Of Judging and Stereotyping

A new friend mentioned that two months into our friendship, he has given up stereotyping me. "The problem is Haz, you don't belong to any."

We live in a judgmental society, where everyone must be labeled/stamped on their foreheads as such and such. The world does not really have a place for people like me: I am a drifter, I drift from one click to another with ease, I am friends with people who frequent the mosque and active in religious activities (my friends, I mean) but I also hang out with (chain)-smokers at 24-hour diners way past normal bedtime. Another new friend voiced out his confusion, and jokingly said that I was "talam dua muka."

Oh well.

But now let's dwell on a more common stereotyping that is not exclusive to many. Ask most overseas-educated, scarf-clad Malay Muslim girls, and I am sure they have been subjected to the same stereotyping.

I don't get it, honest.

Just because I choose to cover my hair, then it is assumed that I am so kampung to the extend that I cannot string together a coherent sentence in English?

Cabin crews of the national airline are totally guilty of this atrocious crime. They would speak in English to the Malay girl in front of me but when it was my turn to exit the aircraft - they would switch to Malay. Not that I look down on my mother-tongue, but I think I have the right to feel ostracized and singled out because I WAS STEREOTYPED!

Now that I am back for good in this tanah tumpah darahku, it has been worst. The fact that I choose to read Malay newspapers (yep, it's a plural) does not make it any better. But just imagine their shock when I speak up. At least, this kampung girl who ate more tapai beras than her dad this Eid and proudly wear her baju kurung on Fridays (or whenever she forgot to send the dirty clothes to the laundress) DOES NOT HAVE TO FAKE HER AMERICAN-ACCENTED ENGLISH.