[tamizhar]

From the article.

"'What's the difference between Mat Dan and a Bangladeshi worker who can speak Malay?'"

Mat is white whereas Bangladeshi people are black. Malay people worship white skin and thus they even give money to beg-packing white people who exploit this to travel South East Asia for free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGFARCfQUU In fact, Mat himself was one of those. "Rather than just spending his time travelling with Western backpackers".

[coldtea]

>Mat is white whereas Bangladeshi people are black. Malay people worship white skin and thus they even give money to beg-packing white people who exploit this to travel South East Asia for free.

It's much simpler: Bangladeshi workers speaking Malay are a dime a dozen. Westerners learning a minority language in Malaysia are relatively few and far between. Millions of whites visit Malaysia as tourists but they don't become celebrities.

It's also not about "worshipping white skin", but about being amused and/or feeling validated by the western internet.

Finally, the protest against western backpackers asking from money (a recent fad protest in some countries) is irrelevant to this particular story.

[tamizhar]

> the protest against western backpackers asking from money (a recent fad protest in some countries) is irrelevant to this particular story.

There's a term for that, it is called beg-packing. It is not irrelevant as it has been suggested in the comments that Mat was originally a beg packer. The article itself states that he was a back packer travelling South East Asia. http://www.popularyoutube.com/video/HYkgwRJvc2s/Dear-White-B...

> It's also not about "worshipping white skin", but about being amused and/or feeling validated by the western internet.

Thank you for clarifying. I'm using the term worshipping perhaps to oversimplify "feeling validated when a white person gives attention/time". And yes, it is about skin color, as a Western black person who is fluent in Malay would not get any attention.

[coldtea]

>There's a term for that, it is called beg-packing. It is not irrelevant as it has been suggested in the comments that Mat was originally a beg packer.

I mean not relevant as in "there are tons of beg packers and hardly any raise to any fame with local populations".

I've been in Malaysia several times and in the general area. It's not like there's any work shipping of whites, much less white beg packers, going on, waiting for someone to speak the language to ignite...

>* Thank you for clarifying. I'm using the term worshipping perhaps to oversimplify "feeling validated when a white person gives attention/time".*

Well, that I agree could play part. Tho that's the same often happens in white places, e.g. in my Eastern / Southern European land, western validation is often celebrated -- so I wouldn't say it's tied to skin color.

[dageshi]

I backpacked around South East Asia circa 2006-2008, I really didn't see much if any beg-packing going on back then, back then SEA was considerably cheaper than it is now as well.

I have no knowledge of whether he did or didn't, but it really seems like a much more recent phenomena (and I think those doing it are contemptible frankly).

[tamizhar]

> Millions of whites visit Malaysia as tourists but they don't become celebrities.

You've misunderstood the point. Here's a simple proof. A Western black person speaking Malay fluently would not get the attention or celebrity that Mat gets. That proves that it is about worshipping white skin.

[coldtea]

>Here's a simple proof. A Western black person speaking Malay fluently would not get the attention or celebrity that Mat gets. That proves that it is about worshipping white skin.

Well, doesn't that presuppose what it tries to prove? How do we know that a "western black person speaking Malay fluently would not get the attention or celebrity that Mat gets"? Part of the story is that it came from a viral hit, which are flukes, and so not necessarily representative...

Second, even if so, couldn't it also be because a black person is not as much associated with the West to Malays (since the West's own cultural industry/history has traditionally been showcasing whites as its main representatives) -- as opposed to some "worshipping of white skin" in itself?

[celticninja]

Did you A/B test?

Seriously though, I think you are possibly correct but it may also be unfairly projecting the racism of our society onto someone else's.

[iicc]

>In fact, Mat himself was one of those. "Rather than just spending his time travelling with Western backpackers".

That quote doesn't support your statement.

[mantap]

This is true and all, but he doesn't just speak standard Malaysian, he speaks Terengganu Malay. Having white skin is a necessary but not sufficient condition for fame.

[tamizhar]

> standard Malaysian, he speaks Terengganu Malay.

I have visited Terengganu. The Malay spoken in Terengganu is the same as the Malay spoken elsewhere. It would the equivalent of saying Arkansas English versus American English.

[jzwinck]

I too have visited Terengganu. Your impression of the language vs standard Bahasa is far off the mark. Wikipedia says:

> Terengganu Malay is one of the most aberrant from all the Malay varieties in the Peninsular along with Kelantan-Pattani Malay and developed a distinct phonetic, syntactic and lexical distinctions which makes it mutually unintelligible for speakers from outside the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

People from areas quite far away are aware of this, such as the KL shopkeeper mentioned in the article who could not understand its protagonist.

[jamesrcole]

I'm pretty sure "mutually unintelligible" is putting it too strongly. My partner is from Malaysia, but from KL not Terengganu, and we were in Terengganu visiting my relatives there earlier this year and I'm pretty sure she was able to understand the Malay spoken there fairly well.

[jamesrcole]

UPDATE (writing this in a separate comment because I can no longer edit my original one): I've had a chance now to ask her about it, and she said that she can't speak or understand the Terengganu Malay. When she was in Terengganu she could communicate fine in Malay with people, but that was because they were communicating in the "standard" Malay.

[chingjun]

I am from Terengganu. And yes people in Terengganu can speak standard Malay, but among themselves they speak a different dialect, which is very different. People from other parts of Malaysia often have difficulty understanding it. It’s more like Scottish to English I would say.