Being a child of a mixed marriage, my father being Chinese, and my mother Tamil, I believe mixed parentage or interracial relationships are something that shows love can form organically in a diverse society, beyond racial boundaries. Two cultures integrating with one another, assimilating and twice the amount of celebrations and ang pau!
I would say that due to my parents both not knowing each other’s mother tongue proficiently, we ended up mostly speaking English as the common language. This resulted in me, unfortunately, not being able to speak Hokkien or Tamil properly. Hence, at times, I can feel a sense of not belonging to a particular group of people. Sadly, another challenge I notice is how, when I mix with both groups of people, there may be times, although not so frequent, times where I hear how both sides think of each other in isolation.
Typically, racist remarks and stereotypes, thrown from Chinese to Indians, and Indians to Chinese, what am I to do, as both parties insulting each other is an insult to me. But I don’t take much heed to these things as the positives outweigh the negatives, and a lot of good comes from us respecting one another.
I can see that people are usually confused when they see me. They may have made some assumptions about my identity. The first thing I do is giggle and just smile, so inherently I don’t feel offended, and I understand their confusion. I have been confused for being Malay, Nepalese, north Indian, from Borneo and surprisingly even Russian once for some reason, but strangely rarely Chinese.
I will just explain to them, I’m a Malaysian or local, and that my father is Chinese and my mother is Indian, hence I’m a Chindian! Then they reply with an ooohhhhh. Which is funny sometimes. My advice to my fellow Chindian, Malaychins, Inlays, and any other combinations of mixed race brethren, is to fret not. Embrace who you are and be proud that you are more than just one flavour, I mean, soya and cincau are delicious for a reason. Speaking of food, that’s the best part of being of mixed parentage, and you know it too!
Nanda Lim, Perai.
