Of Racial Prejudices.-1

Madame Lillian Chu is an art educator teaching a secondary school where my daughter used to attend here in Penang and she has been very enthusiastic about trying to get me to teach art to school kids for a very long time now. She has helped to arrange for me to give talks to teachers as well as student at her school and for this I ever so grateful. Through having to deal with her i have to learn about acceptance of being and doing things that in the past i would have brushed aside as not me. It is like back to basics in making commitment and taking care of what is needed to be done; taking stock of one's own limitations and rolling with the punches.
For the past two days i have been picking up and dropping off a seventeen year old student from his house to his college as what I thought as doing a return favor to Lillian as the boy happens to be her nephew. It has now turned into a routine it seems and i am getting paid for it and it so happens that his college is a walking distance from where i am right now. So it all works out for my financial needs for the time being; not much but just perfectly enough.The reason I am writing this insignificant event is not because i lack better stories about myself but simply because there were lessons i had uncovered about my thought and feelings when I first reluctantly accepted the 'job'.I never liked to be paid and be made committed to something most of my life; no small wonder I am the poorest in my family. Secondly I had reservations when I learned that the boy is a teenager who has a little problem about making commitments where school is concern and the fact that he is Chinese. Thirdly my small car is about to give up any time any day now with most of her vital parts making unsavory noises that spells for a  major breakdown: she is long overdue for a  overhaul but...MONEY!
So here i am a designated chauffeur to this reluctant young Chinese college student who turned out to be a very decent kid but just as confused and lost like the rest of them rich or poor. I have the feeling that Lillian also was hoping that i could help by communicating with the kid and making him see things different perhaps or inspire him in one way or another. I find that he is easy to talk to and actually am beginning to enjoy his company while driving to where I am. So, here I am with a few dollars more in my pocket and doing what I enjoy doing;writing. The prejudice in me still is there I noticed when I was dealing with accepting or refusing to take on the responsibility as this is a 'Chinese' and dealings with the Chinese has its own pros and cons; one has to understand this before making the decision or so I have been conditioned to think. Being born and raised in a multi-racial community does not make an expert at social integration and sometimes deep rooted racial prejudices still lurks in the far recesses of the mind. By right I should not have any doubt at all if I am a prejudiced person when it come to racial issues as i grew up having to deal with just every kind of race and tribes in the world having lived almost half my life overseas including the US and Japan and growing up in Malaysia. But looking deeper I know it is there; my mind is still discriminating and judging when I deal with others no matter the race or religion.
Having a long discussion on the matter of growing up as a 'non Malay or 'Bumi Putras' with a name like Nanda Sena s/o Simon Bartholomuze was not easy when you are growing up among purely Malay Kampong folks especially when in school. Being raised as a Buddhist most of my childhood life till the age of twelve made it even more complex when the rest of your family and relatives were 'Malays and Muslims'. I have always felt myself a Malay but my circumstances made it a little more complex and i have been called names and a 'kafir' or infidel by my fellow Malay students to which I had no way of defending myself for whatever reason. I was a Sinhalese by birth as so was my father and my grandfather but I was a 'Selong' or Ceylonese to those of my peers; a minority of no significance where the Malays were concern.I was called a 'Kling' or Indian Muslim, with a derogatory implication: meant as an insult while growing up on the East Coast, the Malays in Terengganu were more unforgiving when it comes to racial slurs. My nephew too shared his trials and tribulations for being who he is and especially having a father who name happens to Israel!
Who are the Sinhalese? According to Wikepedia...

"The Sinhalese people are the majority population of the island of Sri Lanka. They constitute 74.5%^[13] of the Sri Lankan population and number approximately 15 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, historical heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists,^[14] although a small but significant percentage of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity. The Sinhalese are mostly found in North central, Central, South and West Sri Lanka. According to legend they are the descendants of the exiled Prince Vijaya who arrived from North-East India to Sri Lanka in 543 BCE.

The Sinhalese are likely to have received little or no genetic flow from neighboring East or Southeast Asian populations,^[51] and have closer affinities to Western Eurasia. The Sinhalese may also have common ancestors with the Sinti Roma via a group of paleolithic inhabitants that lived in Central India 25,000 years ago based on linguistic and haplogroup evidence.^[52][53][54]

The Sinhalese are also known as "Hela" or "Sinhala". These synonyms find their origins in the two words Sinha (meaning "lion") and Hela (meaning "pristine"). The name Sinhala translates to "lion people" and refers to the myths regarding the descent of the legendary founder of the Sinhalese people, the prince Vijaya. The royal dynasty from ancient times on the island was the Sinha (Lion) royal dynasty and the word Sinha finds its origins here. Sri Lanka has got its old name "Sinhale" or "Heladiva" after Sinhalese who built up the civilization of the island. The former names of the country "Serendib", "Seylan" and "Ceylon" have derived from the old name "Sinhale". Another synonyms clarification for Sinhala is siw (four) Hela (Pristine). Raksha, Yaksha, Deva, Naga were the four powerful hela tribes.According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijaya and his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island at 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in Kalinga (Modern day Orissa), East India.^[15] Buddhism is then said to have been introduced to the Sinhalese from India by Mahinda, son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great, during the 3rd century BC.

