Tag Archives: Malay

Malay, Japanese

hapa293Hi everyone! My name is Elena Yui Zafrul. My mother is Japanese and my father is Malay. I was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

I’m 18 years old and currently studying in Iowa. I can speak Malay, Japanese and English.

My parents separated when I was young, so I was basically raised by my mom in a Japanese-like household. I’d speak Japanese with my mom, but when I’m with my sister, we’d communicate in Malay.

My childhood was pretty rough. Since Malaysia was once invaded by the Japanese, the kids at my school would be mean to me. They would call me names and tell me to go back to Japan. Continue reading →

Javanese, Malay, African American

Most people think I’m just black and are always surprised to find out I’m half Asian too.

On my mother’s side my grandmother is from Indonesia and my grandfather is from Malaysia. Both my mother and I were born in Singapore although I’ve been brought up in the UK with my step-father who is German and English. My biological dad is African American.

Malay, Javanese, Dutch, Chinese, Bugis

Growing up looking different has always been one helluva awesome journey for me.

My mom is Dutch, Malay and Javanese, whereas my dad is half Chinese and half Malay-Bugis. My sister inherited most of the Dutch features whereas my bro, lets say that he has gotten most of his looks from my dad’s Chinese genes.

Since I’m the middle one, I’ve got a little bit of everything, duh! (That didn’t make sense, moving on!) So that makes us mixed by heritage! Yay!!

During high school, my Moslem teacher(s) got the shock of their life seeing me reading verses of the Holy Quran as they thought that I was pure Chinese and Buddhist. Continue reading →

Chinese, Indian, Malay, Portuguese, Thai

I’m Dhabitha and I’m Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai, and Portuguese.

My grandma on my mother’s side is Thai, Chinese and Portuguese, but she was adopted and raised by a Malay family because of the Japanese occupation. My grandfather is Indian. My father is Javanese-Sarawak.

When I lived in Malaysia I was enrolled in an international school. I fit in because almost everyone was an expat, and I had a lot of Hapa friends. But when I moved back to Singapore, it was a different experience. Most people are either Malay, Chinese or Indian. It’s rare to find Hapas. Continue reading →