A Chinese woman and her daughter were scolded for their inability to speak Malay at the immigration office at UTC Johor. This incident happened on the 27th of November 2023. The woman detailed her experience on her personal Facebook profile and it is as follows:
"I brought my daughter to UTC Johor to renew her passport. Both of us are Malaysians but we studied in Singapore ever since we were little (like mother, like daughter). So we are not fluent in Malay but we were both ‘educated’ - politeness, respect, and their importance are still embedded in us. We went to the immigration office of UTC Johor at around 8 am. We waited for an hour until we were able to take our number.
When it was our turn to be serviced, a male Immigration officer served us. Because both of us are unable to speak Malay, we use English to ask and answer inquiries from the officer. The officer asked my daughter how old is she. She answered 14 (in English, mind you). The immigration officer then glared at my daughter and said, ‘How do you say 14 in Malay? You have to speak in Malay! This is Malaysia, are you Malaysian? If you are then you must know how to speak Malay!’ The immigration officer was fierce when he said all that.
He continued, ‘Do you guys know this is Malaysia? You don’t know how to speak Malay? Now even when you go to Taiwan, you also need to know how to speak Malay, that is how important it is (I was shocked when he said this). You guys don't know how to speak? Are you guys PR? Even Malaysian PRs are still Malaysians nonetheless. You guys hold Malaysian IC but don't know how to speak Malay. If you guys don't know how to speak Malay, you guys can contemplate being Singaporeans! Don't stay in Malaysia! We don't speak English here!'
I tried to explain to him that we were both educated in Singapore and that we couldn't comprehend Malay fully but before I was able to finish, he shouted at us, ‘So? Do you guys still want to renew your passport? If not then leave!’ At that moment, I was helpless but I held on, I almost shed a few tears. The both of us just stood there, scolded by this man…we didn't dare to answer back because we were afraid of offending him - we both woke up early to come to UTC and if we had to come back another day, it would waste our time. So I spoke to him in a gentle manner: I am sorry - we are really here to renew (my daughter's) passport so would you kindly give us a number? The immigration officer was not stoked when he handed us our number. We awkwardly looked for a seat after that incident and finally found one to sit on.
I thought to myself, why does he have to bully us in this way? Should we be subjected to this kind of treatment just because we can't speak Malay? Will the police arrest us for not speaking Malay? This is the 2nd time I was scolded for not being able to speak Malay in UTC.
My daughter and I both waited for 30 minutes and soon, it was our turn. The next thing that happened to us was more ‘exciting’ than the previous one.
This immigration officer is a woman. I thought she would speak to my daughter in a polite manner but my daughter got the same treatment as before - she was reprimanded for not being able to speak Malay again. She asked my daughter to answer the following questions in Malay, how old is she? What's her name? What's her mother's name? What's her father's name? Because I divorced her father when she was little, I then explained to the female immigration officer that I am a divorcee and that I took full custody of my daughter ever since she was little so she doesn't know her father's name.
The female immigration officer then asked me, 'Did you bring your divorce cert? This girl is yours, right? Did you bring the Court's Order for Child Custody? (I was upset when she asked this). I then asked her, ‘I am here to renew her passport. Why do I need all these documents? The last time I brought my daughter to get her passport, I didn’t need all these documents. I proceeded to ask her why was I not informed earlier that I needed to prepare all these documents. She just answered, “New SOP so I require all these documents right now in order to proceed.” I also didn't argue with her as I don't know how to speak Malay. I just told her that I didn't bring the documents required and she answered this right away, “Didn't bring? Then no passport!”
I don't know why these people discriminate against those who don't speak Malay! It is not like I purposely did it. I even ask them politely but it seems that being nice just gets you bullied!
I want to give a piece of advice to everyone who doesn't speak Malay but needs to go to this type of place, please bring someone who knows how to speak Malay along. Don't be like me - my day was ruined early in the morning on account of these people! I am disappointed and saddened by this incident.
Ending: I found a friend to help me out (I know someone from the Immigration Department) and in the end, my daughter successfully renews her passport. I even brought him a meal to thank him for helping us."
Netizens are divided over this post - some felt sorry for the woman in question while others didn't. In fact, some even scolded her for her inability to speak Malay in spite of being Malaysian. One such post that scolded her for her inability comes from Facebook user, Christopher.
What do you think about this whole incident? Let me know in the comment section.
Aaron Colt is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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