Malaysian actress-model Amelia Thripura Henderson was born from a Malaysian Indian mother and Scottish father, but that doesn’t not make her less Malaysian than anyone else in her country.
After representing Malaysia at the prestigious Asia Model Festival Awards (AMFA) in South Korea recently, the 23-year-old model shared the proud moment on her Instagram with the caption, “never forget where you come from”.
While most people in the comment section congratulated the “Cinta Non Grata” actress, a few netizens think that the actress is not worthy enough to represent Malaysia due to her mixed heritage.
“You’re not Malay, the Malaysian people should stand up to foreigners like you. You may be pretty, but you don’t represent Malay people,” read one comment.
The Malaysian actress then gave a long reply to the negative comment, and many people praised her for standing up for herself.
“I’m so sorry to see this comment coming from a fellow Malaysian. It’s 2019, in order to be stronger collectively as a country, we need to understand that we are diverse and multi-ethnic,” she wrote.
been working in the public eye for 23 YEARS, turned down so many high paying, high profile jobs because I wanted to stay true to my principles and do something different with my career. didn’t get here by being scared of what people think of me and I’m not about to start now. ☺️
— anggun zahara (@ameliath) June 10, 2019
“Yes, I am not Malay, but I was born in Klang, Selangor, Malaysia, to a Malaysian mother and despite my father being a foreigner, I was raised in my country, I was educated in my country, I work in my country. Malaysia is my country just as much as it is yours and nothing makes me more proud and honoured than to represent my home.”
However, that’s not the only negative comment she received regarding her citizenship. Another user has accused her of being a Filipino (most probably due to her look).
“Why are you representing Malaysia? You are Filipino. I’m mad at foreign people and Filipino for representing Malaysia. Go represent your own country,” read the comment.
To which she replied, “I’m Malaysian. I was born here, I live here and I have a Malaysian ID and Passport.”
