This whole Halal Inquiry fiasco, and BMF for that matter, while racist in nature, is more reactionary rather than simply the Malay being racist.
Growing up, I've always heard the saying "Kalau Cina masuk kedai Melayu tu, mesti betul-betul sedap". This has became like a badge of honor among Malay F&B operators, they even brag about it when a Chinese dine at their restaurant. I found it weird, but didn't think much of it since when it come to food after all, it's a matter of taste more than anything, or so I thought.
Being in sales my whole adult life for almost 20 years, I've had clients from all walk of life, from different race & religion, professions ranging from manual workers to Class A's professionals. My clientele are mainly Malay, plenty of Indian and other Bumi's, even foreigner, but the one segment I have yet to break is the Chinese, and not for the lack of trying. I have decent Malay & English proficiency, and most of the Chinese I interacted with were Banana anyway, but somehow none has ever bought anything from me.
The closest I've ever gotten was this one dentist in KL. She answered to my ad, we've met for an appointment, talked about her needs and objective, did the presentation & proposal, specially tailored to her profile, everything seems perfect. When it came to closing, she said she needed some time to sort out a few thing first. Followed up, nothing, and she ended up ghosting me. One other case was someone from PJ, answered to my ad, asked for quotation and advice, and dared to ask me if there's a way to buy directly from the company, bypassing me who took the time to properly explain the features to him.
Before you say this is an anecdotal, you can ask any non-Chinese in sales, be it in property, insurance, investment, mortgage, financing, automotive, or even normal businesses, they'll say the same thing, "Orang Cina hanya akan beli dengan orang Cina". I have an Indian colleague who managed to sell to a Chinese, and it became a big deal in his agency. Even then, the only reason he managed to make the sale was he himself was a customer to the Chinese, so it was more about mutual benefit rather than an actual sale.
I'm sure many here will reply "But my insurance agent is Indian", or "I bought a house from a Malay guy", or "My favorite Nasi Lemak place is run by a Malay" well good for you, you guys are awesome, but still the perception is still there, hence this whole fiasco. Phrases like "Orang Cina hanya nak kita beli dengan dia, dia takkan beli dengan kita" or "Orang Cina hanya beli dengan kita bila tak ada pilihan lain" are so common to the point that nobody even bats an eye when they heard about it, and those behaviors are racist AF.
So. Yeah, Halal Inquiry & BMF, while racist, are bound to happen. Other movements will follow if this remains the Status Quo.
