As modernity took over, humans of different tribes formed a large community together and learned that there is love outside their race. Interracial marriages gradually formed and had, to some extent, become the norm. Now we can easily meet individuals of mixed parentage, often speaking more than just one language.
Love conquers all
Sarawak is a melting pot of unity, diversity and harmony. It is a picturesque panoramic of different individuals from various cultural background. Sarawak is home to the Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Penan, Malay, Chinese, Indian — and the list goes on.
Living together in the society, marrying across racial and ethnic lines has become more common, and more accepted. One of the fastest growing racial groups in the country isn’t a single racial group — it’s people from multiracial backgrounds, the children of interracial unions.
Among the many that we will meet is Larissa Ping Liew. The Miss World Malaysia 2018 is a mix of Chinese and Kenyah, to which she playfully quipped that she is a ‘ChiKen’.
The 21-year-old lass revealed that growing up, the Kenyah side of her family was more dominant as her Chinese father embraces the culture and has always encouraged the family to learn more about their maternity roots.
Nonetheless, she had a taste of both worlds as she got to celebrate different festivals every year. “We would celebrate both Chinese New Year and Christmas every year.”
Larissa added that it is a normal occurrence in Sarawak. However, she would still find it hard when she meets a community of ‘pure blood’ of either Chinese or Kenyah.
“There are times when I feel like I don’t belong to either one as I am mixed, and I don’t master both languages nor practise the traditions.” According to her, while she doesn’t speak Kenyah, she still learned the traditional aspects such as the dance and the sape.
“One of the main reasons why I can learn more about my Kenyah side is because my maternal grandparents live with me. They are my source of knowledge despite the language barrier.”
If there is one thing that bothers Larissa, it is the idea of ticking only one box when filling in official forms. “I am a combination of both, why should I pick only one and why does it matter anyway?”
Meanwhile, Tracey Edwina Hughes, 28, said she lost count of the number of times she stood out for being an ‘orang putih’ within the local community. A mix of Welsh and Bidayuh, Tracey said “I never felt offended, but it definitely made me feel awkward especially during school as other students would stare at me,” said the sales consultant who looks more English than Bidayuh.
“I never lived in Wales before though sometimes I went there for the holidays. I do address myself as a Bidayuh because I can speak the language, I live here most of my life and I eat belacan as much as the locals,” Tracey said.
At home, most of the time her family members converse in English.
However, she learned to speak Bidayuh from her mother to communicate with the employees’ at her mother’s coffee shop.
“I picked up the language during my teenage years. It was difficult to cope as when I permanently moved here, I had to learn both Bidayuh and Bahasa Melayu.” Before settling down in Sarawak, Tracey shared that she moved to different countries and she only speaks English.
Altogether, it took her two years to master both languages. “It was not easy, and I am still not as fluent as the locals but I can already communicate with people easily.”
The state arm-wrestling athlete mentioned her love for Gawai and Christmas. “Since my husband is a mix of Bidayuh and Iban, I always get to go back to the longhouse to celebrate Gawai!”
As a Eurasian, she disclosed that despite her mother being a Bidayuh, she could not receive the same privilege as the others, “There were tonnes of opportunities and programmes that I could not partake due to my mixed race.”
Apart from that, she also experienced racist slurs especially during her younger days. “One time I was called a ‘coloniser’, that hurt me the most among many others,” lamented Tracey who stresses that she is more Sarawakian than her looks suggest.
Entrepreneur and creative director Arzmy Hargreaves could relate to Tracey’s woes as even most recently, he was asked for his worker’s permit and passport to send money overseas.
Growing up, Arzmy was always confused for an Arabic, Thai, even Puerto Rican. “Many times people asked for more documents instead of just my Malaysian identification card when doing legal transactions.”
The 32-year-old is a mix of many — Irish, Indian Punjabi, Chinese and Malay. And to him, it is a gift to grow up in a multicultural family. “I love being a multicultural family because different cultures and skin colours are part of what makes life so interesting and beautiful.”
And the creme de la creme of being mixed is experiencing all the cultural celebrations, “I am blessed that I get to celebrate Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Christmas!” He shared that his family also followed the Chinese customs of tossing the Yee Sang on CNY eve. “It is simply a beautiful thing that money can’t buy,” he said.
“In this age and time, many of us can say we are multicultural because we have been raised with several cultural backgrounds. All these different traditions, behaviours, values, and so forth, are intertwined and woven into a bright, colourful, and unique tapestry.”
To him, mixed marriages are interesting as they open minds to a wider horizon and provide them with the ability to see from different perspectives. “I want people to understand that all races are beautiful, stop racism, after all, we are only of one race — the human race.”
