Ipoh Community Forums

Recently, my daughter placed an advertisement at Mudah.my for her house to be let. She got a call from a Malay man and the first question he asked was: “Do you rent your house out to Malays?”

Despite knowing that such episodes are pretty common, she was pretty upset and sad as a Malaysian. This happens in many instances when owners try to rent out their houses, with some blatantly saying they do not want tenants of a certain race.

We are all guilty of such practices. Many also refrain from renting out to foreigners from African countries. Well, it’s their property so it’s their fundamental right you might say.

As for job ads, most are guilty of looking for “their kind”, meaning someone from their own racial group. In the private sector, some firms owned by Chinese Malaysians specify that they want only those who are proficient in Mandarin.

Their argument is that they deal mainly with Chinese firms or those owned by Chinese Malaysians. So proficiency in the Chinese language is vital for their communication. While they may have a point, wouldn’t this be overcome if a common language like Bahasa Malaysia or English is used more often?

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