I'm Chinese... or am I?

To the people in the peninsula, I'm just about as Chinese as Chinese can be.... appearance-wise that is...

I can speak a bit of Cantonese, a bit of Mandarin and then there's Hakka, which is widely spoken back home in KK.

Some people even think I'm Chinese educated... which I am NOT! I'm a pretty much a banana - yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

(Actually have a friend who's completely the opposite - speaks fluent English with an American accent, even speaks Chinese with a bit of "gwai lou" accent, only to turn out to be VERY Chinese educated.)

Then I tell them I'm from Sabah... AND PEOPLE START DOUBTING WHETHER I ACTUALLY AM CHINESE!

No matter what race they are, be they Malay, Chinese or Indian, they will start asking me if I'm a Kadazan or Dusun or something.

The more ignorant ones will actually ask if any part of me is Iban (for the misinformed lot, Ibans are found in Sarawak, our neighbours, not in Sabah).

That despite knowing that I have a Chinese name.

Ah well, I guess that's the beauty of Sabah.

You can never tell for sure what we are.

We're that Muhibbah bah....

;-)

Distance... to a West Malaysian

Okay, this is gonna be one of those "bash them West Malaysians" entry so those of you who can't stomach it, you have been warned!

Whenever someone ask me where I'm from, I usually ask them to guess, giving them the hint that it's very far.

I did this again last week, and this guy just started guessing: Kedah?

I told him it was further.

His next guesses were: "Perlis? Kelantan?"

Then I said even further.

Of all places, he answered Johor (is Johor further from KL than Perlis really?).

Only when I said the furthest state from here (KL) did he finally answer: "Sabah?"

Sah lah. Sabah (and Sarawak) are the forgotten states of Malaysia.

OH... and this friend of mine from Johor was so defensive that day when he read that helicopters were needed for General Election at his state, which kinda lumped it up together with Sabah and Sarawak.

Sheesh man... what's wrong with being put in the same league as Sabah and Sarawak? You should feel honoured, friend.