One of my colleagues, Weisi, said something to me today during lunch. He said, 'You should have a dual race in your i/c. Chinese and Malay. You are probably more Chinese than most Chinese in Singapore are.'

How did the conversation come about? Cos Wan Ping, one of my colleague, ordered tau huay with the glutinous balls inside and I was telling them about how much I love those glutinous balls and what those balls signify for the Chinese when they get married and have to eat these balls. For those who don't know, the couple eats these balls with sweet syrup during their tea ceremony cos the sweet syrup signifies sweetness in the marriage and the glutinous balls, which are sticky, signify the 'stickiness' of both couples to each other forever. I think. That was what Dev's mum told me at elast. I saw 2 of his brothers get married and both had the glutinous balls thing. So they were amazed by my expansive knowledge of the Chinese culture. Of courselah, my bf's mom is Chinese you know....

But this entry is not about glutinous balls, of course. Though I can spend a lot of time talking about them, seeing how much I love them, but I'm digressing.

A lot of my friends feel that I'm very un-Malay. I never really understood what that meant until recently. I mean, what constitutes being a Malay? To a lot of people, being a Malay will mean these:

1. Conservative & traditional
2. Tudung wearers- Being a Malay to them is synonymous to being a Muslim. Though it's not necessarily so.
3. Not very smart. I know, stereotyping.
4. Can only eat Halal food. That has to do with Point 2.
5. Goes out only with Malay guys.
6. Decent dressers.
7. Not vocal or opinionated or loud.

For those who knows me, I don't fit in very well with the typical stereotype of a Malay. I'm not conservative or traditional, I don't wear a tudung (My friends will laugh if they see me in one), I'm not dumb (not that I'm very samrtlah...but passable), I eat as long as it's not pork or lard or liquor (What? I do a lot of travelling ok. I can't survive on fruits and vegetables only.), I prefer being out with non Malay guys, cos Malay guys don't really like me, or at least, only the mats do, which is not a good thing cos they can barely hold a conversation, I'm pretty open with my dressing (I have improved by leaps and bounds in this area. Maya, remember my backelss top in uni? God, I was such a skank) and of course, for all those who are closest to me, they know that I am loud, vocal, and opinionated.

Having said all that, it doesn't mean that I'm not proud of being a Malay although the recent articles in the papers about Malays having screwed up marriages kind of made me cringe a little. I am. I'm proud of my heritage and what the Malays here have achieved. I am proud of our strong culture and filial piety. Our pride for our houses, our family, our religion.

I know of Malays who are ashamed of being Malays cos of the negative connotation with being a Malay. Like pre-pregnancies, many kids and not being able to care for them, divorces, not academically inclined, not ambitious, etc...So they try not to divulge their true identities or pretend that they are so English-cised and can only speak nothing but English, with a fake accent. Urgh...Makes my blood boil...

I think race should not be an isue at all. Race is nothing but society's infliction on us. So the next time someone asks me what race I am, I'm going to say 'The Human Race.' :) We are all the same isn't it? I'm just crossing my fingers that when I get to Australia, everyone there will embrace me (not literally, though I wouldnt' mind that if they were guys, and good looking..Hahahaha) for being me, regardless of my race and skin colour. :)