ACCORDING to a global global survey, Malaysia is the second most racist place on the planet.
Yes, the nation that brands itself ‘Truly Asia’ where everyone is polite and forever smiling is ranked just behind South Africa which lest it be forgotten, had an apartheid system in place well into the 20th century.
But is it really any surprise? It is a very Malaysian trait to link certain behaviour with a person’s ethnicity, especially if it is negative or anti-social in nature.
Most Malaysians are accustomed to hearing remarks such as “Indians are drunkards” or “Chinese are gamblers” on a regular basis with this habit of stereotyping bad behaviour to ethnicity also extending to foreigners.
This was certainly the case when real estate specialist Ezy (@ezyezzeren) shared her unpleasant experience on the X platform of having to deal with a female Middle Eastern tenant who left her previously spotless studio apartment in a state of a utter shambles.
From uncleaned toilets to unwashed dishes piled up in the kitchen, the unfortunate landlady was shocked at the level of filth the tenant was living in. Ezy lamented how she had thought that the tenant being female and of Muslim-Arab descent would be apt at maintaining hygiene and cleanliness of her apartment.
First time dapat tenant pengotor, islam Arab tapi pengotor ya🤮 not to be racist, selama ni my experience with previous tenants semua pembersih. Ni first time rented out unit dekat Arab, perempuan, ingat ke okay sebab perempuan kan pic.twitter.com/KgnBJ8bgEu
— ⋆𐙚₊˚ Ezy🕊️ ♡₊˚ (@ezyezzreen) May 16, 2024
Her lengthy post was accompanied by scores of photographs depicting the state of mess of her Bangsar South unit was in. She warned other landlords to be wary of renting premises to Middle Eastern students.
Her post has generated 1.2 million views at time of writing while garnering plenty of comments. This is a sample of what is being said:
One netizen even provided a ‘ranking’ of tenants to avoid.
With more than a few sharing personal experiences of dealing with Arabs.
Discriminatory tenancy practices
It has been widely reported in the past of tenants of Indian origin having great difficulty in securing rented properties, especially from ‘Type C’ landlords. The thousands of African students here also regularly face similar issues.
Judging from the comments above, now Arab tenants seem to have fallen foul of Malaysian landlords, especially Malay-Muslim property owners who perhaps think Arab tenants will not bring haram things onto the premises.
At the rate Malaysian property owners are finding fault based on ethnicity, it would be no surprise that many rental units will be empty for prolonged periods.
Of course, it is perfectly understandable that landlords want their properties to be properly maintained. But Malaysians really need to wake up and smell the 21st century coffee – it is not right nor acceptable to make such stereotypical judgements based on race.
Such attitudes are why local politicians are able to manipulate 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues, knowing full well this is the best modus operandi to stir hornets’ nests.
The question that also needs to be asked is how will Malaysians cope if they are similarly tarred when abroad? How will they feel when they cannot get student accommodation because of “dirty Malaysians and their smelly cooking”?
Until Malaysians learn that such attitudes have no place in modern society, the nation will continue to occupy unwanted high rankings in undesirable polls as the one mentioned above.
Not to mention, plenty of empty apartments in a property market still struggling with the lingering effects of the pandemic. – May 17, 2024
