Upin Ipin Mocks Chinese People, Netizens Calls Them Out For Being Racist
Upin & Ipin came under fire recently when some TikTok users pointed out that they were racist. Upin & Ipin is a Malaysian series featuring orphan 5 year old twin brothers who live with their elder sister, Kak Ros and grandmother, Opah. They lost their parents in their infancy.
In the video that went viral with over 59k views, Kak Ros was explaining to the boys that she kept the plastic bottles to recycle them later. She then asked them if they knew what it meant.
Upin replied by saying that he knew what she meant and proceeded to mimic their local rag-and-bone man, Ah Tong.
Yes, with the slit eyes and the stereotypical Chinese accent.
Netizens were quick to call out on the brothers being racist.
Some said that if the episode was released today, the series would have been cancelled.
Twitter has been cancelling Upin & Ipin for quite some time now.
This is in reference to an episode where their friend, Fizi, got into trouble for calling them orphans.
In that particular episode, Fizi mentioned that they won’t go to heaven because their mother is dead. In Islam, it is believed that the easiest way to gain heaven is to obey and be good to one’s mother.
Then there are those who said that people are taking children’s shows too seriously.
This isn’t the first time Upin & Ipin was cancelled. It started in as early as 2012 when redditors called out the rampant racial stereotypes, certain characters’ lack of sensitivity and how the brothers are annoying in general.
This redditor has a point. Children are being exposed to “harmless” jokes and they will emulate what they see because they don’t know better.
In 2021, a Twitter user, Zurairi, pointed out that the diversity in Upin & Ipin is used to milk viewership and profit. The boys have never shown any respect to the minority characters in the show.
While it is a show meant for children, the stereotypes can be harmful in the long run. Maybe it was made in jest, to celebrate the diversity found in Malaysia, but the boys casually mimicking the accents of their non Malay friends “innocently” is something that should not be encouraged.
Reporter’s Opinions: Frankly I have always found the boys fucking annoying. They remind me of toyols.
Whenever they go “betul, betul, betul!”, it makes me wanna slap them to shut them up.
It is good that the show has diverse characters but the stereotypes gotta go. The Ah Tong character does not have slit eyes so that move was unnecessary. And it’s Malaysia. The minorities don’t speak with such exaggerated accents.
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