That K word


IF I told you that a word that you regularly use to describe me is derogatory to me, would you stop using that word, or would you continue because you have “always” used that word to describe people who look like me?

I ask because words evolve and most of the time people understand the evolution and change their vocabulary accordingly.

For old fogeys like me who grew up in the last century, you could have mentioned to me in the 1970s about how gay you were and I would have understood perfectly that you meant that you were happy. Yet if you said that today, it would mean something different, wouldn’t it?

The word and world has changed, hasn’t it? You have changed, too, when it came to how you use that word.

However, for some reason, it seems hard for some Malaysians to change their ways when it comes to using the following words: keling, keling kuai.

We, Indians, have heard these words used to describe us derisively for many years by fellow Malaysians. 

This time the K-word was used in a Facebook remark by user Burhan Che Rahim to disparage a young Malaysian badminton player, Kisona Selvaduray, 23, who is being groomed for the Paris Olympics in 2024, after winning the SEA Games 2019 gold medal and six Badminton World Federation titles since 2017.

Burhan, who turned out to be Bersatu Pasir Puteh vice-chairman Borhanuddin Che Rahim, made the comment after world No 62 Kisona, lost her matches in the Sudirman Cup.

Kisona went on to win a bronze medal with a spirited young Malaysian team that outperformed their rankings and finished joint third with South Korea last weekend.

Her father, retired policeman A. Selvaduray, 61, told The Star that the remark had not only disparaged his daughter but the Indian community as well.

“My daughter is both embarrassed and emotionally distressed by the remark.

“I hope the police will probe the individual,” he said.

Selvaduray, who lodged a police report yesterday, told the paper he was at home on Saturday when he was told that a Facebook user had posted the remark.

Borhanuddin has since resigned his position as vice chairman and apologised to “all Malaysians” who were affected.

Many other anti-racists have spoken up about the remarks and several police reports have been made.

There was a time when the K-word came with less baggage, as a reference to the Kalinga Kingdom, to the Chola King, to the Kapitan of the Indian community in Penang, etc.

Today, most Indians take it as an insult, because if you read between the lines, you will see in most contexts that it is no longer a neutral word but has taken on a derogatory meaning.

Some people might ask why are you being so sensitive about it, “it’s not as if we are using the N-word on you”.

Taking that cue, Dhinesha Karthigesu, a young Indian Malaysian was in an arts project last year that tried to reclaim the word, the way the Black community has reclaimed the N-word in the US.

He printed a T-shirt with the words: “I am a Keling, too” and walked through Kuala Lumpur to “the stares, the disgruntlement, and the baffling looks on the people”.

He only realised the extent of the negative reaction when his mother saw him in the T-shirt.

In an article he wrote for Vice, he said: “I didn’t properly understand the generational trauma of the word until I saw my mother’s horrified reaction when I came home.

“She was furious. My mother was so angry and upset that the word was even being printed on a tee, and more so, that I would consider wearing one.”

“It’s hard to understand how a word can inflict damage until it’s actually used against you,” he wrote.

There can be no doubt about the contemptuous derision in the now deleted FB post by Burhan in which he wrote in Malay: “BAM plucked this Indian (Keling) from which estate to become Malaysia’s main player?”

Notwithstanding the K-word, the reference to estate, suggesting a backward place, added insult to injury. 

Many Indians were brought to Malaya by the British as indentured labourers to work in estates, where they did lowly paid jobs with limited social mobility. 

However, the rubber estates were also the driving force of Malaya’s economic progress in the early to mid 1900s.

So, the Indian community is livid at that remark directed at the estates, where their forefathers helped build the foundations of modern Malaysia’s economic success.

It might take a while for the community and other anti-racist Malaysians to cool down.

Meanwhile, it is clear that most languages offer more polite descriptions of Indians.

For example, Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka recently amended its dictionary definition of “thambi” (strictly speaking, younger brother, but also used colloquially to refer to younger Indians) by removing Keling and replacing it with India (from “panggilan untuk Orang Keling yang lebih muda” to “panggilan untuk Orang India yang lebih muda”).

In Cantonese, for example, I learnt in the 70s that the polite way to refer to Indians is to say: ‘Yan Tou Yan’, but some local Cantonese speakers still refuse to use it.

In Mandarin, the polite usage is Indu Ren. 

I once had a conversation in a pub with an older Hokkien-speaking acquaintance, who once referred to Indians as Keling kuai and after I spoke to him, has stopped using kuai.

Despite my protestations, he is adamant that the K-word is OK, because he has always used it and it didn’t matter to him that it has taken on a negative connotation. 

So, it is to people like him that I am appealing to, to consider the effect you have by regularly using this once acceptable word.

Please understand that you cannot put the onus on the nearby listener to figure out that you did not mean to be racist, especially if you spout it in a language that the listener may not understand, like Cantonese or Hokkien.

Why not take the advice of the fifth line of the Rukun Negara and just be courteous to your fellow Malaysians by sticking to Indian, Orang India, Yan Tou Yan, or Indu Ren? 

All we are asking for is a little respect and understanding as fellow citizens of this beautiful country.

While you’re at it, please stop threatening your children to behave by warning them that a random Indian person nearby like me is going to kidnap them.

This happened to me recently as I sat at a coffeeshop having a drink, so I know it is still happening. 

There are too many grown-ups who have this irrational fear of Indians programmed into them.

Don’t get me started on the old story that still seems to be getting some airtime with some racist parents who warn their children that “if you meet an Indian and a snake, kill the Indian first”.

Instead, let’s together appreciate the beautiful tapestry of cultures that is Malaysia, and strive to be an example to the world of how people of different backgrounds can live harmoniously together. 

We can look back at the Sudirman Cup for some inspiration from doubles partners Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah.

They were fighting valiantly for each other, diving for every out-of-reach shuttlecock, giving their all on the court for Malaysia, against opponents that far outrank them. 

That is the type of semangat all Malaysians need to stick with each other, to overcome the racists and the ones who gain from dividing us. – October 5, 2021.

* Invictus Ponnudurai reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.


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Comments


  • This word will continuously be used as a racial slur until and unless the affected party takes legal action against the person uttering the word. For this to be done it has to become part of a hate crime law. The government can, to ensure political correctness, remove the word which refers to a place and a mosque in Melaka and Penang respectively. The government has to take the lead and not offer excuses. MPs can move a private hate crime bill to address the problem. Only legal action can prevent a recurrence. Indian MPs and NGOs should take the lead.

    Posted 2 years ago by V.thomas Varky · Reply