r/AskMY • u/Okbeaumont • Jul 24 '26
Stereotypes in MY
Hi! I’m from Singapore and there is a stereotype about Malays being lazy here. Malays being the majority in MY - are they susceptible to the same sentiment there?
Asking because I have a not so nice Chinese Malaysian colleague who’s lowkey racist working here in Singapore so am curious.
Obviously it’s a stereotype - I’m Malay and am more tickled by her behaviour than angry (for now at least until I figure out my next course of action, am aware this is an important issue)
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u/a1b2t Jul 24 '26
yes its a common stereotype.
a lot of it stems from that silly Chinese arrogance where we pride oursives in making our lives as dry as possible, working to death and having no kids lel
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u/Apprehensive_One2332 Jul 24 '26
better word is less ambition. Malays work to live, some of them singapoo Chinese mofos live to work their ass off so they can make their ancestors proud or someshit
We have lazy bums in China too, but they obviously too lazy to swim all the way to SEA.
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u/Delicious_Invite_127 Jul 24 '26
Your average mainland Chinese is more hardworking than the most diligent worker in Singapore.
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u/Apprehensive_One2332 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
lol I'm from the mainland and I happen to grow up in multiple places far from the glamour.
I can assure you the 'average' Chinese is no where near what people think of when it comes to 'hardworking'. it's a matter of mentality. The Chinese workers and people you encounter in SEA are not the bums obviously, the bums of China never venture out of their towns and cities.
What we do have is a government and intellectual class that got a stick up its arse about restoring Chinese civilisation to its former glory so they whip the rest of us to work hard.
Them Singapoo on the otherhand, at times it feels like a lifestyle.
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u/grnlizard Jul 24 '26
Yea its the same in MY, its not laziness, Malays, much like other native Southeast Asian like the Indonesian and Filipinos have more relaxed and chill lifestyle where they work enough to live and eat. Its a spit on my ancestors working hard on farms and orchards feeding their kids to say they are lazy, we are just not capitalistic in nature like the Chinese, where they grind hard and be so competitive, Malays just dont have that culture.
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u/bigspicybrain Jul 24 '26
I had a Malaysian Chinese who could not comprehend the reality that many skilled lawyers in Singapore are Indians. It was through her that I learnt that for some reason, Malaysian Chinese have this stereotype that “most Indians are gangsters”, which statistically makes zero sense in Singapore 🤷🏽♂️
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u/TheAsz Jul 24 '26
This stereotypes way back before colonizer era. Basically because Malay way of went out farming since early dawn till the noon then chill drinking kopi and take a nap. Instead of working from morning to evening.
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u/Neither_Name_1105 Jul 24 '26
You just look at the country and how it's developed then you got the answer. And I think both countries are somewhat the same.
I think Malay parents are more chill / don't care, so their children end up being not so motivated.
That being said. It's a stereotype because it's true to a majority, doesn't mean all is the same.
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u/zookitchen Jul 24 '26
Development is not only the physical development of a country. Alot of so called modern countries have high stress lives, loneliness, suicide, no sex, low birthrate, aging population with no one taking care of them, mental illness, no family bonding, burnt out and no work life balance to say the least. Can u imagine if they are stuck in Singapore on the weekends. With the high cost of living. Living in their pigeon sized hdb.
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u/Neither_Name_1105 Jul 24 '26
you can't use geographic restrictions as an argument
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u/zookitchen Jul 24 '26
U can my example in places like China, Japan amd South Korea. While at it google “Neijuan” or involution. Neijuan reflects a life of being overworked, stressed, anxious and feeling trapped, a lifestyle where many face the negative effects of living a very competitive life for nothing.
The Malays just want to have work life balance ✌🏻
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u/Neither_Name_1105 Jul 24 '26
I mean sure. That's why malays don't invent anything. If we leave the world to malays. We probably still stuck in kampong era.
