Be reasonable, not all Nigerians are criminals
Dominic Ray
Oct 5, 07 3:49pm
We would like to respond to Norman Fernandez’s Watch out for the Nigerians. We, members of the African Students Association which numbers about 200 students studying in Kuching, Sarawak, take affront to his racist remarks towards Africans, in particular Nigerians.
E-mail scammers exist in all countries and consist of people of many races and nationalities, and gullible Malaysians should not even attempt to open such e-mails from wherever they may originate from.
Malaysians too have been involved in large-scale crimes overseas. Examples are ethnic Chinese gangs from Malaysia involved in organised crimes all over the world – from running drugs, gambling, loan-sharking to human trafficking.
Sophisticated criminal organisations from Malaysia have also tapped into credit card fraud business and travel advisories of most countries have highlighted on this fact. There are also Malaysian involved in bomb-making and terrorism activities in Indonesia.
Malaysia is also a significant source of production and export of pirated optical discs and is also the world’s largest exporter of pirated entertainment software. It is not our intention of bring down Malaysians but wish to say that criminals exist in all countries and comprise of all nationalities.
The influx of foreigners into Malaysia (mainly foreign workers) is perceived by many to impinge upon public safety and security. It is commonly perceived that these migrants are engaged in criminal activities.
Indonesians, by virtue of the large presence, committed the most crimes (about 62% of the total crimes committed by foreigners). However, the proportion of crimes committed by foreigners merely hovers around 2% of the total index crimes in Malaysia.[Source: The rise of crime in Malaysia - An academic and statistical analysis by ACP Amar Singh Sidhu]
Fernandez’ claim of Nigerians coming into Malaysia and signing up for courses at “downmarket and financially strapped colleges” is insulting and condescending. Like all international students, we pay higher fees compared to Malaysians at private colleges and we are serious about our studies. We are not allowed to work but rely on our hardworking parents to send us the money to live and hopefully graduate with good grades.
Independent colleges from Malaysia conduct impressive educational roadshows in Nigeria and many Africans have taken this opportunity to come here to study. We were told of the multi-ethnic population and friendly Malaysians. This is often far from the truth, and we have often been biased and discriminated against.
Recently, Malaysian newspapers carried photos of two Nigerian students who were arrested, handcuffed and bundled into police vehicles in connection with the brutal murder of two women in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.
Subsequently, the Star on Oct 1 carried a story on “Chef taken to scene of crime” and there it was written that a suspect in now in custody pending investigations. The newspaper article also mentioned that police initially arrested two Nigerians on Sept 25 and they were subsequently released. This is just one example of the discrimination against African students in Malaysia.
We therefore advise Fernandez to stop stereotyping Nigerians, or any other Africans for that matter.
