Image from: http://www.360dhr.com/Mamak%20Conspiracy.jpgRoti prata, roti canai, sup tulang (bone soup), mee goreng 'mamak', maggi goreng (fried maggi noodles), teh tarik and your favourite Barclay Premier League matches shown on projector televisions. Sounds familiar? Of course it sounds familiar. Most Singaporeans and Malaysians would probably have tried out all these cheap and delicious food while watching their favourite football clubs in action at their favourite Indian/Muslim food stall or restaurant.
These Indian/Muslim food stalls have been one of my favourite places to hang out with friends. Reasons? The food is great and the price is affordable. These outlets are normally owned by the Indians/Muslims themselves and most of the workers are of the same religious background.
I remembered an unforgettable experience that I witnessed years ago at one of these Indian/Muslim restaurants back in Johor Bahru where I came from. A conflict started when a group of Chinese teenagers, who were seated several tables away from me and my friends, called one of the waiters to take orders.
All this seemed fine, but the Chinese teenager addressed the waiter as "Mamak". "Mamak" basically refers to Indian/Muslim, but in a very crude manner. In fact, all the waiters in the restaurant, including the owner himself, heard the teenager addressing the particular waiter as "Mamak". This spelt big trouble as it did not go well with the Indian/Muslim people at all. The waiters and the owner were fuming and proceeded to the table where the Chinese teenagers were seated and started a row with them. This matter escalated to a whole new level when both parties started hauling racial remarks at one another. I sensed that something worse could happen and immediately called the police. And guess what happened next? Chairs were flying in the air and cutlery were targeted at the opposing sides.
My friends and I quickly dashed out of the restaurant to avoid from getting hurt. Soon enough, the police came and took the Chinese teenagers and the Indian/Muslim waiters to the police station. Some of the Chinese teenagers and Indian/Muslim waiters suffered superficial wounds. The whole restaurant was in a total mess as the tables, chairs and cutlery were broken or misplaced. I imagine that worse things could have unfolded if the police had arrived later.
Luckily, all customers were unhurt and most of us actually had a "free treat" since we did not manage to pay our bills. However, this is one of the "free treats" that I would rather not have.
The moral of the story is: Never insult other religions or groups of people from different races as this will only bring hatred and dissatisfaction. Living in a multi-racial and multi-religion country such as Malaysia, the Chinese teenagers should have known better about the importance of preserving racial harmony. They should also have known that calling Indian/Muslims as "Mamak" is an insult to them. The teenagers could have called the waiters in the conventional methods such as showing hand signals or even "whistling" at them (although it is not so polite to do so) but they chose to take the "forbidden route" instead. Respect is the key to racial harmony and I believe Malaysians do not want to experience a repeat of what happened on the fateful day of 13th May 1969.
10 comments:
As you mention, being in a multi-racial and multi-religious country means that we have to learn to be more sensitive towards other cultures.
I have not experienced such violent reactions before. However, to be on the safe side, stick to neutral words and commonly acceptable gestures.
What other "taboo" words or actions should we be particularly careful with?
Hi Sharon,
Different culture, religion, clan and organization have different restriction and taboo in terms of words and actions.
I think the best bet will be to check out the cultural behaviour of the particular group that you will be dealing with like what we have learn from the tutorial.
As both Malaysian and Singaporeans were brought up in a multi-racial society, we would have gain knowledge about the other religion or racial groups through our daily experiences or via school.
Very detailed description, Danny, of an overly typical act of stupidity. Those teenagers must have been idiots. Who wouldn't know that the reaction would be one of violence?
I believe that sociology, and especially a unit on culture, cultural diversity and sensitivity, should be part of the school curriculum in every country in the world. We assume people have good sense and an understanding of these basics, but time and again I see that they don't.
Is that ever taught in Malaysian schools?
Thanks for highlighting this need yet again!
Hi Brad,
Non-muslim students in Malaysia's national primary and secondary school normally will attend moral classes while the Muslim students will go to the "surau" (a place where the Malay pray besides the mosque) where they will learn about the Al-Quran.
