I need help with Malaysian cultures please

I’m writing a story that includes a American-Malaysian character, but I want to make sure I’m representing his culture well. I would like to know some last names for Malaysians (his parents were born there), national language (and if you’re willing to help translate some stuff; it would be appreciated : )), food, and anything I should know about family and history.
Also, here’s my character in case you were curious.

Character

Any help is appreciated : D!

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Did someone say Malaysian?

Oooooh yessss! :star_struck:
Well, first of all, we Malaysians have different races such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and more so you might wanna think about what race you want his parents to be from. Oh, and we have mix races as well!

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finally, someone is writing about Malaysian cultures.

Like @mitsuki.writes (hi kak lol) said, we have different races (Malaysia is a multiracial country), different religions and you know… a lot of food. :joy:

btw should I tag more Malaysians here as well?

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@pqstiche @mitsuki.writes
oof- sorry! I want his family to be Malay and I thought there should be more representation of Malays and the culture :sweat_smile:

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@pqstiche Heyyy Karmen! :wink:

@Youngbl00d Oooh, I agree! I rarely see Malay characters on Episode (guys, I mean :joy:)
Are both his parents Malaysian? Or just one of them? Or they’re mixed American?
Because if both of them are fully Malaysian, then he’d probably be a 100% Malaysian.

For Malay names, the format is like this, I’ll give you an example:
Mohammad Ashraf bin Dollah

Mohammad Ashraf is the boy’s given name, while Dollah is his father’s name. Malay boys use bin in the middle of their name (between their given name and their father’s name) while for girls, they use binti.

*bin/ binti means son of/ daughter of

In short, instead of a last name, Malays in our country use son of/ daughter of (their father’s name)

Here are more examples of Malay names:
Boys
Fuad bin Salleh
Muhammad Haris bin Anas

Girls
Nur Anissa binti Samad
Hanna binti Dollah

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So yes his parents were born in Malaysia and they immigrated to America, so his last name would be his dad’s first name? may you give me some examples of those names please? also, what is the national language (if there is one?) of Malaysia?i f i sound dumb, im sorry :see_no_evil:

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Ohhh in that case, he would be a Malaysian immigrated to America, not American-Malaysian. American-Malaysian will mean that one of his parents is American, which is not the case here.

Yes, his last name will be his dad’s name.
I’m not too sure about the meanings behind Malay names and I’m not sure what kind of name you want to give him because I’m not a Malaysian Malay, but a Malaysian Chinese.

I don’t wanna give misinformation about Malay names with their meanings :sweat_smile:

The national language of Malaysia is the Malay language, also known as Bahasa Melayu.

It’s alright! It’s good that you asked :relaxed:

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oh ok! what about holidays like what do Malaysians observe and when do they usually occur?

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We celebrate generally all of the festivals of all races in our country!
When there are festivals, we get public holidays. (that’s one of the reasons why we love festivals :eyes:)

Here are some of the major festivals we celebrate (yes, major ones cause clearly, we have more):
Hari Raya Aidilfitri (better known as Eid Mubarak)
Chinese New Year
Deepavali
Christmas

plus Malaysia Day and National Day (they are on different days, seems confusing I know but lemme know if you’re curious about it :joy:)

We also have school holidays which are usually on mid-year (May-June) for about 2 weeks and the longer holidays starts from the end of November to end of December. We start school year on the first week of January (but it varies for college/university)

It’s kinda hard to tell you how much holidays we have cause we have at least a few days holiday almost every month in a year. I hope this helps :rofl:

If you want to see how our holidays in a year look like, you can google Malaysia calendar holidays :laughing:

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Ok! thanks for helping with the holidays : D!

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Hi, I’m Malay lol. Anyways I came across your post and thought I would help you out? First of all, you have to be specific which race is he is because Malaysia is a multiracial country consisting mainly of Malays, Indians and Chinese. Our national language is Malay and yes I’m willing to translate. Since we’re a multiracial country, our food comes from different cultures too but everyone is Malaysia eats the infamous nasi lemak (coconut rice). You could always check out Henry Golding, he’s Sarawakian.

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He’s a Malay Malayasian : ) and thanks for helping! there are some terms I’d like to be translated please

Sure, no problem. You can send me the phrases or whatnot on my email or inbox thing and if you wanna know anything else about the culture, feel free to ask!

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Hey! I was just browsing the forum for help with a character I’m hoping to base on Henry Golding and came across your post! Can you help me to ensure that I correctly represent him? My version of Henry lives in the UK - his dad is English and mother is Malaysian (like Henry’s). They emigrated when he was a toddler. I’ve been doing some research online but I know how many different religions there are in Malaysia.
I particularly want to be able to portray his heritage in his mum when she is introduced. I was thinking of naming my version of Henry, “Mikhail Green”
Thanks xx

Hi Ivy, Well yes, Henry is actually Half Sarawakian and half English to be more specific, with Iban (a tribe) ancestry. Islam is the majority religion in Malaysia but there’s also Christianity, Hindhuism and Buddhism. Based on my history, Sarawakians are known to be very badass, strong and powerful people. They’re more like warriors. In Sarawak, majority of the people are Christians but some of them do still practice their indigenous beliefs and customary rituals. They’re very particular about their culture. They also have their own tribal tattoos too and I’m pretty sure Henry has a couple too. Ibans believe that their tattoos have protective powers in the form of charms that are given by antu (spirits) through dreams, when one is asleep. The tattoo is called bunga terung tatu or flower eggplant tattoo. They’re very common among the boys and they usually get it when they’re coming of age (bejalai). It use to be common for women to get tattoos too but it’s rare in Sarawak for women to have tattoos.

I hope this helps. Just hmu if you need anything else xx


ivy.epi

1m

That’s amazing, thank you.
So just to clarify, if they were Christians, would Henry or his parents be expected to follow any other belief or holiday that means they would dress in a certain way? (like christmas or ramadan)
Are there any skin colours that I should focus on/avoid? I think the closest I could match to Henry was Copper 03. And would you say there are any considerations I should think about? I love the idea of Henrys (or my characters) mother being a badass! haha x

Well yes, they do still celebrate Christmas as usual even if they were in Malaysia, just that there’s no snow and everything so the ambience isn’t as exciting. I’d say Neutral 02 or Neutral 03, since he’s a mix of Brit and Sarawakian but that depends if his father is Caucasian or not too. But Copper 03 is good too. Sarawakian men are also gentle actually, they might seem like a total badass with tattoos and all but most of my Sarawakian friends, guys especially, are such gentlemen. All in all, most of them are actually really modern and they put women on a high pedestal. Also, I’m so excited that you’re actually writing about a Sarawakian character! I’d love to read your story once it’s done.

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Thank you! This is really useful! I really appreciate it. Are you on instagram?
I would love for you to read my story before I publish to make sure it works?
x

No problem! Yes please. My IG is @sheerawrites (I made a private account just for writing episode stories so mind the sketchy looking account) x

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