https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...discrimination/

My experience as a victim of job discrimination



I entered the workforce in the early 1990s and have worked as a recruiter for close to a decade. Over the years, I have seen discrimination happening numerous times – to me and others.

The first time I encountered discrimination, I was in my late 20s. When I showed up for the interview, the person interviewing me was shocked to see that I was Indian (despite it being obvious from my name) and muttered that she thought I was Chinese.

She went ahead with the interview since I was already there, but told me that they would pay me less than what they would pay another candidate who fits their race criteria. Being young at the time, I was very vocal and told her “if you want a quality candidate then you should pay what the candidate deserves and race should not be part of it”. Unsurprisingly, I was not offered the position.

Later, I was hired as a recruiter for a Fortune 500 recruitment firm. This is when I saw the extent of racial discrimination in employment. In my position, I had to deal with many hiring managers from multinational companies (MNCs), government-linked companies (GLCs), and local companies who blatantly stated that they only wanted a certain race, and told us not to send over curriculum vitae (CVs) of extremely qualified candidates who do not fit the race criteria.

The hiring managers were willing to employ a candidate even if they were less qualified than others, so long as they fit the race criteria. This results in not only a loss to the company, but to the country, as qualified candidates who face repeated discrimination may end up finding employment outside of Malaysia.

Even the human resources (HR) departments of some of the organisations I encountered would practise racial discrimination. For instance, I remember speaking to an HR personnel of a GLC, who told me that although when they advertise for an opening they do not state that they are only seeking candidates of a particular race, the applications of those who do not fit the internal race criteria get chucked into the trash bin. I had applied to this company before becoming a recruiter, so now I knew what had happened to my CV.

Another encounter I had with racial discrimination was when I was called in for an interview by a GLC property development company for a business development-related role.

It was a panel interview. This interview opened my eyes further to other forms of discrimination, including gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Although it was supposed to be a panel interview, the general manager asked all the questions. There was one question he asked that I will never forget: “If the client asked you to go to his hotel room to get the document signed, will you go?”

I was shocked at the question and I told him “no”, as it was inappropriate. My answer didn’t go over well with him, and he kept pushing for a different answer. Our conversation became very heated as we were each relentless in our opinion, until one of the other interviewers stepped in to put a stop to the line of questioning by the general manager.

The general manager later told me directly that they had a policy that no matter how well a particular candidate performed, when it came to promotion, only a Malay candidate would be promoted even if the individual was not as qualified as the non-Malay candidate. At this point, this didn’t come as a huge surprise to me, but what was surprising was how open he was about the discrimination. I left the interview knowing that even if I was offered the role, I would not accept it.

Yet another encounter I’ve had with racial discrimination as a job-seeker was with a renowned educational institution. I was waiting to be interviewed, seated outside the manager’s office. When the staff member gave the manager my CV and application form, I heard the manager admonishing her worker for calling me for an interview when the manager had informed her that only Chinese candidates should be called.

I was shocked at how the manager was practically yelling at the staff member for calling a non-Chinese candidate for an interview, even though the candidate had the necessary qualifications and experience to do the work. I went in for the interview, which lasted about 10 minutes as the interviewer refused to give me a chance.

Coming out of the interview, I was angry at myself for not being as vocal as I was when I was younger, and also wondered how a renowned educational institution could do this, especially when they are educating young people of all races.

I know I am not alone in my experience of discrimination while seeking employment. I truly hope that the government will put a stop to such discrimination by including protection for job-seekers in the amendments to the Employment Act. This may not necessarily stop all employers from discriminating, but it would send a message that such discrimination is wrong and illegal, and gives candidates an avenue for redress.

Everyone loses when discrimination goes unchecked. It harms workers, it harms companies, and it harms our country. Malaysia must end discrimination against job-seekers. We are better than this.

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intresting read just wanted to share here.

now im sure we or some of us have gone through this similar situation before.

please share your story if you ever encountered job discrimination during interview or discrimination in general at work.

ive also added a poll to vote if you been a victim of job discrimination before ?

thank you.

too long.
we have 15 second every topic.

All this started by British colony who divide-and-rule folks so in the 80s NEP set public company share holders no less than 30% of Bumiputera then today who discriminate who? .... the main point is still discrimination exists. Malaysia anti ICERD so there will never be fair and equality.

eh manada....only prince earth face discrimination not others....u jgn tipu oh...

This post has been edited by wilsonjay: Sep 25 2019, 06:00 PM

HCF, not discrimination. Like BMF.
Tak paham?

give chance la this wont take long if you spent a bit of your time

No ICERD, no problem owai

Next government will make this illegal. PH won't do anything.

Is this surprising? NOpe

need companies name
or else just sembang

What he tell is true but it the end still depend on what the company work environment. There still got company that did not discriminate also even for foreign worker.


Btw, the biggest discrimination is the goverent and GLC in the country

This post has been edited by stupiak07: Sep 25 2019, 06:11 PM

Bmf bmf bmf bmf!!!!

Folks,get ur pitchfolk

Plotek maaaaa...


