Nurfatihatul Wahidah Ahmad : The differences of culture behavior in Malaysia

Title: The differences of culture behavior in Malaysia

Name: Nurfatihatul Wahidah Ahmad

Matrix no: SX112433HFF04

Course: Consumer Behavior SHF2173

 Malaysia is one of a small country in the world. Population in Malaysia is mostly are Malays which is 50.4% followed by Chinese is 23.7%, indigenous is 11%, Indian 7.1% and others is 7.8%. They are divided into several religions such as Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese and others. Each of them follows different languages but most of them are using Malaysian Language which is also known as “Bahasa Malaysia”.

In Malaysia we have several ways in meeting and greetings. Normally Malay people will shake hand if only with the same gender. Otherwise, they will bow to the opposite gender.  Compared with Indians they will give a respect by shaking hand in a same gender but it is almost similar to Malay people they will nod the head to show respect to their opposite gender.  The Chinese will handshake longer no matter in what gender. Most of elder Chinese will lower their eyes to show their respect.

In etiquette of name, Chinese will have three names which will start with their family name (surname) and followed by two personal names. Malays do not have surname but will be differentiated with their “bin and binti”. Bin is son of while binti is daughter of. Indians will use their initial of their fathers name in front of their names followed by daughter of or son of.

It also has differences in prayer places of Malaysia cultures. For example Malays Muslim will go for prayer at mosque, Chinese in Chinese Temple (Tokong) while Indian will go for prayer at temple. For Malays Muslim they will compulsory to pray for 5 times. There are 5 differences types of praying, which is Subuh, Zohor, Asar, Maghrib & isya’. Chinese and Indians it is not compulsory to them to pray every day but at least one times a day.

In Malaysia we can get foods in 24 hours everywhere. It is also a difference when it comes in cooking etiquettes. For example, we have difference traditional foods for festivals which is Malays will celebrate “Hari Raya Aidilfitri”. On that particular day they will have traditional foods such as, Rendang, Ketupat, Lemang and Lontong. For Chinese, they will celebrate with Chinese New year (Gong Xi Fa Chai). A traditional food of Chinese is Yusheng (Yee sang) which is raw fish salad. Indian celebrates Deepavali and the traditional foods are Tosai, Idli and together with Chicken Curry. Therefore, our Malaysian has difference ways to eat foods. For example, Malay will eat by hand and Chinese will eat by using Chopsticks or fox and spoon.  Indian will eat by hand but they will use bananas leaf to have their meals instead of plates.

The conclusion is, Malaysia is a peaceful country and have different type of cultures, foods, traditional dresses and religions. This is the reason why we have a lot of tourist visit our country every year no matter from where they are. In addition, we have a lot of historical places to visit such as National Monument, “Makam Mahsuri”, A Famosa Tower and Red House. There is strong reason why we select Malaysia as a residence country. Hope we will continue our traditional cultures in future better.