All ado about Anak Malaysia

So, Hannah Yeoh is a Chinese, her husband is an Indian. They want to register their daughter as “Anak Malaysia”. What is wrong with that picture?

On the other side of this bumi bertuah, I am a Malay and The Hubby is a Melanau (No, Melanau is not Malay, please correct your understanding). Our daughter is registered as Melanau.

Here’s the story, I went to JPN to register Baby Hana. In the form, I filled up her race as “Melanau”. Ten minutes later, the lady at the counter called me to confirm this bit of fact. I affirmed the status and with a smile on my face, I asked is there something wrong with it? She replied to say that some people does not want to do that. So I said, well, I wrote it in the form, so we want it that way.

Now, I have no problem about this, I am curious why other people is? What is it about being “Anak Malaysia”? Everyone knows we are all Anak Malaysia since Dr. Sam sang it out loud in the 80s. But, still, it is not a race.

I am not being racist here. Your race is your legacy. It’s your root. Yes, we could’ve register Baby Hana as a Melayu, no doubt about it. That’s the beauty of a mixed marriage. It does not mean she is less a Melayu because we did not register her as such. And it does not mean she is less Melanau just because she hasn’t been to Sarawak yet.

And “Anak Malaysia” is not a race. So why would you put it in the race column? Your nationality is already being defined as a Malaysian. That’s the reason who hold a MyKad. Legally, no non-Malaysian will hold a MyKad.

The best thing the government can do is to do away with the race column. For demographic purpose, just identify as Bumi or non-Bumi. Then again, this is another matter which can cause butthurt in many people. So, let’s just leave it for the sake of the current topic.

Also, do away with the race column in so many other forms from banks, associations, job applications, loyalty card applications, etc. There is no need for it to be there in this case.

So to Hannah Yeoh and Husband, although I’m touched you’re willing to do away with your roots recognition, I am sure your kid will still learn both legacies, but I don’t agree with the “Anak Malaysia” idea. You should modify the way you fight your cause.

And to the so called human rights activists who are fighting for “racism in Malaysia”, I would like to say that before you started your war, there hardly a “racial tension”. People respect each other’s backgrounds and religions. You all have hidden agendas and making normal people like myself go berserk for no reason. If I can turn you lot into frogs, I will.

If I were to fight for racism, I would start in the office where there are different races around, but the people using their race dialect when talking about work. Use English lah if you feel using Bahasa Malaysia means creating racial tension. Blurgh!