Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary (Monty) on Unsplash
"Are you Malaysian"? "Yes" replied my friend. "But you don't look Malay," said this man, a Britisher. "Well I am not Malay, I am Indian." "So you are from India then?" he queried. "My ancestry is Indian, but I was born in Malaysia, I am Malaysian." Malaysians are known as "Malaysian" just to set the record straight. They may be Malay, Indian, Chinese, Kadazan, Iban, Punjabi, Pakistani, Eurasian, Orang Asli and more than 20 over ethnic races from Sabah and Sarawak - but they are ALL Malaysian. As recent as 2019, I saw in a magazine, this mistake of citing Malaysians as "Malay." We are a country of many different races, mainly Asian races. And that accounts for the vast cultural cosmopolitan diversity we are known for (cuisine, customs, festivals). But hey look around - America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand are much the same when it comes to the make up of around-the-world ancestries. Except they are defined clearly by the name of their country. Americans. Australians. Canadians. Er ...Kiwis (but I like that!).