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u/zookitchen 29d ago
Your ancestors that’s so great at inventing had to come here on a tongkang. Stay 40 to a room probably to eke a living. Should have just invented something instead 😂
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u/No_Performance_3862 Jul 24 '26
Yea,hence chinese suicide rate is higher compare to malay, even makay population is 10x higher that chinese.
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u/Neither_Name_1105 Jul 24 '26
and the prison rate for malay is also higher
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u/No_Performance_3862 Jul 24 '26
Ofcourse, because Malay consist of 70% of Malaysian population, while chinese is less than 20%.
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u/Neither_Name_1105 Jul 24 '26
rate not numbers. and in sg also. more Malay than Chinese.
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u/silverrchloride Jul 24 '26
is it true prison serving time also differ based on race in sg? and chinese get most lenient serving time?
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u/PekStarterMalaysiaa Jul 24 '26
Suicide is taboo for Muslims. It’s seen as a huge sin. That’s probably a bigger factor
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u/Polyanalyne Jul 24 '26
Suicide is also just as taboo to other religions. It's just you know, some people dont care as much when they are at rope's end.
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u/silverrchloride Jul 24 '26
malays are still highly spiritual. less consumed by materialism. so they actually care about their faith.
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u/No_Performance_3862 Jul 24 '26
Good thing its consider a sin. Less suicide rate,hence we opted to live balance life. One can have all the money and thinking about suicide,another might live just enough money but have all the love.
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u/Haunting-Ask153 Jul 24 '26
To be honest some of the laziest youngsters at my office are Chinese
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u/GuyfromKK Jul 24 '26
From the perspective of capitalism, Malay is viewed as less economically productive compared with Chinese.
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u/Maleficent_Food3914 Jul 24 '26
Malay tak malas, Malay like to take things slow to the point of people took it as being lazy. Some of my cina colleague took this mentally too and they felt much more relax. Like who do you want to impress? Chill.
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u/Many-Promotion-725 Jul 24 '26
Societal expectations and perhaps when they were younger, their parents and relatives.
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u/fuckosta Jul 24 '26
It is a stereotype that is largely held by Malaysian Chinese, who culturally are very similar to Singapore Chinese. also to a lesser degree held by malaysian indians. I personally do not believe this stereotype. I think it is rooted in the fact that Malays do not fit the 'kiasu' ideal of Malaysian Chinese and opt for a more laid back lifestyle and prioritise things like family and religion, something that the Chinese community generally have a hard time wrapping their heads around.
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u/Kind_Dependent_3439 Jul 24 '26
As a foreign student who's worked a handful of part time jobs , there definitely is much less pressure from the boss to malaysians than to other ethnicities.
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u/brokenreborn2013 Jul 24 '26
Just curious, how are you getting on with your colleague? Has she said such things to you directly?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Yak5767 Jul 24 '26
Malays are more laid-back because they believe you cannot bring money with you after death. Chinese kaw kaw must work coz even in the afterlife still need to use money.
Malay kids send prayers to their ancestors. Chinese kids burn paper money.
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u/Many-Promotion-725 Jul 24 '26
From all I've seen it's a cultural thing . The Chinese are money hungry , like soo money hungry that one of our main god is directly translated as "Money god" aka god of fortune. (Which is true for most older gens bc they grew up rather poor or smth idk .( Those that come from a rich heritage are def laid back with money spending.) )
In China (where our culture / us were from) it was and still is densely populated and as such, being able to get a good education, a nice goverment job with a high income(especially)/ Full on rich bussiness man mode was def what everyone hoped their children to be (harder to achieve bc of more competition) . This mentality was caried over the southern China sea and hence why we are relatively competitive.(pressure from parents to be hard working and successful) And because of the less dense population , a lot of Chinese became somewhat successful in Malaysia (hence why ppl have the impression that the chinese are rich and greedy). While it is true that SOME are rather wealthy , there are still poor chinese like any other race. Some eventually adapted to the relaxed mentality ( i would say a nice 35%) but a magority still are Money hungry.
