PERCEPTION: again that K word!

anon

In Malaysia, in the Cantonese dialect, an Indian is a "keling yan" or "Indian person". In Penang Hokkien, it's "kelinga". In southern hokkien, it's "keling knia" or "Indian boy". It's part of Malaysian/ Singaporean/Indonesian Chinese vocabulary. When I grew older, I was surprised to learn that it was a derogatory word. It's part of our language! We never meant anything derogatory. Just like we call the Europeans "angmor" or "red-haired". Nothing derogatory, it's our language for "European".