Main article: Culture of Sri Lanka

Sinhalese culture is a unique one featuring back to as back as 2600 years and has been nourished by Theravada Buddhism. Its main domains are sculpture, fine arts, literature, dancing, poetry and a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Ancient Sinhalese stone sculpture and inscriptions are known worldwide and is a main foreign attraction in modern tourism. Sigirirya is famous for its frescoes. Folk poems were sung by workers to accompany their work and narrate the story of their lives. Ideally these poems consisted of four lines and, in the composition of these poems, special attention had been paid to the rhyming patterns. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhala instruments. More ancient rituals like tovils (devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today and often praised and admired the good and the power of Buddha and gods in order to exorcise the demons."

Based o upon these facts my nephew to my surprise said he is proud of his heritage on both sides,; the Sinhalese as well as my grandmother's lineage the Indonesian, Deli lineage.He had done his homework in looking things up about his past and found out about the Indo- Aryan past of my grandfather's ancestry which to him was the highest caste of Indian continent the Brahmins; I have yet to study about these. To him the Malays have very little to brag about compared to his lineage which is ancient and having its roots all the way to the Aryan race who migrated into Northern India thousand of years ago.The Malays are still struggling to trace where their ancestry lies in these days and age; while claiming themselves as sons of the earth.
My nephew related a story told him by an elderly gentleman in his religious group who happened to be a 'Syed' in Kuala terengganu who told him that a very long time ago this country was the dumping ground of Hindus who were born out of wedlock.I was surprised to hear this and doubted its truth but I pointed out to him the fact the real native who dwells in the forests (Orang asli or the 'Old folks': Indigenous People) in this country are mostly dark skinned looking more Indian than Malays; perhaps there some truth in it.
A few facts about Orang Asli
"Dr. Iskandar Carey, the Commissioner of the Department of Orang Asli Affairs then, writing in his book Orang Asli: The Aboriginal Tribes of Peninsular Malaysia (KL: OUP, 1975) explains why the term Orang Asli was introduced.

 The terms then in use – such as Aborigines and Sakai – had pejorative connotations and were associated with backwardness, under-development and primitiveness. In fact, the latter term (Sakai) was, and still is, detested by the Orang Asli as it implied that they were slaves or dependents and much worse.

 The communist insurgents were aware of this and tactically gained some headway in influencing the Orang Asli to their ideology when they referred to them as 'Orang Asal'. So when the government finally realised that the terms that they had been using to refer to these peoples were condescending, to say the least, they opted for the term Orang Asli instead, rather than using the correct term as used by the insurgents.

 Asli' comes from the Arabic word 'asali' which means 'original', 'well-born' or 'aristocratic'. Thus 'Orang Asli' was taken to mean 'Original Peoples', an apt description for this community.

 Furthermore, in Carey's words, "It was decided that the Malay term should be used even in English correspondence."

 Thus, Orang Asli is today regarded as a term just like Kadazan, Chinese, Penan – used without italics and in uppercase for the first alphabet.

Letter to The Star (unpublished

Colin Nicholas

Coordinator, COAC

27 January 1994

Postscript:  

It should be added that the newspaper did act on the letter, albeit only partially in that the paper has dropped the italics and used 'orang asli' instead. That is, it still persists in spelling the term without using the upper case for the first letters – as in orang asli instead of Orang Asli, as it should be.

So where did these people of the forest really came from? Out of  Nowhere?

Hinduism existed in this country longest than any other races or religion according to discoveries made at the arhaeological diggings at a site called Lembah Bujang.

"The Bujang Valley or Lembah Bujang is a sprawling historical complex and has an area of approximately 224 square km. Situated near Merbok, Kedah, between Gunung Jerai in the north and Muda River in the south, it is the richest archaeological area in Malaysia.^[1

These archaeological remains show that there was a Hindu-Buddhist polity here. The name itself is roughly translated into "Dragon Valley". The area consists of ruins that may date more than 2000 years old. More than fifty ancient tomb temples, called candi (pronounce "chandi"), have also been unearthed. The most impressive and well-preserved of these is located in Pengkalan Bujang, Merbok. The Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum is also located here. In the area of Bujang Valley known as Sungai Batu, excavation have revealed jetty remains, iron smelting sites, and a clay brick monument dating back to 110AD, making it the oldest man-made structure to be recorded in Southeast Asia.^[2]

Research also indicates that there was a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom here possibly as early as 110 CE.^[3] The local rulers adopted Indian cultural and political models earlier than those of Kutai in eastern Borneo, in southern Celebes or Tarumanegara in western Java, where remains showing Indian influence have been found dating from the early 5th century. Relics found in the Bujang Valley are now on display at the archaeological museum. Items include inscribed stone caskets and tablets, metal tools and ornaments, ceramics, pottery, and Hindu icons."..Wikipedia.

So who was here first? Who has the right to call themselves Bumi Putras or sons of the earth here? My nephew stood up for himself with these historical arguments whenever he was bullied for his origin by his Malay peers. I was moved by the fact he had to suffer much as I did growing up in this so called multi-racial society.

As I get to know my charge a Chinese student to and from his classes my mind has taken a closer look at my genetic make up in order to correct the flaw that has been inherent in me about other races; my prejudices and preconceived ideas about who and how they should behave... I am still on the road to find out about who I am. One small conclusion I arrived at was that this boy is no different from my son, Karim who had wished he did not have to go to school most simply because he was bullied for being who he is as the Malay calls him "Mat salleh celop"...not far from calling him a half breed:his mother was an American from Illinois, USA. I hope that someday he will look back at his heritage with pride for it is so diverse that it makes a genetic specialist's head spin.
                                           to be continued.