Are you bluffing us?
When I first came to West Malaysia to further my studies, friends would ask me where I came from. Upon hearing the word Sarawak, most of them would be shocked, usually followed by questions on whether my house on the tree top, or whether did I travel on wooden boat daily. Or they would think I bluffed them of my origin.
Sarawak and Sabah are under East Malaysia, we are all Malaysians. It would then shock me that West Malaysians knew so little about East Malaysians, or vice versa. Disclaimer: This happened 20 years ago when I was still in college.
Most of them would think I was from Singapore or some even think I was from Hong Kong because they thought I was related to some artists. I took that as compliment. Not sure the way the judged, but they said I looked like Gigi Leung, a famous Hong Kong artist.
Anyway, I told them I was born at West Malaysia and I grew up at East Malaysia. So eventhough I was born at Kuantan, Pahang (a state at West Malaysia), I grew up at Sarawak since 2 years old. I consider myself as native Sarawakian. And I still love Sarawak alot.
Friends always had misconception that Sarawak people had darker skin and had those native look. So most couldn't believe me due to my fair skin and big eyes. They related Sarawakians as the photo below.
Oh yes, there are many Sarawakians who have darker skin because they are from other races, but certainly they don't dress up like those in the photos, that is for some cultural celebration or performance. And with all the intermarriage, now even we have other races who have fair skin. Me, so happened I am a fair skin Chinese. That's simple.
Then, I am a Chinese with Mandarin my native language but I did not read nor write Chinese. Notice I use the word did because for the past three years, I have been learning reading and writing in Chinese with my son who attends Chinese school. We both have improved alot, so proud to type this. Anyway, some said we should be native China because our ancestors were from China who sneaked into Malaysia during war time.
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