“Racial” discrimination prevails yet again in One Malaysia

Nadia Selimin, a student from Sarawak who scored 9A’s and 1 B in the recent SPM examinations, was denied entry to further her studied at a matriculation college on the basis that her mother is a Chinese, regardless of the fact that her father is an Iban. As far as I know (do correct me if I’m wrong), regarding the complicated “race” and “bumiputera” status designation in Sarawak, one’s official race (I say official because it is what is stated in one’s birth certificate and identity card) is determined by the race of one’s father. In the example of Nadia Selimin, the fact of the matter is that her father, Selimin Kring, is an Iban, and therefore, it naturally follows that Nadia is also an Iban (as arbitrarily determined by the state for all purposes of legal circumstances such as in the bestowment of Bumiputera rights). And because she is an Iban, she should also rightfully be recognized as a Bumiputera and should have all the right in the world (or Malaysia to be  precise) to be accepted into a matriculation college. And if we follow the example of the neighboring state, Sabah, this “racial” discrimination issue should not have surfaced, because a Sin0-Bumiputera is automatically considered a Bumiputera regardless of which parent is actually Chinese.

Consider another example to show you what an absurdity this case (race designation) is. If an ‘orang putih’  man marries a Malay woman and they have a child, the child would not be considered a  ‘lain-lain’  (An other. In other words, a foreigner). He or she would automatically be recognized as a Malay. But if a Chinese (Malaysian) man marries an Iban woman and they have a child, the child would not be recognized as a Bumiputera, although half the blood that runs in his or her veins is Bumiputera blood, but instead would “officially” be a Chinese, and therefore denied of all Bumiputera rights for the rest of the child’s life.