Malaysia is made up of a diverse and varied number of cultures and heritages, all which form an inextricable part of its history’s tapestry. And by that merit, we Malaysians all make a point of respecting and understanding the differences that exist between one another in a bid to live harmoniously within a singular community.
Malaysian Indian netizen gets racially profiled by travel agent
But unfortunately that was far from the case in an interaction that was experienced by local netizen Jess Rajan, after she had recently reached out to a local travel agent ahead of a potential family trip. Taking to her social media account to recount the incident, Rajan said that she had initially contacted GMC Travel for the purposes of inquiring about a tour package.
After a preamble of pleasantries, she sent them three questions with regards to her concerns, but was shocked by the responses she wound up receiving from the travel agent who liaised with her. Having informed Rajan that her family would need to bring appropriate clothing to their intended destination as temperatures would drop to below 10-degrees Celsius, the travel agent proceeded to then ask what race both she and her family happened to be.
“Why do you need to ask for race?” Rajan, who was understandably taken aback, queried in return.
It was at that point that the travel agent explained that from his experience, Indian clients tend to ‘ask a lot of things’ and eventually go silent without following through. In comparison, he claims that Chinese customers only ever ask two questions, usually concerning the race of the company’s proprietor.
“This is the reason Malaysia cannot emerge, because of people like you. You categorise people based on their race, which [is] rude and unprofessional.” Rajan chided in response.
Unfazed by the criticism, the travel agent adds that Indians typically ask too many ‘silly questions’, and said that ‘different industries’ have ‘different approaches’ when Rajan told him that she also worked in sales.
“Race has nothing to do with the inquirer.” Rajan states.
But the travel agent rebukes by claiming that it does, before going further to state that while he enjoys working in the industry a lot, he dislikes dealing with ‘certain races’ that give ‘a lot of problems’. Refusing to tolerate his behaviour any more, Rajan demanded to speak to his supervisor, whicch eventually resulted in him sending a half-baked apology.
In it, he claims that he had asked about her race as he wanted to present Rajan with ‘accurate information’ regarding their tour packages, as they are a Muslim-run company. However if one were to look at their chat correspondence from before, that was not the case.
A deputy minister has been alerted of the matter
Speaking with WauPost, Rajan said that she had initially contacted the company on the 25th of January, 2023. When asked if she is intent on taking action against the company, she said that she plans to do so but adds that a deputy minister plans to speak to the travel agency on account of the racist exchange.
She adds that the company has not taken any further action on the implicated staff member beyond issuing another public apology statement to their social media channels. As one can expect, the experience has left Rajan feeling upset and shame over the judgement that she received over her race.
“The apology was non related and that goes to show you that they really are ignorant and have no idea what a racist he was.”
Travel agent turned out to be alleged owner of the company
Furthermore, other social media users have also taken to sharing their own experiences in dealing with, or working under GMC Travels Sdn Bhd with Rajan since her post went viral. One of them claims to be a former employee of the company for 7 to 8 years, and said that the company’s lackluster management has caused an incredibly high turnover rate.
Beyond that, it was also alleged that the travel agent that Rajan had spoken to was not in-fact an employee, but rather the owner of the company. This correspondence was sighted and confirmed by WauPost.
We have reached out to GMC Travels Sdn Bhd for comment on the issue.
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