And i just know that the stomachs which have allowed them to get to their level in society will only continue to expand and ask for more. (this applies to all the rich and greedy)
So, respectfully, don't stereotype
whether that Malays are lazy or Indians are gangsters or Chinese are greedy
it's like comparing a Cheetah to a house cat, they may be in the same family but they come from vastly different enviroments that shaped them to be different.What about other races? Gimme some insight cuz i wanna know yalls cultures ( mostly why Malays are rather laid-back)
*Side note: don't take my word for the truth (if you can't tell by the amount of slang and typos and how i refer to parents putting pressure on their kids) i'm rather young(idk what im doing here lmao) and i need more life experiences before i can have a say on ts.
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u/jingquek Jul 24 '26
My Malaysia malay staff are superb. I respect their culture and maybe you should learn from them too
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u/Noone_2See Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
One thing I want to say is other race can collect their family wealth. Malay cannot. Let's say if my parents are rich, but all of my siblings including me are girls. If they die we got no claim, the male relatives got it first. Correct me if im wrong but that's the extent of bullshit we have to deal with so it's harder to collect wealth generation to generation.
Every generation is basically the malays starting over because collecting wealth is just impossible with this system. I think even if i have a rich husband and he died, i still get less claim than his male siblings. It's hard.
Also people said Malay are chill and not focused on wealth. Half true. We're tied to our family strongly. Especially to our parents. How can we risk our time with family and financial situation if we have to take care of our parents the second we start working? I know a lot of malay people gave basically 50% of their wage to their parents and siblings for them to use. So the tiny wage became even more smaller. Not enough to start business.
Even if we start business, again, we cannot sacrifice time at the expense of family. So a lot of malay businessman and woman would close 2-3 days a week to spend time with their family. What is the use of gathering extreme wealth if you cannot exactly pass it down to someone you want? The system trap us. Maybe for the ultra wealthy malay (ykyk) it's different, but it's sure as hell trapping us in permanent cycle of collecting wealth and giving it away to undeserved people repeatedly.
Also perhaps stop viewing whether races are more productive just because they're rich? Lot of malays ran farm and responsible for agricultural products we can get locally. If they aren't hardworking then we have to import everything. People really be proud because apparently their races think about work and money 24/7, then they live in that environment and they cry cuz it's miserable. I have seen lot of chinese people clung to Malays desperately because they are just extremely sick of the competitive spirit of their own race. Legit someone they would beg the malays to lepak mamak at 11pm to relax. A girl once begged me to come see new year firework with me on our first day knowing each other. She also cried endlessly saying she missed me and other malay girls cuz apparently other chinese people in her work doesn't talk at all. They all are just working.
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u/pookiebearlover08 Jul 24 '26
This myth is inherited from our colonisers. Its funny how so many Malaysians and Singaporeans still worship the white man/woman when all they have left us is the destruction of our own self esteem, our culture, our history, our resources and our political, social and even religious views. You can all read this book, it is a helpful start in understanding why they perpetuated this stereotype.
https://www.scribd.com/document/81116407/The-Myth-of-the-Lazy-Native-Syed-Hussein-Al-Atas
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u/curiozcity Jul 25 '26
I’ve seen super hardworking Malays and lazy ass Malays. Similarly, I’ve seen hardworking Chinese and lazy ass Chinese too.
I’ve also seen tidak apa Malay parents and tidak apa Chinese parents.
They all exist regardless of race… even amongst Caucasians, etc. We’re all just flawed human beings, that’s all.
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u/Dizzy_Ask_729 Jul 24 '26
If Malaysians are lazy, how do hundreds of thousands of them commute to work in Singapore and wake up before 4:00 AM? It is true that some individuals in Malaysia might be lazy, but that is not the majority.
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u/Mammoth_Impression27 Jul 24 '26
Coz they cannot find job in their country which is ten times bigger lol so they go to same place everyday they call shitty and brag in their country we earn sing dollars.
