Ex-Limkokwing students reveal on-campus racism, discrimination

THE death of George Floyd was a tragedy but the May 25 incident prompted widespread protests against racism and discrimination across the United States and in other countries.

Despite that, a billboard went up on the campus of Limkokwing University (LKWU) in Cyberjaya glorifying its founder and namesake as the “King of Africa”.

The move garnered national coverage and severe backlash from students as well as the general public.

A petition was started calling for it to be taken down.

After getting 9,000 signatures, LKWU took down the billboard, claiming it was a surprise gift from an employee, and issued an apology on the university’s Twitter account on June 10.

But what ensued on social media were claims of discrimination by former students and LKWU staff.

A certain Malaz El, 31, took to Twitter to share screenshots and claims about the racism she experienced while she was completing her Master of Arts in Digital Film. She graduated in 2015.

Malaz told FocusM of her experiences first-hand as described through her tweets. But her harrowing encounters were not new.

Two other former students also reached out to share the negative treatment they received while studying and working on campus.

We have contacted LKWU and its founder, Lim, for clarification. But at the time of writing, we have yet to receive a reply from both parties.

‘Blonde hair and grey eyes’

Anagha Nair, 23, hails from Kenya and came to study fashion design at LKWU in 2017.

She said she had been passed over for scholarships despite the promise of one if she maintained a high CGPA during her first year at the university.

“I was promised a scholarship if I got a high CGPA after my first year at the university and so I worked hard for a 3.8, but after trying several times, they denied me the opportunity.

“I later found out from the Kenyan representative that they don’t really offer scholarships to students from Kenya. My morale began to drop and I found myself having to self-study.,

The racism was “very obvious”, she said.

“Most of my friends’ assignments weren’t accepted because of their skin colour. Some were graded terribly despite submitting high-quality work.”

Anagha also joined the student ambassadorship programme to represent her country.

“During the programme, we were treated terribly. We often stayed at the university, working until 2am with no pay. We were called all sorts of names and made to do the work of employees who had quit.

“For events and stage performances, those with ‘blonde hair and grey eyes’ were placed in front to lip-sync or dance, and talented performers who didn’t look the part were placed at the back.

“They would place African students strategically to showcase diversity, but the majority of them weren’t allowed to join.

“I’ll admit, the second I changed my hair colour to blonde and blue and purple, I started getting more opportunities to represent the institution,” she said.

The treatment, Anagha said, led her airing her grievances with the management but was ignored.

She even quit being an ambassador for the university.

“When I did, I was told I was ‘making emotional decisions’. Again, nothing happened to help my situation and I eventually quit (being an LKWU ambassador).”

Being vocal could also lead to visa renewal issues, Anagha said.

“It was difficult to raise concerns. And, to be frank, as foreigners, it’s even more difficult to express ourselves as we could be blacklisted or not have our visa renewed.”

She said, “Many students did not have their visas renewed for reasons unexplained. As foreigners, we often find ourselves battling visa problems and yet students from other universities don’t have the same problem.”

Anagha went on to graduate last December. She said she still has fond memories of Malaysia.

‘Short of blondies’

Another student, Mary (not her real name), 22, faced visa difficulties that saw delays in not only coming to the university here, but in renewing her visa in her third year as well.

She shared how she was not contacted through email or WhatsApp about the issues she had faced during her visa process, and it was only upon her return to Malaysia that the department in charge addressed them, informing her that she needed to renew her passport for her visa.

“I had no choice but to travel back to my home country, where I spent another week before coming back to Malaysia.

“Whenever I asked for help from the university to send a letter to the embassy, to notify them that I urgently needed my passport renewed or to ask for help in giving me a six-month visa, they used to make faces and say they are not able to help.”

One particular incident that stood out for Mary was during choir rehearsals for a graduation ceremony, which she had to attend as a student ambassador. This happened to coincide with her dyeing her hair to a light blonde.

“The first thing the supervisors said was ‘great hair, don’t change it. We are short of blondies, we need more,’ before laughing about it.

“They were doing what they were instructed but that was rude. That was the first time where I had felt uncomfortable,” Mary said.

LKWU said its main campus has students from 38 African countries, and satellite campuses in Botswana and Lesotho.

Lim has yet to respond to the backlash and since locked his Twitter account. His profile photo has him surrounded by a group of African students.

“Limkokwing is a university with massive potential. But the racist and abusive treatment by the management dulls a student’s experience,” Anagha said. – June 26, 2020

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