Here's a tongue-in-cheek post on feelings toward foreigners in Malaysia. It’s only through living in Asia that I’ve come to understand ghettos and the tendency of immigrant groups in host countries globally to nucleate among their own; it’s the need for instant understanding and being fully met. Mixing in here is by far the greater part of my experience.
But how do local people feel about foreigners? I’ve heard plenty about Asian immigrants in Malaysia, not all complimentary; others have fed back that a lot of low-paid service providers rely on immigrant input. That’s the case globally. I noticed that in the UK, all the Japanese restaurants were run by Chinese people and over here many various eateries are run by Burmese or Myanmar people.
Most of Grey Britain’s roads, rail networks and other infrastructure were laid down by Irish immigrants, who famously laid their bodies down in the process as well. Some of them were my forefathers and yes, I’ve written about that too.
How about local feeling toward expats and perceived expats with more distant origins? I should say at this point, what follows is largely my indulgence in punning. Don't worry about this post being so short; more Malaysia in Yer Mirror material is on its way!
I’ll start with Italy, where the mafia are infamous for not apologising to anyone. Here, you have ma’af ye, yeah? I thought “retaliation” was nothing more than a return to Italy. But “talian” is line in Bahasa Melayu; and “lain” is far, for sure. To be sure is “pastikan”; so where does that leave Pakistani and Italian people? If you’re wondering where this is all going, I’ll ask you to hold the line for a mo or so.
I’m curious about Morocco too. I keep seeing signs saying “Dilarang merokok” in public spaces, right, that final k falling silent – is that telling people not to be Moroccan?
I’m not sure what you feel about Cuba. You say cuba cuba and put a number 2 on the end of one cuba when you write it: cuba2. The island of Cuba though, with all that music and cool lifestyle, is no country for squares. If you say Saya cuba cuba I take that to mean you identify with the country, or that you try to. Surely it should be a number three if you want to cube it though?
You seem to be OK with Denmark, I think, with Danish being a popular surname here, so I don’t imagine Malaysia storming Greenland anytime soon. Scotland too; Abidin’s a popular Malaysian name and is also a thriving Scots oil city.
Malaysians are so into puns; spoonerisms even. When I introduced my friend from Patagonia to one of my local friends, he asked him: Got a pony, ah?
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