Truly Asian

I got asked this yesterday by an Indian contractor who’s working on my team:

‘What are you?’

I replied, ‘What do you mean what am I?’

‘Yes, what are you? Indian? Chinese? Malaysian native?’

Interesting choice of words I thought. ‘I’m Malay’, I replied. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Oh, nothing. You look Indian. If you go to India, people will think you’re Indian. I think you have 40 – 50% Indian in you’

I thought about it for a short while and then it dawned upon me that I am quintessentially Asian.

I’ve been told I look Thai when I worked in Thailand a few years back. I’ve had Filipinos speaking to me in Tagalog in Malaysia and the Philippines because they mistook me for one of them. Similar incidents have happened with Japanese and Chinese tourists. And with my near-perfect Bahasa Gaol (the lingo used by Jakarta urbanites), I could only blend in in Jakarta.

Malaysian, Truly Asian.