Saturday, April 14

TEACHER, ARE YOU CHINESE OR MALAY?

"Teacher, do you understand Tamil?" asked Revathi.
I was with a small group of Indian students,on relief duty for an absent teacher.
"No, I don't understand Tamil," I smiled. I knew they just wanted an assurance that I would not eavesdrop on their conversation.
" Would you understand if I speak Chinese?" I asked.
Revathi's turn to smile.
"Teacher, you can speak Chinese?"
"Teacher is Chinese la," Ramanan answered for me.
"Really? I thought you're a Malay."
"I am a Chinese," my smile grew wider.
She looked puzzled.
"But... you are wearing tudung?'
"I am a Chinese Muslim... born in Malaysia. I grew up as a Chinese and later.."
"You converted?" Shanti chipped in.
"That's right. I wear the tudung because I am a Muslim woman. But I am still a Chinese and I can speak and understand Chinese." I explained slowly.
"Ohhh..." Revathi nodded slowly.

Ahhh... I've been in the school since 2010.
Taught the same students two years ago and strangely, they had not realise that I am a Chinese lady. The reason? I am wearing a hijab, or tudung.
Students, like most Malaysians, associate this garb with Islam and Malay. In many minds, if you wear a tudung, then you must be a Malay.
And in their minds, if you happen to wear a long tudung, then you must be specially religious Malay.  [ see how they associate our clothing to religion]
Tudung = religious Malay woman = Islam

It's bad enough that Muslim and non-Muslim students are always separated during religious activities.
It'd be a havoc among other nonMuslim teachers if a nonMuslim student were to sit in the hall with other Muslim students, listening to a ceramah by an ustaz.
So I can't blame them for their lack of understanding of Islam.
They don't know much because we, the Muslims, don't do much. Sometimes we, the adults are not allowed to.
Students learn best when they mix with their own friends. Which is why our teenagers need to be exposed to doing Islamic dakwah work, and not be scolded nor discouraged just because they 'lack knowledge'.
I won't be surprised if the nonMuslim students think that China is made up of only Buddhist people. I used to think that way too, when in reality there are more Chinese Muslims in China than there are Malay Muslims in Malaysia.
I was told [in whispers] that there's a Chinese student who is interested in Islam. The ustazah doesn't know what to do. Till today, I'm still waiting for her to approach me.

It's always fun watching how Chinese students react when I speak Chinese dialects or Mandarin to them.
One day when I scolded a sleepy Chinese lad in his mother-tongue, Hokkien, and he was so surprised that he actually sat up straight.
And the Malay students?
They might suddenly realise that it's a fact that there are other Muslims in this country who are not Malay or Mamak. That there are other once-kafir people who have embraced Islam and are now their brothers and sisters in Islam. Because I'm a living and walking proof among them.

"So teacher, are you a Malay or a Chinese now?"
"I am a Chinese.. and my religion is Islam.There are more than 60 thousand Chinese Muslims in Malaysia today, do you know? "
Ahhh, life is never boring as a Chinese Muslim.

Xie xie, wa ai ni, Allah.

8 comments:

  1. nice as always...

    susah gak kdg2 bila memikirkan org mengaitkan agama dgn bangsa.. sedangkan agama itu anutan, cara hidup dan bangsa itu pula hanyalah sekadar kelahiran...

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  2. kalau di terangganu (kuala terangganu) kaum cina beragama Islam sudah lama bertapak... merujuk kepada tulisan Pak Awang Goneng.

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  3. Salam, masa dulu2 sekolah amat menyeronokkan - buku Bahasa Melayu menerangkan agama & budaya2 di Malaysia - contohnya upacara agama2 & pantang larang kaum dan agama di Malaysia...sebab tu org lama2 lebih memahami kaum dan agama lain.

    Kini - sekolah jadi tempat orang politik mencari/mendapat/ mengembangkan pengaruh mereka - bertambah polarisasi kaum

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  4. Alhamdulillah. I've gone through like what you did. I'm a mualaf too and when it comes to introduce myself, pupils will start giving me 'blur faces' :)

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  5. Ahhh, life is never boring as a Chinese Muslim.

    huhu jgn la kata cmni...cdh lak dgr...xkesah la bgsa apa pon,asalkan kmu Islam,,kta tetap bsaudara...;)

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  6. Assalamaualaikum Sis,

    I am not Chinese, but a Malay that look like Chinese ( I have Chinese blood-great great grandparent). People always mistook me before I wore the hijab...now they call me Ustazah...hi hi hi
    follow me www.theblackjubah.blogspot.com

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  7. kak aliya,
    Disini selalu orang menyangka saya ini orang cina, sehinggakan saya ditanya berkali2 'are u muslim?' sedangkan saya berhijab. Lepas tu mereka cakap arab pula dgn saya, bila saya katakan saya tidak boleh berbahasa arab, ditanya pula, 'how come a muslim can't speak arabic?'... aduh! Saya orang jawa, saya juga muslim!

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  8. Waalaikumussalam everyone,
    Hiraku Yui,bukankah di M'sia sejak zaman persekolahan lagi minda kita di'programkan' bahawa Melayu itu orang Islam, Cina itu beragama Budha, India itu beragama Hindu? Ia masih berlaku di sekolah-sekolah seluruh negara. Contohnya di sekolah saya,Jumaat ada bacaan yasin untuk orang melayu, program agama budha untuk orang Cina dan program agama Hindu untuk orang India. Kesian gak, yang beragama Kristian tak ada kategori :P

    aliff mohamad noor, tak pasti tentang tu, tetapi saya kenal orang Cina Trengganu yang fasih berbahasa Melayu dan tak tahu berbahasa Cina, tetapi masih beragama Budha :)

    SpekMan, penerangan tentant agama budaya sekarang dalam buku subjek Pendidikan Siviks..di sekolah tak boleh cakap politik terutama jelas tampak menyokong parti pembangkang, nanti tak dapat naik pangkat... lebih teruk mngkin ditukarkan ke luar daerah, . foto Ketua Menteri PP juga tiada di dinding sekolah, hahahaa

    Nur Alisyah,enjoy watching the 'blur faces'.. hehehe

    UniMeOw, alhamdulillah kita satu keluarga besar Muslim dan Muslimah.. :)

    The Black Jubah, insyaAllah.. haha, consider that nickname an honour :D

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