#3 Interview Report

#3 Interview Report
LU WANG
F09.Sec21.Eng191
11/15/2009

For the third interview, I followed the same interview objectives but I slightly change my interview questions to be closer to approach the native custom in Malaysia. The reason for this changing is because I think I have collected enough ideas about the experience and thoughts of study abroad from last two interviews and it is time to add more information on another side to polish my culture report to be more brilliant.
I made fully preparation for the last interview as usual and conducted the interview in the same place with Peijun Fong on Nov 15th.
My third interviewee Peijun Fong is also a Chinese Malaysian and we know each other for a long time. She is a finance major senior in SCSU. She works a lot on campus. She is born in a big Chinese family in Malaysia and she is very knowledgeable about the culture among all three ethnic groups in Malaysia.
The third interview went very smoothly! It is very helpful for me to get a general idea about how a Chinese Malaysian, Native Malay or Indian behaves in his/her culture and religion in his/her daily life instead of just reading the materials from my online-research before. After this interview, I was so amazed by knowing the coexistence of the cultural diversity in Malaysia and I also found it was so interesting to learn lots of special meeting etiquette and taboo among these three ethnic groups which is really important to me to prepare for the global communication in my future career so I revised my culture report instantly.
Besides the wonderful part of knowing the Malaysian culture during the interview, there is another part caught my focus on- the Chinese Malaysians’ history of surviving in a foreign country. The reason why I use “surviving in a foreign country” instead of the word “immigrant” is because that it is not easy even super hard for the first Chinese Malaysian generation to create their new home land in a foreign country.
“Our parents are always telling us to cherish everything we get from life and we should work hard to appreciate what we are given in our life.” said by Peijun. Peijun told me that their ancestor fled from some very poor area of China to Malaysia with the purpose of perusing a better life standard and running away from the Anti-Japanese war. “I cannot imagine how hard for them to create everything with nothing even without knowing the Malay language but they successfully did. They are the most brave and dedicated generation. We all thank them for bringing a new life for us!” said by Peijun. Chinese Malaysian have been using their wisdom, hard working and strong will to break the discrimination and unfairness of political treatment and become the dominant power of supporting Malaysian economics. The prosperity of Malaysia cannot be reached without the effort made by several Chinese generations.
Unfairness treatment to Chinese Malaysian I found during the interview:
• Officials in Malaysian government must be all Native Malay. No any consideration and working right in government for Chinese Malaysian.
• For the admission of colleges in Malaysian, the acceptance to Native Malay student is around 80% and just 20% opportunities left to be shared by Chinese Malaysian and Indian.
• Every Chinese Company in Malaysia must at least leave 50% empty job position to Native Malay according to the business law.
A lot of Chinese Malaysian now are leaving Malaysia to other country because of these unfair treatments from government. They all feel very sad to be treated by those unfairness after contributing so much to Malaysia.
Through these three interviews, now I am familiar with the Malaysia which was a totally new country to me before. I really enjoy the process of completing these interview tasks and I did improve many skills in writing, communication and researching.

Added-up Questions for the third interview
1. What’s the most important value educated from your parents in your family?
2. When your family immigrant to Malaysia? Why they chose Malaysia?
3. Are there still discrimination and conflicts between Malaysian government and Chinese Malaysian? What do you think about this?
4. Could you please tell me something interesting in meeting etiquette and custom with people from different ethnic groups in Malaysia?
New Cultural Report for Malaysian Culture
Geography

1. Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia.
2. It has fourteen states and three Federal Territories.
3. Its total landmass is 329,845 square kilometers.
4. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur.
5. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants.
6. The country is separated into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo, by the South China Sea. Malaysia borders Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.
7. The country is located near the equator and experiences a tropical climate.
Language

“Malaysia as a unified state did not exist until 1963. Previously, the United Kingdom had established influence in colonies in the territory from the late 18th century, so English is widely understood in service industries and is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school due to the history of the British colony. “(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Malaysia) Malaysia is a multicultural nation. The national, or official, language is Malay which is the mother tongue of the majority Malay ethnic group. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia comprise the Malays, Chinese and Indians, thus Chinese and Indian are also spoken in Malaysia.

Religion

Malaysia is a multi-religious society and Islam is the official religion.
• 63.4% Islam
• 18.2% Buddhism
• 7.1% Christianity
• 6.3% Hinduism
• 2.6% Chinese Traditional Religion
Culture

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multilingual society. Malaysian cultural mosaic is marked by many different cultures, but several in particular have had especially lasting influence on the country. Chief among these is the ancient Malay culture, and the cultures of Malaysia's two most prominent trading partners throughout history--the Chinese, and the Indians. These three groups are joined by a dizzying array of indigenous tribes, many of which live in the forests and coastal areas of Borneo. Although each of these cultures has vigorously maintained its traditions and community structures, they have also blended together to create contemporary Malaysia's uniquely diverse heritage.

A Multi-Cultural Society
1. Ethnic groups
Malaysia is a multi-cultural society. The main ethnic groups are the native Malays as well as large populations of Chinese, and Indians.
2. Festival
The most important festivals of each ethnical group are public holidays.
3. Education
Children from different ethnic groups are educated in the same schools.
4. Marriage Tradition
Few people marry outside their own ethnicity.
5. Family Tradition
Families from different ethical groups retain their own ethnical tradition and tend to socialize within their own ethnic groups.
Group Orientation
The family emphasizes on unity, loyalty and respect for the elderly just like other Asian countries. The family usually will give their children fully financial support until they graduate from college and can make money by themselves.
Etiquette and Custom
1. Greeting
Malay women can of course shake hands with women but may not with men. Men may also not shake hands with women and may bow instead while placing their hand on their heart.
The Chinese handshake is light and may be rather prolonged. Men and women may shake hands, although the woman must extend her hand first. Many older Chinese lower their eyes during the greeting as a sign of respect.
Indians shake hands with members of the same sex. When being introduced to someone of the opposite sex, nodding the head and smiling is usually sufficient.
Among all these three cultures, when people introduce others they introduce people from the most important person to the lower ranking person, women to men and older person to young person.
2. Giving Gifts Etiquette
Gift giving to Malays:
• Never give alcohol.
• Do not give toy dogs or pigs to children.
• Do not give anything made of pigskin and any food made by pork.
• Avoid white wrapping paper as it symbolizes death and mourning.
• Avoid yellow wrapping paper, as it is the color of royalty.
• Offer gifts with the right hand only or both hands if the item is large.

Gift giving to Chinese:
• If invited to someone's home, bring a small gift of fruit, sweets, or cakes, saying that it is for the children.
• A gift is traditionally refused before it is accepted to demonstrate that the recipient is not greedy.
• Do not give scissors, knives or other cutting utensils as they indicate a desire to sever the relationship.
• Flowers do not make good gifts as they are given to the sick and are used at funerals.
• Do not wrap gifts in mourning colors - white, blue, or black.
• Wrap the gifts in happy colors - red, pink, or yellow.
• Elaborate gift - wrapping is imperative.
• Never wrap a gift for a baby or decorate the gift in any way with a stork, as birds are the harbinger of death.
• It is best to give gifts in even numbers since odd numbers are unlucky.
• Gifts are generally not opened when received.
Gift giving to Indians:
• If you give flowers, avoid frangipani as they are used in funeral wreaths.
• Money should be given in odd numbers.
• Offer gifts with the right hand only or both hands if the item is large.
• Do not wrap gifts in white or black.
• Wrap gifts in red, yellow or green paper or other bright colors as these bring good fortune.
• Do not give leather products to a Hindu.