However, I do not think that the non-muslim students really get to appreciate the meanings underlying those moral values taught in the class. To most non-muslim students, moral studies is just another compulsory subjects that they have to take in order to pass their exam and advance to the next level.
Hence, most students do not really have appreciation for the moral values learned and will never practise it in real life situation.
Besides, family upbringing is also an important factor that determine the character of a person. I would think that those chinese teenagers do not have proper moral values instill in them in the first place. And perhaps, they are just trying to be funny, which is a very stupid thing to do.
In the end, they just bear the consequences that is "bestowed" upon them.
Hey Danny, honestly speaking this is the first time I've heard of the word "mamak". I've been to quite a few Indian/Muslim food stalls in Singapore but I'm quite sure that I've never heard people addressing the waiters as "mamaks". May I ask where did this word "mamak" originate from? Also, could it be that since Malaysia is a multi-racial country which comprises of mainly the Malays, so that's one of the reasons why they are more easily offended as compared to Singapore?
Hi Danny
I've never heard of this word 'mamak'. After reading your post, I'm definitely going to abstain from using it.
Such a violent situation! How did the teenager respond? Was he/she like a 'gangster' to begin with? Or just plain ignorant?
Hi Danny
Thanks for posting something to remind us on being sensitive! The word "mamak" is part of the vocabulary of Malaysian Chinese, because one of our favourite past-times is to eat Roti Canai (similar to Roti Prata) and drink Milo in Mamak stalls at the middle of the night. However, I never seen anyone of us call them "mamak" directly, we called "kopi" instead. Thanks Danny giving me a reminder on this, I never knew they never liked to be called with that word.
Answering to Brad, I am sorry to say that the education on inter-racial harmony was not really implemented in all schools. Danny gave a very accurate description on our moral education. We memorized the definition of the moral values for the exam. (Why need exams for moral education?!) We always joked, "those who scored the highest in our moral subject are those who have no moral values".
Perhaps our schools should REALLY teach us how to live. Please educate us about living cultures of our neighbours, their festivals and taboos, a few Malay or Tamil phrases, where are the best roti canai (oops), etc.
Well done Danny for the educational post!
Thanks, Danny, for initiating all this discussion.
I think I can say there is a huge difference between teaching "more values" and teaching sociology, with a focus on culture. In sociology, students learn to look at the basic concepts of race and ethnicity, to break those down, turn them on their heads, and see "man" as an animal with learned behaviors, values and norms that are dependent on the social environment.
The beauty of sociology is that it enables students to analyze their own ways and to see how variable that learning can be.
When I was teaching in Shah Alam in the American twinning program jointly offered through Mara,
curriculum developers were told explicitly NOT to teach sociology. Can you imagine why?
I believe racial issues are especially sensitive in countries like Singapore and Malaysia where we have people of different races living together. Basic respect between the different ethnic groups is definitely a necessity. We definitely do not want history to repeat.
Hey people,
To Huiling,
I never really know how the "Mamak" word came about but I would guess that it is a word created by the non-indian muslim community to label the indian-muslim community (in a crude manner, of course).
To Yilin,
The group of chinese teenagers were just like those street punks (like those "ah beng") and I guess they were just trying to be funny by calling the waiter, "Mamak". I hope this incident did bring them to their senses on the issues of racial harmony.
To Seaming,
Thanks for reminding me of the phrase "those who scored the highest in our moral subject are those who have no moral values".
My friends and I do tease each other about it too.
Well, I was one of the high-scorer in the moral subjects though. But,I am different because I do have moral values in me. =)
Till now, I still do not know the purpose of having examinations for moral lessons. I just think this is another conspiracy by the school to congest our tiny brains. =(
To Brad,
There is a lot of restrictions in Malaysia. You should have uncovered quite a bit about the conservative mindset of Malaysia when you were working there in the 80s and 90s.
I would guess that the government wants the younger generation to be contented with the thinking and mindset that the govenrment have previously instill in us. Educators were not allowed to teach sociology because they do not want the students to question the things/issues that have been taken for granted.
To Everyone,
Thanks for participating actively in commenting and discussing about "The Mamak Conspiracy" in this posting.
Cheers,
Danny.
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