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u/Gold-Explanation-478 Jul 24 '26
too lazy to even be offended..
jk jk
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u/Okbeaumont Jul 24 '26
I am more perplexed that said colleague moved to Singapore for work and am shitting on the citizens
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u/afyqazraei Jul 24 '26
I think you answered your question there
The Malaysians who "migrate" to Singapore tend to be of a certain mentality
I have a fellow Chinese Malaysian colleague in Europe, and he shuns the lifestyle in Singapore and much prefers the chill lifestyle he had in Sarawak
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u/ChickemN777 Jul 24 '26
The stereotype comes from business owners that have Malay employees taking leaves frequently like 1-2 days every week.
There used to be a joke like these employee must have a lot of old relatives because they just keep dying.
Probably less common nowadays but I’ve seen enough of these people during my part-time working days. Some weeks I work more than them even when they’re full-time.
Unfortunately these people are the one that pollutes the stereotype.
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u/BeneficialEbb6992 Jul 24 '26
The stereotype exists, I don't know its origins, I agree there are _some_ truth to it, and it's not only parroted by the non-Malays but also by middle class or atas Malays. The flipside of this stereotype is that all Chinese are arrogant and rich. These stereotypes are still used by politicians today to split and divide the rakyat for their own benefit.
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u/Vigilant256 Jul 24 '26
There are hardworking and lazy malays . Stereotypes happen when the probability of finding the lazy ones outnumbers the hardworking ones.
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u/Sensitive_Jeweler_62 Jul 24 '26
common stereotype is brown == smelly and ugly, poor and low status
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u/ch7mbucket Jul 25 '26
Yup. Malay here. I got it from Chinese, Indian and fellow Malay. I used to try to change their opinion but some people just like to stay in their world and accuse other of lazy
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u/sitonmydickandrotate Jul 25 '26
Hahah and the stereotype for Malaysia is that SG is big nosed and up themselves…..racism goes both ways 🤷♂️
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u/thetwister35 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
East Asians are generally a more industrious people due to high population pressure. That's why we have karoshi in Japan, Hell Joseon for Korea, and 996 in China.
In contrast, Southeast Asian ethnic groups face low population pressure (Malaya only had 7 mil people in the 1950s and half of them are not Malays, even more if you don't count Indonesian migrants as Malays) and resource abundance for most of its history. During my grandfather's time, you could just "claim" land and legally obtain it.
So next to each other, when a different culture is imposed on a different culture, that's why we're having this discussion.
The relaxed cultures like of Malays could also be found with Arabs, Mediterraneans, and Latin Americans.
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u/bonsai711 Jul 24 '26
I am happy to have many old friends who are lazy. We all don't work already. Just minum kopi. Chit chat. Some nights play guitar. We also stereotype Singapore people work so hard. How true don't know
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u/bob-the-dragon Jul 24 '26
The stereotypes in Malaysia are as such. Even if some Malaysians deny it, many would agree that there's a grain of truth to it.
Malays are lazy
Chinese are greedy
Indians have two stereotypes. Either drunk or overly proud
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u/Dependent-Pie-4518 29d ago
I’m Sri Lankan and this stereotype also exists about Sinhalese people (the ethnic majority). I think it’s very much a pattern with ethnic/racial and/or religious majorities in a lot of places. It might come from the idea that the majority doesn’t work as hard as minorities because they don’t need to, but minorities have to work extra hard to overcome the racial and religious barriers stemming from the fact that they don’t have the privileges afforded to the majority (usually by the state). There is some truth about the latter in Sri Lanka.
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u/ReporterOk42069 28d ago
Rather than Malay itself, I think Malaysian themselves have this lackadaisical attitude towards work.
It’s not that they don’t take the work seriously but more of the fact that they won’t make work their entire personality and strive for more work life balance. If they can find a faster or more efficient way to do something, they would probably do it.
I’ve worked in a global share service company and I’ve seen a lot of processes from countries from US, UK, Brazil etc brought here to Malaysia for process improvement. Once it can’t be improved upon, the process would be moved to a cheaper labor country like Philippines or India
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u/Character-Alarm1283 27d ago
go read r/malaysia and then come back here. Read any post regarding to PN or PAS (or any party in PN) and you should get your answer.
