A Tale of....Two Families

I don't know whether anyone of you - whoever reading this - knows that I was born to a Malay father and a Chinese (convert Muslim) mother. Well, for you out there who doesn't know it, I'm a Malay Chinese but no worries, my physical is more Malay than Chinese. I'm the clone of my dad! Only my 2 youngest brothers (envy them!) are the clone of my mum.

Anyway, I'm gonna tell you about my two families - my dad's side of family and my mum's side of family! One big Malay families and one big Chinese families! Although my mum and dad married with their parents' (my grandparents') blessing but somehow my 2 families never really mix! Sure, if they meet each other, they will greet each other nicely and all but to really really mingle, nah! I never see it in my life.

I never bother about it before but this year, I just couldn't help but realise and wonder! Every year, my family have no problem about going where and when. It's a tradition that every raya, every year, we will celebrate with my dad's side of families and every Chinese New Year, every year, we will go down to Temburong and celebrate it with my mum's side of families! No problem there! And for us - me and my brothers - we mingle just fine with both sides of cousins! Sure, sometimes we feel left out with the Chinese cousins but they are superb! They know that we can't speak Chinese but understand them(so lazy of us!), so they will speak Malay (mostly!) and English for our sakes.

This year, my mum's side of the families decided to come together to our place for raya. While they were at my place, 2 of my dad's brother and their families came and my Malay uncles and aunties, truth to be told were uncomfortable with my Chinese relatives. Of course, they didn't say it but somehow I can see from their limited movements and conversations. And the funny things, my Chinese relatives (apart from my 1 uncle) didn't make the effort to mingle with the Malay relatives! What happened?!

For my mum and dad, it's quiet normal for them but for me, this is the first time I realise about this. When my elder brother got married 5 years ago, they mingled just fine; helping each other, joked around! Years apart and rarely seeing each other maybe the main factor contributing to this ackwardness. Could it?

I don't know about your families - your mum's and your dad's? I think any normal Malay families will mingle just fine, I imagined - the in-laws and all! Anyway, that's the story of my two different families. Discrimination? I don't think so. Racist? Definitly not! This is Brunei. Racism didn't exist! Besides in my mum's family, 1 of my uncles converted to Muslim few years after my mum did and all of us get along just fine! Anyway, whatever it is, they are families - my families - afterall!