My Upgrowth In Malaysia

This year marks the 20th years I’ve live in this country. Living in a multiracial country, I have learned so much while growing up. Due to circumstances, I have grew up in different circle of races and they are the reason and source that builds me to the person I am today.

First phase, I started kindergarten when I was 2 years old. You might wonder, how is it that I was able to start kindergarten at such a young age? The reason was simple. At home, there were no one to look after me as my parents had to go to work. Hence then, my mother decided to put at a kindergarten right across the street of her workplace so that it is convenient for her and the family. Blurry enough, my memories during those days are close to forgotten but why I mentioned this was because 4 years of my life there, I grew up with all Indian teachers. I could barely remember their names, but I sure do remember what happened there. There were two favourite teachers of mine, one slightly older and another slightly younger. The older teacher looked exactly like those benign mothers in the Bollywood movies, but does have the grumpy face when she doesn’t smile, and she was slightly chubby and wrinkly in a sense. While then, the younger teacher had one of the most gorgeous looks and all the boys would stare at her during class. Why are they my favourite? They have loved me throughout the 4 years wholeheartedly. Although, as I describe them, they seem like two different people, but nope. They always brought me snacks, invited me to watch Bollywood movies on TV2 or TV3 during the afternoon and had me dancing to Indian songs during my graduation, showered me when I was little and didn’t know how to do so, taught me how to catch ladybirds and cuddled me to my evening nap. The best part of all, they taught the most at not judging people of their skin of colour as we could all be the same. If they somehow managed to read this article, all I want to say is thank you for making my childhood an extra source of wonder and I love you, no matter where you are.

Second phase, high school. Due to a fact where I realised that I am really fluent in speaking Bahasa Melayu in primary school, somewhat I managed to put them into good use during high school. My best friend during high school was two Malay girls, let’s call them girl A & girl B. I had a tough time during the first two years during high school as I could not find myself belonging in any circle. More like I was confused as I had personality that could help me blend in anywhere, but it didn’t feel like the right one. Until one day, girl A hit me up on Twitter and we just somehow managed to click. The next day, she invited me to hang out with some of her friends which then included girl B. Same as previously, they were different, but this time it was personality. Girl A has a very soft and tender personality, while girl B had the rough and tough personality, which that you could imagine how they would act in real life. Let’s skip the unnecessary. Till now, our friendship had lasted for almost 7 years and I am grateful for that. How did they help me grow? They introduced me formally to Malay food, which unsurprisingly it really does taste as good as it smells. They spend their festive with me, even had me having a thing for Baju Kurung. They taught me that different state had different slangs of speaking Malay, somewhat relating to how Chinese has them too but now, I can actually speak Malay slang from the Utara fluently and manage to learn few phrases that only an actual Malay would understand. Funny ones? They even put on a hijab on me as a joke, but couldn’t deny, I do look good. In a sense, 7 years of our friendship isn’t able for me to be described wholly into a paragraph. We had arguments and conflicts due to our differences but overall, we managed to overcome all that and build a stronger bond between one another. If you two are reading this, “ingat yang aku sayang korang sangat sangat and mekaseh sebab telah menemani aku selama bertahun-tahun, till forever and always.”

Last phase, which I will talk about foreign races such as Indonesian, Filipino, Bangladeshis and more. I spent a whole year when I was 18 at the beautiful island of Malaysia, Penang. What is beautiful about it, you might be thinking? I worked at a bar where close to everyone are foreigners, same as the whole island. Most of them witness me growing up as the bar belongs to my aunt. I was never close to any of them until I started working there. The Filipino introduced me to the amazing cake from their native called Brazo de Mercedes, which I strongly promote for those who are reading to try it, it is a wonder food feel with happiness. But aside from that, I did learn from them of their main language, which is Tagalog, where mostly what I learned was swear words which was funny, but still memorable. Other than that, the Bangladeshis men there treat me as their daughter and was always making sure I was okay emotionally as I was far away from my family. Lots of their action helped improved my perception towards them and helped me gain knowledge towards their culture which make them such amazing dad and husband, which most of them are already. Lastly, the Indonesians. They are the moms, like actual tough moms. They would always tease me and be ironic in a sense but that is what I love about them as that shows their big and warm heart towards having me around. They were always my advisors to all issues and constantly had food ready for me anytime and anywhere, which caused me to gain a lot of weight. By reading this article, you might not be able to relate to how much I feel for these people, but to summarise, they are people with amazing souls that manage to blend in with our local culture, making them even more special and precious for us to appreciate.

Overall, why didn’t I mention Chinese? As I am a Chinese myself hence then, when I am talking about all the other races, they managed to change me and grew me into a better person, but that doesn’t mean I grew away from my roots. I am still a hardcore Chinese myself where I do believe in Chinese cultural myths and practice Chinese behaviours. My point is, we are all different people that is living in a multiracial country and that has lasted for years. We, Millennials and Gen Z had grown further different from people from the past and we had evolved to a phase where we practice unity and peace. Everyone is different, but everyone is special and all of that together, makes us a true Malaysian. Happy Malaysia Day.