Dia cakap olang lacist takpa...kita sendili lacist boleh...

i can probably see why he is discriminated against

he wrote a chapter on something which can be written in 2 sentences

Do it for GLC and civil servants first k

In sabah n swak, Malays are not majority but still dominated civil servants.

In petronas carigali in these states, malaya malays used to be in high rankings position (still do).
Now these states implement quota to hire more locals n more strict work permit.
But comparing them to shell or Murphy oil or nippon oil (at these states), these companies have better non malays ratio.

One can go to UK and US and its still the same.

Officially racial discrimination is illegal, but unofficially it is rampant.

In Malaysia kita sokong Segala Bentuk Diskirminasi Kaum

Boooo

What BN did for the past 50 years in power??


It is well known fact.

Kolos pls nothing to see here

i know...
chinaman company only look for malay and cainis...they dont like hired indian.
sorry, but the true hurt.

Job employment for Indians is the toughest esp in the local companies.. Personally from experience, mat sallehs are the best simply because the don't give fcuk whether u are malay, chinese or indian.. Janji can communicate well..

ketuanan race is pervasive

support ketuanan religion

thread got head picture...and too long essay.. so didnt read

Not true.

In our company, we hire from all kinds of colours.

Hell, we couldn't care if you're from Planet Mars.

As long as you can hit the performance target, you're hired.

sarahan ICERD, tempias india juga ...

owai

I kena once oso sex discrimination..wan to rent room which all the tenant is girl but they reject me strait said i was a guy ....

That’s the problem. There’s prevalent notion that Indian very good in talking.

for sure. this is malaysia after all

Some jobs sex discriminate me too. I want easy retail job they want unmarried girls instead.

so titiknya I paling kecian?

Yes and no

I want to hire a bumi because i need a malay to enter certain industry

but my HR and boss don't want to

I even specifically mentioned I would only hire those who speak the particular Malay dialect, but they not willing to entertain T_T

Meh, at least you can impress ppl with those skill

Non bumi
Before born dah kena discriminate kao kao
dahlah bukan skill, nak belajar pun tak bleh
Straight away, kena reject. No chance

Isn't it the point of Interview?
To discrimination whom ever HR staff don't LIKE or FEEL is right for the job?

Ugly vs pretty,
well dressed vs not stylish,
confident vs not confident,
idiot (best employee) vs too clever (me )

This post has been edited by Phoenix_KL: Sep 25 2019, 06:56 PM

Yeah me face discrimination too.
Saw a job wanna apply but put there B preferred.

B cup? Why not C

Maybe the boss like big bobs

I concur. Gomen and glc prefer prince of the earth, Chinese companies pulak prefer orang dia. In the end if ur Indian ur between a rock and a hard place. Then both these races look down on us and say that most of our community not educated lar, gangster lar, low class lar. Mahemz so hard to find a job or work in certain industry because u guys don't wanna give opportunity, then turn around and wanna cucuk us. That's why the rest of the world looks down on you more than they do us.

nvm. even Jesus come to earth he also kena crucify. so don't worry, it is fine

mau cakap about job discrimination, topkek

what about constitutional discrimination?

yes research in malaysia have shown if you are indian girl, you probably won't get a job unless own boss.

Whats the two sentences?

is it? they will make sure all Chinese eats sand, right?

Got similar exp. I want to ask to be admin in ktard. But.....

technically possible. Just need majority vote in parliament to pass any law even those against constitution.
Yes even those against constitution because the legality test of laws against constitution is in the court, not parliament.

This is why we need ICERD.

Tl;dr

Indian looking at jobs offered by Malays but they were looking for Malays, then went to the Chinese but they were looking for Chinese.

Pretty sure if he went to an Indian company they'll reject him for not being Indian enough.

As an Indian, your only hope is international companies (HP, Dell, Intel, etc.) - they actually prefer Indians to an extent since we don't demand too much, and are able to work in teams - my siblings are working for intl' companies. I decided to join local, and see the crap first hand. Now, I'm looking for other jobs and hoping for opening in these intl' companies. Other companies are those Malaysian CEOs who are educated overseas and come back open business - they're nice.

Obviously, I'm talking about the professional Indians la. Trust me, there are a lot of problems within the Indian community that just proves the stigma - rude and lazy.

This post has been edited by Jescon: Sep 25 2019, 07:35 PM

hope gov pencen still continue
this swasta job is very tough.

u work in GLC and governemnt?

Got plenty of chinese looking indian is it??

interviewer say you must improve yourself first. Get a nose and boob job then come back.

That was my first question also, after reading that article. Kinda makes me think this article is BS.

Fake news. Those racist landlord also fake news.

Interesting that you chose not to quote the Chinese-only incident.

> glc
> Looks for melei only
> No issue
> Bmf
> Prioritize not discriminate

indians are usually the preferred choice for mat salleh. because they can communicate very well.

Chinese male > Chinese female > Malay male> Malay female> Indian male> Indian female

Kesian Indian female

Females come 1st in certain industry
For example promoter / sales

Woi lu jgn lasis! Gua saja blh lasis!

This post has been edited by wilsonjay: Sep 25 2019, 08:19 PM

I worked in GLC, I feel discriminate, I am expected to work hard because I'm Chinese

Why no TLDR version.
We all very busy.

