DISQUS

I only wished to convey the lack of respect and responsibility shown by you to a people who have suffered long enough, and need to have positive support, not perpetuation of old cultural associations. Please do not reinstate the title of your article. Forgive me for my anger, and congratulations on putting on a good show. Being unable to see it, I am pleased its reviews were good.

However none of the above detracts from the fact that yours was an inappropriate comment. I would tell my friends off for the using the word, and why not? Racial derogatory words, however widespread they are and however innocent they may be, are not jokes, and if you understood the baggage behind the word you used, you would know why. The Orang Asli community in Malaysia remains utterly marginalised, disrespected and irrelevant to the majority of this country. The least we can do as citizens is to stop calling them names, and accord them the dignity they deserve. Using the term 'Jakun' demeans them regardless of your purpose, because the common usage of this term means most Malaysians will only ever know the Jakun in this context...never as human beings like others. A man once went public on Oprah to say that when he called people niggers, he wasnt referring to 'black people' only, but anyone with the characteristics which he associated with the word 'nigger!' Does this make the word any less offensive? It is still demeaning to African-Americans, and so is Jakun, likewise the word 'keling' to me, an Indian Malaysian.

Hello Aronil. Firstly I would like to apologise profusely if my comment seemed to have implied that you are a racist. It did not, and I never believed you were, how could I when I dont know you? Neither did I bear any ill-wish at all to the play and its success...indeed, the reason that I was on your site in the first place was because I wanted to read up about it, wanted it to do well, to be proud of all the people taking part in it, because I considered its protagonist an important Malaysian and a role model. I also cringe now at how reactionary I was in my response, I would certainly have worded it differently if I had the chance to write it again.