Multi-Cultural Outlook

I came across an article by Marina Mahathir, the daughter of former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir, writing about a dinner she had with her family. She said, “In my family I have relatives who are Chinese, American, French, Irish, Javanese and I don’t know what else. But we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about race and nationality. I never thought of my aunt as Chinese until her party, at which time I felt proud.”

It struck me that many Malaysians I know have families made up of this kind of eclectic demographic, my own included. My sister-in-law is Dutch and my partner is South African. My cousin is half-South African and another cousin is married to an Australian. There are Kiwis, Brits, Americans, Indonesians all coming into the clan.

There’s still some resistance amongst the more traditional older folk, I think, to their children marrying “outside” what they are used to. I remember years ago an elderly relative asking me if my parents minded that my brother was marrying a Dutch girl, saying, “Their children will only be half yours, you know.” Well, genetically, whoever my brother married, their off-spring would only be half Ooi…! My parents laughed when I told them this exchange - for them, the only thing that matters is that whoever we are with, we are happy. And my sense is that most Malaysian families these days have attitudes more similar to my parents than my elderly relative.

What’s your family like? Are you a United Nations like mine? I’d love to hear your story - please add a comment!

Pic: thanks to en.wikipedia.org