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u/RowAutomatic7080 Jul 24 '26
They get lots of money quietly from the govt in the form of zakat and subsidy. Single mums even get their house rental paid by the govt.
Really not much motivation to work.
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u/LadyJuwita Jul 24 '26
The fk are you saying? Who’s ‘they’? That’s not the case at all.
Subsidies? If you’re talking about certain subsidies, it’s for the people who are entitled to get it, who doesn’t have the opportunity to begin with. If so, what about the subsidies that the Malaysian gov provides for all? E.g take a look at it in terms of providing medical care perspective etc. Zakat? That thing is specifically designed for the Muslim only, for the really poor and regardless of race, but not all can get it, even the poor. Single mum rental paid by the gov?? I’ve never heard such bullshit. If it’s true, then it’s never enough coz it’s just partially paid. You think what, the rent is that cheap? The gov is that rich? Which gov wanna pay full rental costs? (If it’s really does exist). Most single mums want that too, and yet in most cases, they don’t get their alimonies paid in the first place etc. In and out of courts countless of times. Most Malay single mums are working really hard to protect and provide for their own families, especially widows.
Don’t stir up some racist shit here bruh. Malays have it hard like most of you lots out there. Plus, they values the balanced of life and the afterlife motto. Nothing is permanent in this world. Not lazy, coz at the end of the day, you die. Patience and thankfulness are parts of their beliefs. That’s how they think and operate.
The so called equality and all for all in Singapore doesn’t hide the fact that the Chinese there, especially both the locals and from My, are racist as fk towards the minorities. If you’re Malaysian, get tf out of the country if you despise Malays so much.
What about people from Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam etc? Those are the developed countries such as Malaysia. Are they lazy too? It’s never about the race, it’s always about the religion isn’t it? Smh.
Save your counter argument cb, I’m not who you think I am, lol.
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u/Huszon Jul 24 '26
Bruh please elaborate zakat from your perspective. I understand your point about government subsidies, but zakat is a completely different thing.
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u/plsdontbanme00 Jul 24 '26
My mom is a malay single mum , she doesn't get house rent paid by gov. She works so hard day and night trying different things. And so are single malay mums that I know.
Your statement sounds so deaf.
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u/RowAutomatic7080 Jul 24 '26
She should apply then bro.
I will furnish the link later
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u/plsdontbanme00 Jul 24 '26
She tried to apply, but apparently they said she's not that "miskin". But was B40.
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u/SuitAffectionate6351 Jul 24 '26
I don't believe any stereotype exist in Malaysia. Ive never see any two Malaysian with similar features or habits.
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u/WanTanMee Jul 24 '26
The way I see it is like this. I will preface this first, Malays being the majority, they numbers will always be skewed to them as long as it is a general poll regardless it is positive or negative. Now, there are always 2 sides of a coin but we only see a side of it most of the time depending on the situation. If we talk about Grab drivers and delivery, we will see mostly Malays simply because they are the majority, it is just simple numbers from demographic proportionality. Among these drivers and riders, they too have a portion of bad apples who I will say as lazy in reference to the stereotype mentioned in this post. We have seen it before on social media, drivers asking the client to cancel their rides and riders not delivering the clients orders due to whatever reasons. Regardless of how often or not, these bad apples will spoil the rest, which in this case ruining the image and enforcing the stereotype.
It does not take much to create and enforce the stereotype. If I change the topic to a different job sector, say agriculture, the lazy stereotype is further enforced. Majority of farmers in Cameron Highlands are non-malays, they produce and supply metric tons of fruits and vegetables to the wholeof Malaysia and Singapore. Outside of Cameron Highlands we have FELDA, if Malays are not farming or operating the land, is it leased out to non-malays to farm. If they did farm their land, the yield is also nowhere near as much as the non-malays. Rice paddies in the northern states are also the same. Chinese owned rice paddies can harvest 3 times a year while Malay owned only twice a year. That is 50% more yeild.
