Tag: asia
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The Shine That Casts a Shadow: Peranakan Glamour and Indigenous Erasure
Across the southern Thai coast, the straits of Malacca, and the Javanese heartland, the Peranakan world has long flourished. This blend of Chinese, Malay, and local influences is now celebrated as a regional treasure. Museums showcase it. Festivals like Phuket’s “Sai Kabaya Pateh” market it as authentic heritage. But for those who view culture as…
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Rooted in Dignity The Spirit of Ramadan and the Endurance of Indigenous Identity
As Muslims around the world observe the month of Ramadan, here in our region it arrives not only as a sacred time of worship, but as a season of reflection that feels deeply familiar to our histories and lived experiences. Ramadan is a month that teaches us to pause. To slow the pace of consumption.…
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When Southeast Asian Fans Are Treated as Numbers, Not Equals
The recent backlash between South Korean and Southeast Asian K pop fans following a concert incident in Southeast Asia has frequently been dismissed as little more than online fandom drama. At best, it has been framed as a misunderstanding over concert etiquette or cultural difference. At worst, it has been trivialised as petty infighting among…
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Here Before the Map
The Malays Did Not Migrate Here It is a question asked casually, sometimes innocently, sometimes pointedly. “The Chinese came from China. The Indians came from India. So where did the Malays come from?” On the surface, it sounds logical. Neat. Balanced. But the question itself is built on a false frame. One that only works…
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The Disappearance of Kampong Spirit and the Cost of Development in Singapore
Singapore frequently calls for a revival of the kampong spirit. Political speeches, national campaigns, and school values programmes describe it as neighbourliness, mutual care, and shared responsibility. The term is treated as a moral ideal that modern society must rediscover. What is rarely acknowledged is a more uncomfortable truth. Kampong spirit did not disappear on…
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Rooted and Unapologetic: Embracing Indigenous Pride in Southeast Asia
Indigenous identity in Southeast Asia has been historically devalued, leading many native people to suppress who they are. Pride must endure even when it is questioned, mocked, or dismissed by more economically affluent migrant communities. According to UNESCO, indigenous peoples across the Asia-Pacific region have faced sustained cultural marginalisation that pressures them to abandon language,…
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Southeast Asia’s Hidden Hierarchy: Indigenous Disadvantage, Chinese Dominance
Walk through the skyscraper-filled skylines of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, or Ho Chi Minh City, and a pattern emerges that is almost too obvious to mention. The banks, conglomerates, ports, plantations, and industrial empires are disproportionately controlled by ethnic Chinese families, often long-settled, naturalised citizens who dominate sectors that shape national economies. Meanwhile, the…
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The Racism Behind “Jungle Asian”
The slur “jungle Asian” is often brushed off as crude humour, a throwaway insult not worth engaging with. But language like this does not emerge accidentally. It exposes a hierarchy that has quietly taken hold within Asian communities themselves, one that elevates East Asians while positioning Southeast Asians as something less developed, less refined, less…
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Before There Was Singapore, There Was Us: The Indigenous Malays of the Island
When a TikTok user with the username “joeiboaz” began her video with the question, “Did you know Singapore has indigenous people?” , the comments section lit up with surprise. For some, it was a revelation. For others – especially Malays – it was a strange feeling. How could something so fundamental to our identity be…
The Indigenous Narrative 