Saya Orang Melayu

Okay this post gonna sound like masuk lif tekan butang atas. Hehehe. I just want to share my experience with some strangers who thought that I’m Chinese. Serius tak tipu wey!!! My first experience was few years back in 2008. I was at Stesen Bas Larkin waiting for my dad to fetch me. Tiba-tiba someone tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned around this Chinese dude start to speak Hokkien to me asking for direction, i knew that because he showed me an address. Ternganga sebentar, then I politely said “sorry, I’m not Chinese. Can you speak English?”. That guy just nodded then he went to different way. When I told my friends about it, they laughed at me. (T_T) Okay fine, first time maybe it was a coincidence kot.

In 2009 I was on my way back to Seremban, I took the afternoon train from Stesen Kempas Baru. My seat was next to this old Chinese lady. She was very kind sepanjang perjalanan from JB to Batu Pahat and we had a long chat. After some time, she asked me, “You punya emak ayah ada orang Cina ka?” On my father side I’m pretty sure there’s no Chinese blood, but on my mother side I’m not sure, so I just say my mom and dad both Melayu. I asked her why. She said something about my face that look chinese, my chin or jaw something like that la. After that she told me, she have one daughter that was raised by a Malay family sebab hidup susahkan masa zaman sebelum merdeka. I asked her “Aunty tak pergi jumpa anak aunty?” She said, “tak mau la~ saya segan sama anak saya.” I feel sympathy for her.

That was the second time people thought that I’m Chinese. Masih tak percaya lagi ke? Hahaha. So I decided after that if there’s someone thinks that I’m Chinese, I’ll make fun of him for real. So nak dijadikan cerita, last September I took a cab to Jusco Tebrau from Seri Alam. Naik je taxi tu saya tutup pintu, tapi tak rapat. Then this Pakcik said “close the door please.” I was like apo bondo ni jang!?? *interior monologue*. Then he asked me “can you speak malay?” that moment seriously I gelak berdekah-dekah dalam hati. This evil mind of mine already saying HERE’S THE CHANCE!! Muahahaha. “Pakcik I can understand Malay, but I’m not fluent in speaking.” *kerek plak aku* So for 15 minutes we borak-borak in English, very rare experience.*smile* I told him I’m from Singapore, visiting a friend there in Pasir Gudang. Then I asked him for any interesting places in JB that he would recommend me to go, and this pakcik sungguh-sungguh cerita. Bila dah sampai Jusco Tebrau, I told him la kan “pakcik, sebenarnya saya ni orang Melayu. Saya duduk Taman Rinting je. Tadi saja nak gurau-gurau dengan pakcik jangan amik hati ea. Ni saya bagi extra sebab pakcik baik hati and pakcik guna meter. Assalamualaikum.” Luckily that pakcik is very sporting and he laughed when I told him that.

3 kali dah aku kena, hehe. These people really made my day *smile*. I’m very pleased to meet people like them again in the future. Actually I would love to have more friends, I mean real friends from different races and culture. Maybe I just don’t have the confident to hangout with them. InsyaAllah one day nanti. Till my next post, have a good rest this weekend *smile*

Khairul