CHEF Wan cannot be racist for the same reason that Shaquille O’Neal cannot be short. If Shaq is short, none of us can be tall. For the same reason, if Chef Wan is racist, then there is no such thing as a non-racist in Malaysia.
I can totally understand why the Malaysian celebrity chef whose real name is Datuk Redzuawan Ismail described the dress of renowned Indian actress Aishwarya Rai as akin to someone “carrying Kavadi on herself heading to the Batu Cave Thaipusam ceremony”.
From his comment, what I understand is that Chef Wan is interested in and critical of fashion, and he was disapproving of Aishwarya Rai’s dress.
When he looked into his mind to find a reason why he found Aishwarya Rai’s dress unappealing and wanted to be critical of it, the first thought that occurred to him was that Aishwarya was “carrying Kavadi on herself, heading to the Batu Cave Thaipusam ceremony.”
He probably thought of it because (i) Aishwarya is Indian; (ii) that was what her dress looked like; and (iii) because it is a humorous thing to say for Chef Wan is always saying something humorous.
When I asked myself why I am not offended that Chef Wan said what he said – given I was quite annoyed with Anwar for using the K-word last year – I suppose the only answer I can give is that intention matters.
The words people say are just facts. The meaning behind their words, however, can only be understood from their intention and that their intention can only be determined from their behaviour.
How is Anwar different
We have known Chef Wan long enough to know that he says things that are often “spicy” without being ill-intentioned. It is just his personality trait.
He speaks off the cuff, saying words that come straight out of his mind with the intention to jolt his audience with a dose of humour.
Whoever wants to be humorous has to take risks. Chef Wan took a risk. With some people, his joke landed but for others, it fell flat.
But at the end of the day, I think all that we can determine from the incident is that Chef Wan is, was, and will probably always be a person who will always try to make you laugh.
If anyone determines from this incident that Chef Wan is racist, that person is probably the sort that can be rightfully accused of missing the forest for the tree.
Whether he is poking fun at your outfit, your race, your dress or the way you walk, the reason Chef Wan says what he says is because he just wants everybody to laugh and have a good time. As long as you are a human being and not a machine, you should be able to see that.
Even Anwar, I honestly believe, was not racist when he used the K-word. He probably just used the K-word because he wanted to be nasty.
He probably took offence at us Indians for not appreciating all the things he has done for us, hence he thought he could offend us back by using the K-word and explain it away with some tortuous excuse.
Anwar always thinks he is so intelligent that he can explain everything away. Anyway, I had hoped that the Kuala Kubu Baharu (KKB) Indians would have taught him a lesson by delivering a loss to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the recent taste by-election but alas, they did not.
Context matters
As Faulkner said: “A mule will labour 10 years willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once.”
The Indians might still be labouring for Anwar today but one day, I truly believe, we Indians will exercise our privilege to kick Anwar for the offence he did to us last year. When it occurs, I hope we will time our kick to such perfection that when we give it to him, he will fall to the ground and not be able to get up for a very long time.
But coming back to the topic of Chef Wan, I think that context matters.
There is a difference between even between Chef Wan and UMNO Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh. Both of them could have said what Chef Wan said but it would have meant totally different things because who said it matters.
If the only thing we can understand is facts, we are no better than artificial intelligence with the likes of ChatGPT.
As humans, we have a more fully formed intelligence because our understanding of reality does not depend on just facts and appearance.
As humans, we are also capable of understanding meaning and intentions which is an unseen aspect of reality that we can only understand in others we are able to understand ourselves. If we lose this ability, we will lose our humanity. – May 25, 2024
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image credit: Screenshot courtesy of Hype.my