I call BS on this. Nobody that stupid to be openly racist. Anyone also can write like this la. Eh I go India company, the Indian boss yelled at hr for calling a Chinese.

These kind of articles should be vetted before being released.

And one more thing i notice.

If the hr from a certain race, chances are, the same race is quite dominant in the company.

I have worked in 5 companies. 3 out of 5 hr is chinese/malay. And theres less than 5 indian in the company.

2 companies the hr is indian. And i can see lots of indian staff.

Lol

Friday is often 'the best day' for Chinese.

if i go interview and see that a lot of chinese

i know im just wasting my time

Thy author is a weak Indian. I have worked in many companies from Chinaman to MNC. If an Indian is worth his salt he will be promoted accordingly. There are many Indians who are well respected among the Chinese colleagues and have been made head of departments and so on.

Extremely qualified or cook up the resume?



Lol

Not surprising... you’re talking about an ego centric society obsessed with fapping to race and religion... its one of the many reasons why Malaysia will never progress... some people do believe in discriminative hiring... “Don’t hire Malay candidate”, “Don’t hire Chinese candidates”, “Don’t hire Indian candidates”, “Don’t hire male candidates”... i’ve heard it all... you see, no matter how good you are, your race, religion and gender matters more in this third world mentality country... funny thing is, people will justify this discriminative stupidity...

I would never work in those companies anyway. Normally MNCs don't really care but there are many hiring managers who are extremely biased. I always prefer they reject rather than hire someone who they will discriminate against. Sad about Malaysia but our people are still uncivilized and only know R&R.

Used to work for chinaman company, can confirm. The challenge was can you keep up with the chinaman or be sacked

In 2 companies i've been in (fortune 500 mnc), the problematic ones are female indians.

Do they scream like banshees?

They're just
> Lazy/low productivity
> Demanding
> Too much MC and EL

Either 2 combinations above.

But meenaches and anehs love to kuda on linkedin, so i thought they are good

Just read this. Not surprising at all, most know this happens since before Independence.

In my current company Indian colleagues take substantially frequent mc compared to everyone else. For a comparison, in my 3.5 years of service I only took 4 days of hospitalisation leave for a minor surgery. But some Indian colleagues can have average of 2 mc per month. They must have “quite unhealthy lifestyle” I suppose.

Males one no issue. Females one got

I know meenaches usually if got a bit of power - will use it to the hilt to the point of being obnoxious

Yes, our company is very very performance oriented.

It is what it is.

Yeah, got very professional looking profile pic, with a lot of bombastic words, done this done that. In short, very impressive

You know why?

Because last time, government has certain limitation to a company who want to become Bumiputera Status Company, they must hired certain amount of certain race people to maintain that licence thingy thing so can get easily job from government project and so on

Now its like chinese dominate market.. so maybe it diff approach idk lel

There’s a reason for that tho, Indian guys are still ok but Indian girls my experience hiring them have been pretty bad. Too much drama la. Always will have some family problem, bf problem (most common) etc disrupting their work.

If gov pass the law, any complaint then you have to fill up reason for not hiring or do second interview at gov office in front of officer.

One strategy I hear that non bumi like to do is to build shell companies with bumi directors to bid for these contracts.

So for ex. I cainis as developer. And I want those lucrative govt contract. I make a shell company with all bumi directors and ask them to bid. If they get the contract, i will ask them to then appoint my company as sub contracter and I'll do 95% of the work. Setel

I live in Penang. The discrimination is so much more worse than you can think of.

I'm lucky that I've got friends and they were my introducers before I started work. They vouched to their bosses that although I posses Malay name, I'm not really a Malay. That got me a job.

Otherwise, I don't think I'm able to live in Penang.

Deep down we are all racists, this is Malaysia bruh



This post has been edited by s3iryu: Sep 26 2019, 08:51 AM

This is correct. Standard practice, even for selling instruments to govt agencies. Best part is, the govt knows this, and it has become essential when doing business with the govt. My company offered the lowest price for a quotation, but it is awarded to the bumi company which is 10% higher from our price. The bumi company has nothing to do with our field (engineering), I think it's just a stationary shop, but we go through them for govt quotations. Somehow the bumi company can also apply for whatever kod bidang, even though they have nothing to do with it. Weird.

Not only last time, even now.
You can look into government official page, when there's tender for project
"Bumi contract sahaja"
And this actually benefits"smart" Malays which open shell company and sell the contract to 3rd party..

Malaysia is probably the one and only country which openly and proudly protecting the majority

Well, as long as the article can add oil into fire, they dont care.
They take it as true anyway. Anything that satisfy the need to turn on the engine.

Guys come potek potek.

I’ll just explain why the other candidate chosen is more suitable for the role la. Apa susah.

Some ppl treat Medical leave as their right to take.
Some sort of extra cuti.

If later bonus come out sikit, blame father mather company race earth wind fire sun moon say company didnt appreciate them and only give certain ppl bonus. Semua sarahan orang lain but themselves.

i am cina, is like white in USA
so, i have no problem

Been to Korea?
Japan maybe?

Oh..lets say, China?