I will not say that word again!
Sumitra Naidu | Indian, Malaysian
One of the things I feel strongly about as a Malaysian is that I should be involved in every aspect of society if I want to build this country. I feel like a big portion of why there is so much dissension and disunity is because people don’t understand each other. You can’t claim to understand someone when you don’t make an effort to get to know them.
The Story Walk activity was a great idea: to partner up with somebody, listen attentively, and retell their story. I thought to myself, “I better listen really carefully because I don’t want to misrepresent someone!” I realised that I must have been misrepresenting people all the time because I don’t pay attention. And now, I do pay attention.
I grew up going to Orang Asli camps, but I actually didn’t really understand what was happening with them on a personal level. But when I partnered with an Orang Asli girl, she shared about how she had no electricity and didn’t have clean water, and in that moment I just had a sense of gratitude for the things in my life. Listening doesn’t just help you understand. It helps you be grateful for where you have come from.
Not going to use these words anymore!
I think one of the major changes was the change in my language. I generally try to be very kind with my words, and so knowing that I have (wrongly) used words like Sakai and Jakun before, really spoke to me. So I went home and I told my family that we’ve got to change our language. Even as a joke. We just shouldn’t joke about stuff like this. And I told them that I am not going to use these words anymore in our conversations. Whether they listened or not, at least I had spoken up.
But then a couple of weeks later, I was having a conversation with my sister, and just out of old habits, I blurted, “Sakai lah, you.” And she said, “Hey! Remember, you can’t use that word anymore.” I said, “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry.” I realise old habits die hard. But they die.
About debunking the stereotypes, I think the onus is on me. It starts with me. And people have to want it. You can’t force people to bridge a gap. Unless they themselves see that a change has to be made because that is going to make the country better. That it is going to make my family better. That’s going to make communication better. I feel the onus is on each and every one of us. I guess something practical that I can do is to invite people for programmes like this: “I went for this thing before, it’s really good, it has really helped me out, why don’t we go together?”
Sumitra is one of Enggang & Pipit participants on 29 April 2023. Listen to Sumitra’s experience on BFM!
I will not say that word again!
Sumitra Naidu | Indian, Malaysian
One of the things I feel strongly about as a Malaysian is that I should be involved in every aspect of society if I want to build this country. I feel like a big portion of why there is so much dissension and disunity is because people don’t understand each other. You can’t claim to understand someone when you don’t make an effort to get to know them.
The Story Walk activity was a great idea: to partner up with somebody, listen attentively, and retell their story. I thought to myself, “I better listen really carefully because I don’t want to misrepresent someone!” I realised that I must have been misrepresenting people all the time because I don’t pay attention. And now, I do pay attention.
I grew up going to Orang Asli camps, but I actually didn’t really understand what was happening with them on a personal level. But when I partnered with an Orang Asli girl, she shared about how she had no electricity and didn’t have clean water, and in that moment I just had a sense of gratitude for the things in my life. Listening doesn’t just help you understand. It helps you be grateful for where you have come from.
Not going to use these words anymore!
I think one of the major changes was the change in my language. I generally try to be very kind with my words, and so knowing that I have (wrongly) used words like Sakai and Jakun before, really spoke to me. So I went home and I told my family that we’ve got to change our language. Even as a joke. We just shouldn’t joke about stuff like this. And I told them that I am not going to use these words anymore in our conversations. Whether they listened or not, at least I had spoken up.
But then a couple of weeks later, I was having a conversation with my sister, and just out of old habits, I blurted, “Sakai lah, you.” And she said, “Hey! Remember, you can’t use that word anymore.” I said, “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry.” I realise old habits die hard. But they die.
About debunking the stereotypes, I think the onus is on me. It starts with me. And people have to want it. You can’t force people to bridge a gap. Unless they themselves see that a change has to be made because that is going to make the country better. That it is going to make my family better. That’s going to make communication better. I feel the onus is on each and every one of us. I guess something practical that I can do is to invite people for programmes like this: “I went for this thing before, it’s really good, it has really helped me out, why don’t we go together?”
Sumitra is one of Enggang & Pipit participants on 29 April 2023. Listen to Sumitra’s experience on BFM!
Sumitra Naidu | Indian, Malaysian
One of the things I feel strongly about as a Malaysian is that I should be involved in every aspect of society if I want to build this country. I feel like a big portion of why there is so much dissension and disunity is because people don’t understand each other. You can’t claim to understand someone when you don’t make an effort to get to know them.
The Story Walk activity was a great idea: to partner up with somebody, listen attentively, and retell their story. I thought to myself, “I better listen really carefully because I don’t want to misrepresent someone!” I realised that I must have been misrepresenting people all the time because I don’t pay attention. And now, I do pay attention.
I grew up going to Orang Asli camps, but I actually didn’t really understand what was happening with them on a personal level. But when I partnered with an Orang Asli girl, she shared about how she had no electricity and didn’t have clean water, and in that moment I just had a sense of gratitude for the things in my life. Listening doesn’t just help you understand. It helps you be grateful for where you have come from.
Not going to use these words anymore!
I think one of the major changes was the change in my language. I generally try to be very kind with my words, and so knowing that I have (wrongly) used words like Sakai and Jakun before, really spoke to me. So I went home and I told my family that we’ve got to change our language. Even as a joke. We just shouldn’t joke about stuff like this. And I told them that I am not going to use these words anymore in our conversations. Whether they listened or not, at least I had spoken up.
But then a couple of weeks later, I was having a conversation with my sister, and just out of old habits, I blurted, “Sakai lah, you.” And she said, “Hey! Remember, you can’t use that word anymore.” I said, “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry.” I realise old habits die hard. But they die.
About debunking the stereotypes, I think the onus is on me. It starts with me. And people have to want it. You can’t force people to bridge a gap. Unless they themselves see that a change has to be made because that is going to make the country better. That it is going to make my family better. That’s going to make communication better. I feel the onus is on each and every one of us. I guess something practical that I can do is to invite people for programmes like this: “I went for this thing before, it’s really good, it has really helped me out, why don’t we go together?”
Sumitra is one of Enggang & Pipit participants on 29 April 2023. Listen to Sumitra’s experience on BFM!