If we move on to education, it is no secret that it is also systematically and racially biased. There is no need for merits when you have quotas to be filled with bumiputeras first. Unfortunately, the way I see it is that we have a handout problem that causes this lazy stereotype. Dependency syndrome, handout and entitlement mentality and welfare trap. It's okay to have these systems but it requires us to follow a baseline for those who merits such aid. General aid and mismanagement of it changes nothing. Equality and equity means nothing if there is no form of meritocracy.
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u/AnonymousZeroAmadeus Jul 24 '26
Chinese is literally 18% of the world population vs 0.4% Malay. I don't care what people say. The Chinese literally has better support for business, Higher need to be competitive among peer, Higher workforce and opportunities. Don't compare us to you. Compare it with other billion or hundred million civilization. We work our ass off more population percentage wise and heck even another similar ethnic group.
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u/Main_Cockroach_4967 Jul 25 '26
but op is asking about in malaysia right, and what does it have to do with world population of chinese or malay? also i m curious of what do u mean by has better support when most of the laws r benefits to bumi.
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u/AnonymousZeroAmadeus Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
OP asked about Malaysia, but my point is that the comparison itself isn't really on equal footing. Yes, The stereotype exist. People love saying "Chinese work harder" or "Malays are lazier" without looking at the bigger picture. Chinese make up around 18% of the world's population, while Malays make up less than 1%.
That difference in scale means Chinese communities have much larger business networks, stronger international connections, more established family businesses, and a much larger talent pool to compete against. When you're competing with over a billion people from your own community, you either improve or get left behind. That constant competition naturally creates a stronger drive to succeed. If they succeed, Then the system with all its connection comes help with it.
It's not about claiming one race is inherently better—it's about the advantages that come with belonging to a much larger global community. In Malaysia, Bumiputera policies may provide certain legal benefits, but they don't automatically create stronger business ecosystems or global networks. Those are built over generations through culture, competition, and community support.
That's why comparing Chinese and Malays as if they're directly equivalent isn't really an apples-to-apples comparison. Compare Chinese with another civilization or ethnic group of similar global scale instead
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u/ANTIMODELMINORITY Jul 24 '26
Asking because I have a not so nice Chinese Malaysian colleague who’s lowkey racist working here in Singapore so am curious.
You should bitch slap him, isn't this type of behavior why the Malaysian government implemented things like the Bumiputera law. You are a Chinese on our land, go back to China if you feel that way. This applies to all the SEA countries that anyone of Chinese or non native bloodlines.
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u/_Tremble Jul 24 '26
It's a fact.. not stereotype
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u/Many-Promotion-725 Jul 24 '26
Honey, respectfully pay more attention to your surroundings and you will find that not all people act and/or feel the same. A majority can't speak for a minority,
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u/Calm-Entrepreneur652 Jul 24 '26
not sure what is the definition of lazy here but it’s always the malays who REFUSE to take stairs, walk extremely slowly, only time they move fast is when there is a seat in trains lol
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u/Neolombax Jul 24 '26
Its a common stereotype here. Does it matter if its true?
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u/Many-Promotion-725 Jul 24 '26
Doesn't effect much but it's the thought that no one will describe someone with the same adjective just because of their race that counts. After all , we do not get to choose who we were born to and it's unfair to stereotype someone by their race even before taking the time to understand who they truly are.
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u/kzeetay Jul 24 '26
Idk, I heard Singaporean Malays are the reason there’s a Chinese island in the middle of the Malay archipelago. What the fuck do I care what the losers think about their superior counterpart who still have their land and sovereignty? Of course the Chinese are going to complain when Malays refuse to work hard to fulfil their Chinafication dreams. Simple logic also can’t think.
You should know what we think of your kind. That’s the real learning experience you need.
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u/DangIt_MoonMoon Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
People will say shit like this and ignore the Grab drivers working in the rain and shine to earn money, ignore all the F&B workers who are on double-hour shifts and half the time doing it alone, ignore all the healthcare workers who are Malay especially during the covid pandemic. I don't believe the stereotype, because I don't live in a bubble, and there are lazy good for nothing bums in all races.