinese with their black arm bands. Or the cortege with its paid "wailers". Or the ruckus during a Chinese funeral/Gong Xi Fa Cai. It was just another of those days as far as we were concerned. It didn't matter that my father's Chinese friends brought cakes to his funeral.
          We embraced the true spirit of "muhibbah". We tolerated and accepted each other even when we didn't understand. We spoke pidgin Malay and pidgin English when the need arose. Or resorted to sign language when we had to. All hunky-dory.
            Then I was introduced to the corporate world. Where racism exists - whether one wants to admit it or not. At EPF during a training stint, I noticed that the officers and staff were mostly Malay. I was part of an audit team at Tractors Malaysia - didn't see any Malay accountant at the division I was assigned to. I can't remember if I even came across a Malay accounts officer. The drivers were mostly Malay though. At Genting Berhad HQ, I was one of 3 Malay personnel among hundreds of Chinese. However, when it came to operations at the highlands, there were hundreds of Malay personnel - very few of whom were in supervisory positions. The drivers cum bodyguards were Indians/Sikhs/Indian muslim. I admit that I was treated well [partly due to the 10% Bumiputra quota at officer level] but there was just too little room for upward mobility. At Koperasi Shamelin HQ, I saw an all-Malay staff force. My friends who worked at "Chinese" corporations like SCS spoke of the rampant racism there. To the point that they had to leave to maintain their sanity. I also heard of muslims not being given time off for Friday/daily prayers at "Cina bukit" [for lack of a better term] companies - this was as recent as 2005.
            So, yes, racism has existed for a long time. It got out of hand on 13th May, 1969 culminating in many dead Malays and Chinese. Took a while for the animosity to simmer down. Now it's back - with a vengeance. An age-old story given new life and excellent coverage with the advent of the internet, cyber-troopers, muddled politicians, huge social networking population, [over]zealous followers.
            Am I a racist? Not on a personal level. People are just...people....as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter what race/creed they are, the obnoxious ones will remain so under almost all circumstance and vice versa. But when I'm challenged with racial slurs, then, yes, I'm still very much a "Melayu". So there! :)