OMG! Foreign Traveler’s Remarks On Malaysians Spark Controversy Over ‘Needed’ Racism

The Reddit user said Malaysians are racists after his poor experience with the locals while visiting the country.

For illustration purposes

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A black Muslim traveller recently wrote on Reddit about their experience facing racism while visiting Malaysia.

Redditor FairAd5845 said he felt “visceral disgust” from locals he interacted with. He explained that he could see shopkeepers and restaurant owners smile at white foreigners but drop their politeness when it was his turn.

He shared he approached the locals for directions and was hurt by the rude treatment.

A black Muslim visited Kuala Lumpur, and faced racism by business owners. Talks about it on a subreddit, gets backlash by Malaysians.

Because apparently people have to work to accommodate you if you're black. pic.twitter.com/6uI8FNIJhY
— surreal putrajayan (@fazleyff) February 21, 2025

In the comments, some Malaysian Redditors sympathised with him and admitted that there are many Malaysians who are racist to foreigners and their countrymen.

A user shared how his African friend was denied entry into a club because it was allegedly a “Chinese-only” club. However, the club let in his other European (white) friends a few weeks before.

Meanwhile, another user, who claimed to be Indian, shared he experienced racism from Malaysian Chinese clients from a top global company.

Other users shared similar stories of racism in Malaysia with most coming to the same conclusion; the racists prefer white people or light-skinned people.

Some said it was deserved

However, some people doubled down on racism and even went to the extent of rationalising the need for racism. (What did we expect from Reddit tbh?)

The user claimed racism is a “normal mechanism” humanity had for many years and it’ll be hard to eradicate years of this ingrained bias in our lifetime.

Another Malaysian tries to excuse the racism he faced as a "normal mechanism humanity has had for many years" pic.twitter.com/vWkfetviGy
— surreal putrajayan (@fazleyff) February 21, 2025

A user claimed FairAd5845 wanted everyone to change to accommodate him, completely ignoring the racism from Malaysians getting called out on the Reddit post.

Some assumed FairAd5845 behaved badly and deserved the treatment he got. They also explained that the perception has been spoiled by Nigerian criminals who scammed locals and committed crimes here.

FairAd5845 said he shared about a real issue in Malaysia and that no amount of deflecting or finger-pointing would change the fact that racism is prevalent in the country. He reiterated that racism and segregation are what hold Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia behind.

He hopes Malaysians will one day challenge the status quo and make lives better for everyone.

what he said.. at least based on the subreddit

he’s not wrong tho

malaysians ARE racist when it comes to white vs other colors.. arabs vs rohingyas etc

which part the reply talking about him asking to be accomodated? apart from him saying abt smiles n asking direction?
— abolish UNSC veto (@janggut34544893) February 21, 2025

Malaysian doesn’t meet enough black people to have any impression on them. Usually when this kind of stuff happens, we gonna act based on how that person behave. If he behaves badly, then they gonna get a bad treatment. That’s just the basic.
— JAY 👑 (@thewornpath) February 21, 2025

Maybe people don’t realise but we Malaysians are racist. Lets face it. Everyone is so sensitive and nobody is even willing to discuss matters over. Everyday I hear the May 13th… they only think as a religion they don’t think about unity or nationalism.
— Lucifer Morningstar (@Lucifer44801477) February 22, 2025

Here are some stories showing the racism Malaysians and foreigners face here: