This Chindian Man Was Told He Was Not Chinese Enough To Rent A Room In Penang
"I thought I would qualify by virtue of my IC and name," he said.
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 31 Dec 2018, 12:05 PM
On Saturday, 29 December, a Twitter user shared his experience with discrimination while seeking to rent a room in Penang
When Divyang Hong came across a room to his liking, he made contact with the landlord even though it was stated that the room would only be rented out to a "Chinese Male."
"I thought I would qualify by virtue of my IC and name," he wrote, adding that he even communicated with the landlord in Mandarin.
However, the 24-year-old later discovered what was meant by the term 'Only Chinese' in this instance.
"We don't rent out to mixed people," the landlord told Divyang, who is of Chinese and Indian parentage.
Despite telling the landlord that he was an engineering graduate working with ARUS to prepare a programming syllabus for school children, Divyang was told that he did not qualify.
"She flinched and rejected me when I said my mom was Indian," he said, even after he explained that his grandfather migrated to Malaysia from Southern China.
"Malaysians, do better," he added.
Divyang ended his Twitter thread with a plea to landlords in Malaysia
"Malaysia Baru does not only cover the fight against systemic racism. It starts from the individual perception of racial supremacy," he wrote.
"Reject us based on values and not on race," he added.