I knew of Malaysia as a multi ethnic state of course with an \nindigenous Malay majority and Chinese and Indian minorities. And that is\n also how I remembered the country from my first Asian trip more than 20\n years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur I was surprised to see how \ntruly multi ethnic this country is. There were some from neighbouring \nThailand, selling great food. There were many from neighbouring \nIndonesia, working in the palm oil plantations or else running a small \nbusiness. Or selling great food. I saw a few Laotians – and know that it\n is rare to meet someone from Laos that far from home. I saw the lone \nBurmese woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many Nepali work in security. I remembered the departing groups of \nguest workers at Kathmandu airport \u2013 sent off by their families with \nsmall flower wreaths and big tika\u2019s, lined up at separate immigration \ncounters, perplexed by the experience of leaving behind all that was \nknown to them. They guard the entrance to the compound where I stay. \nThey open up once they understand we have been to their home town in the\n Tarai. Same for their Cambodian colleague from Kampong Chhnang who \nstarts telling that his friend has got dengue, and that shifts are \ntwelve hours and the commute is long, and that pay is just 250 $ a \nmonth. But that it is more than he can make at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistani owned the computer shop. I saw Iranians \u2013 students or refugees that wasn\u2019t clear. I saw many from the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Arabian couple joins me in the elevator of KL Tower. She is \ndressed in black head to toe \u2013 only in front of her eyes her veil gives \nway briefly. I ask him where they are from \u2013 \u2018Saudi\u2019. I wouldn\u2019t dare to\n ask her. When we get up there she takes his hand, pulls him with her \nand side by side and very close together they disappear among the other \ntourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I am aware of them everywhere in the streets and in the \nshopping malls. Young guys in casual western dress and young women in \nchador with only that narrow opening at eye level. Repressed? Not free? \nThey walk hand in hand, arm in arm, happy as young couples everywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I knew of Malaysia as a multi ethnic state of course with an indigenous Malay majority and Chinese and Indian minorities. And that is also how I remembered the country from my first Asian trip more than 20 years ago. But on a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur I was surprised to see how truly … Continue reading “Malaysian surprise”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malaysia-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}