Mixed and Prejudiced

Isyana Adriani Arslan is of Indonesian and Egyptian descent. As a child, she was constantly stared at. As an adult, she has experienced prejudice from her boyfriends' families because she is a Muslim.

By Isyana Adriani Arslan

July 2003

Let me begin my letting you know that I'm not Eurasian, as there's no term to address anyone of Indonesian and Egyptian descent or other Asian and Arabic descent. My dad is half Indonesian and half Egyptian; my mom is Indonesian. I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and have lived there ever since.

I shall start with the ultimate experience that people of mixed blood certainly identify with: being stared at. When I was little, my mom often took me and my younger brother (who looks a lot more Arabic than me) to malls, and people there stared at us three: my mom with her fair skin and rather brown eyes, walking with two kids (one looked Arabic, the other Indonesian) at either side. Also when my mom went shopping at the mall and left my brother and me with our nanny at a restaurant, people actually dared ask the nanny whether my brother and I were siblings because of the different looks!

However, despite my more Indonesian look, people still mistake me for being part Indian. Well, either that or they ask me if I'm of Arabic descent, to which I say yes.

Also during my childhood, I attended a private Muslim elementary school where the majority of the students were Eurasians and children of Indonesian and Arabic descent. Because of the multicultural community, there was no racism at all. Everyone was accepting and friendly and everyone was treated the same.

Ok, enough about my childhood. Now you're in for my rather recent experiences. Of all my four ex-boyfriends, three of them are Indonesian guys of Chinese descent and different religions. My relationships with them weren't approved by their parents (actually mine as well but that's another story) because they thought since I'm of Arabic descent I must've been an extreme Muslim (think Osama bin Laden) and therefore disliked non-Muslims. What a prejudice! I wouldn't have dated their sons if I disliked non-Muslims, right?

On the other hand, my last ex, who's a pure blood Indonesian and a fellow Muslim, did expect me to know more about Islam and be more devout simply because I'm a quarter Egyptian! He even asked me why I put on cute tank tops instead of hijab when I went out. Wow. So much for being part Arabic!
Being of mixed blood has given me unique experiences to treasure. But I hope there will be less prejudiced experiences happen to other mixed blood people in the future as people in general realize that everything, including the human beings, is one, and therefore can't be generalized.

About the Author
Isyana Adriani Arslan is of Indonesian and Egyptian descent. She was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 14, 1983. She's lived in Jakarta all her life, but has traveled to Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, China (Hong Kong and Shenzhen), Europe, USA, and Canada. She's currently an English literature student at The University of Indonesia. Her hobbies are reading, blogging (visit her weblog here), chatting, traveling, and eating.

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