KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — The “Are Malaysians racist?” video that features Malaysians refusing to say racist things for money shows that the country’s citizens are generally decent, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said today.
The former chief of electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 said she was not at all surprised by the Malay Mail Online video that went viral since its launch at 12pm today.
“Amazing and heartwarming,” Ambiga told Malay Mail Online today.
“I am not in the least bit surprised. I told you! Malaysians are truly decent people!” the activist added.
In the video, Malaysians of various ethnic groups – who did not know that they were being filmed – were asked to say derogatory statements about another race, like Malays are lazy, Chinese are “pendatang” (immigrants) and Indians are smelly.
But they refused to repeat those stereotypes even when they were offered money, with one respondent saying that she would not do so even if she were given a million ringgit.
Leanne May Balan, a 27-year-old Malaysian childminder currently residing in France, said on Facebook that she teared up after watching the video.
“I love all the positive buzz it’s creating,” she said.
As at 10.45pm, the video, which was shot by advertising agency Naga DDB and given to Malay Mail Online, has had nearly 30,000 shares on Facebook and more than 70,000 combined views on YouTube and MMO’s internal JW video player.
It is also the eighth most watched video on YouTube in Malaysia.
Bersih 2.0 shared the video on its Facebook page, saying: “MONDAY BLUES AND OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENTS getting to you? Maybe you’ll feel better after watching this”.
“Also, for those who think foul words should be censored, note that not all foul words are foul, especially when they’re applied on something thoroughly foul,” the polls watchdog added.
In the video, a young Malay man called Amir says: “I’m not gonna be racist for money. You can keep your fucking money and screw this stupid thing.”
Women’s rights group All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) also shared the video on its Facebook page and called it “amazing”.
DAP publicity chief Tony Pua told Malay Mail Online: “Malaysia’s problem isn’t right-minded ordinary citizens who will reject cash to say something racist, but political leaders who offer cash to those willing to hear them spew their racist rhetoric”.
The video, however, has also sparked criticisms from people who called it simplistic and unrepresentative of Malaysia.
“There is something terribly wrong with us if we think that a bunch of mainly English-speaking Klang Valley peeps not saying derogatory terms in front of a camera means that we aren’t racist, so yay we can sit back and chill,” Louise Tan, a 22-year-old student, posted on Facebook.
“There is so much that is so wrong with Malaysia, and much of it /is/ race-based. The longer we deny this, the longer these problems will persist,” she added.
The participants in the video did not know that the camera was running while they were speaking.
