Malays

I googled:
1. "Malays are lazy" = Results 1 - 10 of about 356 for "Malays are lazy". (0.14 seconds)
2. "Malays are hardworking" = Results 1 - 5 of about 15 for "Malays are hardworking". (0.24 seconds)

Well, the sentence could have been "I don't think Malays are lazy". Therefore the stats might not be accurate but the gap is too big. 356 pages against 15 pages, over 300 pages variance. So we can conclude that the majority agrees that Malays are truly lazy. Fortunately (or unfortunately-depends on how you see it ), majority doesn't translate to truth. Are malays really lazy? Let's see.

The sentence "Malays are lazy" is not new, it might be as old as "the chinese are greedy" and "the indians cannot be trusted". If I'm not mistaken, these 3 conceptions had been introduced by the british since they set foot in Tanah Melayu. Since then, the malays have been labeled as a lazy race. I wonder on what basis did the British give that label because back then the Malays have quite an achievement. To name a few, Melaka was once an international trading port and Panglima Awang (a.k.a enrique of malacca/henry the black) was claimed to be the first person who traveled around the world.

Race is formed from a group of people that share similar physical traits. However, I believe that each of us have a unique character that cannot be categorized by race, religion or country. We might be influenced by these aspects but not naturally born with it. To say Malays are lazy is unfair because I know quite a good number of Malays who are extremely hard working and know quite a few chinese who are quite laid back.

To me, the statement " malays are lazy" is a British's dogma which trapped us to believe and live in that perception. It saddened me that the sentence "the malays are lazy" mostly come from the Malays themselves. After all, you are what you believe right? I hope this repetitous statement acts as a reminder, not an excuse. Being a Malay myself, I repeatedly remind myself to prove them wrong.
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Just for the fun of it I also googled:
1. "Chinese are greedy" = Results 1 - 10 of about 141 for "chinese are greedy". (0.06 seconds)
2. "Indians are dishonest" = Results 1 - 10 of about 30 for "indians are dishonest". (0.48 seconds)