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It would be disingenuous and ignorant for Malaysians to support the Black Lives Matter movement without also speaking out against racism at home. We have to talk about the ways in which the Malaysian society discriminates against Black people, Indians, and dark-skinned individuals. 

Malaysian society is deeply ingrained with racism and in particular, anti-blackness. Evidence is abundant. 

A common stereotype in Malaysia is to link dark-skinned individuals to criminal activity; a stereotype that is often proliferated by newspapers and politicians. Anti-blackness is also prevalent in the housing market: despite racially charged rental advertisements barring Black and Indian applicants, proposed statutory reforms have been slow to come to fruition. 

Anti-blackness also manifests in the form of police brutality. In 2019, the death of Thomas Ewansiha sparked outrage. Although he had produced valid documents, the immigration department still decided to detain him. An inquest into Ewansiha’s death was ongoing, with the latest development in January 2020. 

Malaysian Indians are also disproportionately affected by police brutality. Indians make up around 7% of the country’s population, yet they represent 23.4% of all reported deaths in police custody. According to a Human Rights Watch report report, police abuse persists because of the lack of meaningful accountability for the Royal Malaysia Police. In 2019, a bill to create an Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission was submitted to parliament; however, the bill also has its own issues. 

Here we have some of the hallmarks of systemic racism or institutional racism. This term was coined by civil rights movement leader Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in their book, Black Power. This form of racism is “less overt/obvious” than acts of racism by individuals. Systemic racism “originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and thus received far less public condemnation than the first type.” Through this form of racism, Carmichael and Hamilton explains that “respectable individuals can absolve themselves from individual blame, but they continue to support political officials and institutions that would and do perpetuate institutionally racist policies.” 

It is not enough to call out the overt racism of stereotypes and racial slurs. As Malaysians, we need to start actively being anti-racist. I have adapted the following steps from L Glenise Pike’s resource on anti-racism. Thank you to @antiracismmalaysia for sharing such useful resources. Here are 4 steps to help us on our way: 

1. Awareness of your privilege. There are many forms of privilege, such as race or wealth, and a person can benefit from different types of privilege. For example, as a Malay person, I am aware that my race grants privilege in a society that upholds and glorifies the Malay race over others through the Bumiputera status. As someone whose family is able to support my education abroad, I am also aware of my socio-economic privilege. Being aware is the first step towards making a difference.

2. Educate yourself. In order to engage meaningfully and effectively, we must have a solid understanding of white supremacy and race. Furthermore, we must also have an understanding of how those themes manifest in a post-colonial country like Malaysia. Here is a list of resources.

3. Self-Interrogation. First and foremost, be accountable to yourself. We cannot effectively seek change in the system if we are not willing to do the work ourselves. To do otherwise, would be performative and disingenuous. Often this step of self-analysis or self-interrogation can bring about feelings of discomfort in recognising that many of us have perpetuated racist behaviour.

Analyse your thoughts and behaviours against the backdrop of step 1 and 2: When was the last time we laughed or told a racist joke? Being self-accountable in recognising flaws in our behaviour is the first step in changing them.

4. Community action. Pike puts it well, “Attempting to do this part of the work without doing stage three first is how you end up harming Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC)”.

Without Step 1,  I would not recognise my race (as a Malay) affords me more institutional privileges, compared to someone who is a racial minority. As a result, what I learn in Step 2 may appear to me as “not my problem” or as issues that “are out of my control”.

Without Step 3, any community action would be performative; you profess support for a marginalised group but do not do much more than that. Alternatively, you could do something that takes away attention from that group, ultimately harming them. One example is the Blackout Tuesday IG post that took attention away from the actual protests happening. Suddenly, everyone’s IG feed was taken over by black squares with #BLM instead of being filled with resources and information for protestors.

After Steps 1 to 3, we are more informed about the society we live in. Therefore, we are able to engage in community action responsibly. Namely, we learn to centre BIPOC voices because lived experiences matter more than learned perspectives. Also, we learn that we should help uplift BIPOC voices and not speak for them.

Malaysia is rife with systemic racism and it is high time we acknowledge that. Malays in particular, need to understand the role we play in maintaining systems of oppression at home. Simply put, we cannot call for racial equality while upholding any form of racial supremacy.