A SUPPOSEDLY rightist Malay has defended the Malays for being labelled racists by deflecting the accusation to so-called tycoons who require high positions in their establishments to be filled “desirably by Chinese-speaking” candidates.
“(This is) a subtle way to prevent Malays and Indians from holding high positions in large companies in the private sector,” claimed Saufy Jauhary 🇲🇾 (@SaufyJauhary) in a post on X which triggered interesting exchanges.
Cara halus untuk halang orang Melayu & India dari pegang jawatan yang tinggi dalam syarikat2 besar di sektor swasta. Selalu tuduh Melayu rasis kan? Yang letakkan syarat jawatan2 tinggi hanya penutur cina ni tak rasis ke? Tahun dah 2025, tapi taikun2 masih rasis. pic.twitter.com/uq2SSCYBCS
— Saufy Jauhary 🇲🇾 (@SaufyJauhary) February 18, 2025
“Always accusing Malays of being racist, right? It’s 2025 but the (Chinese) tycoons are still racist.”
His post which has since elicited 650.5K views at the time of writing has received divided responses with likeminded netizens concurring with his view.
“Those are a very subtle way to tell “only Chinese applicants are allowed”. Long enough in workforce to realise their tricks,” remarked one commenter while another rallied the Malays “to always prioritise BMF (Buy Muslims First)”.
However, those who can think outside the box countered with one commenter wondering if the poster would make a fuss if “some GLCs (government-linked companies) come out with a condition to hire only Bumiputera”.
Likewise, another defended the company for it only mentioned “desirable as opposed to mandatory because of the work requirement entails having to liaise with Chinese speaking clients” as another took a swipe at the poster “for being racist himself for easily getting triggered by the job requirement”.
While another shared that he applied for a job at a company looking for “English and Chinese speaker” when he is not even fluent in Mandarin. “I’m now six months with the company and have still yet to learn Mandarin,” he quipped.
This is when one commenter proudly confessed that such requitement has motivated him to send his children to Chinese school after having enrolled them in Chinese kindergarten earlier.
Although some Malay netizens insisted that even their friends who are conversant in Mandarin also faced difficulty to get accepted, the commenter responded that “this boils down to job market competition rather than the applicant’s race given “the Chinese who speak Mandarin since birth also find it difficult to land a job themselves”.
This is when more netizens started to acknowledge the demand for Mandarin with the emergence of China as an economic force (second largest world economy after the US today).
At the end of the day, one commenter hit the nail on the head by contending that one cannot “positively conclude racism just by the job requirement” as this ultimately boils down to the nature of the job. – Feb 20, 2025
