Google Executive Shares How Sikhs are Mistaken for Bengalis in Malaysia, Reveals Intriguing Explanation

Parminder Singh, former Managing Director of Google and Twitter, recently shared an interesting observation about ethnicity in a tweet posted on April 14. He noted how Sikhs are often referred to as Bengalis in Malaysia, alongside everyone from North India. Mr. Singh also provided a historical explanation for this confusion, which he learned from fellow Malay Indians during a meditation retreat in Malaysia.

According to Mr. Singh, the British India had three sea ports – Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. British Malaya was served by ships from Calcutta and Madras. Consequently, most North Indians used the Calcutta port, the majority of whom were Sikhs recruited for army, police, and security jobs.

As a result, to the Malay people, everyone who didn’t come from Madras, essentially everyone from North India, was perceived as Bengali. In a lighter vein, Mr. Singh mentioned that some Malay Indians insisted on calling him “Parry Dada” (the Bengali term for elder brother), highlighting the contrast with how North Indians tend to label everyone from the South as “Madrasis”. This sparked amusing anecdotes from other users, who shared similar experiences of cultural misperceptions in other parts of the world.

One user shared that in East Africa, Sikhs are called “Kala Singha”, which originated from the name of an early immigrant Sikh. This was followed by another user noting the tendency to label all white people as “Angrez”, which means English, similarly to how Sind/Hind/Indus became a mistaken label for all South Asians. Overall, the discussion highlighted the varied and sometimes inaccurate perceptions of cultural identities, and the understanding that all names and labels are acceptable.