*This article marks the launch of a new writing corner, “I, MY.” The corner’s primary aim is to invite international students and marginalized minorities at Monash University to share their experiences as ‘outsiders’ in Malaysia. It’s open to everyone in Monash Malaysia, with the overarching goals of fostering better inclusion, encouraging greater interaction, and deeper understanding within the community.*

Why Are You Here?

Upon starting my studies at Monash Malaysia, I often found myself confronted with the question, “Why did you come to this country?”

It’s a question that can lead you to a profound realization that “I do not quite belong here.” Suddenly, everything about you that was once considered ‘normal’ becomes a reminder of your strangeness – your dinner menu, your facial features, your reactions, and even the exotic sentences you directly translate from your mother tongue to English. This is not limited to international students. For the marginalized minorities, it happens throughout their lives,

based on their religion, gender, ethnicity, racial traits, and so on.

Regardless of how dynamic your relationship with the country may be, this question shines a spotlight on you and places you on a stage where you exist solely as an outsider. Living as a minority often involves grappling with such questions. This curiosity, which momentarily interrupts your life, can delve deep into the psyche of a person who obtains a reality that is not discussed. This accentuates the fact that documenting this experience is essential to your personal history.

I Am Here, and I Am Foreign

The title “I, MY” encapsulates the two main themes of this corner. In English, the distinction between the subject pronoun ‘I’ and the possessive adjective ‘my’ is a significant step toward redefining you as an individual and the thought of the boundaries between yourself and the titles you bear. It prompts you to explore your role in your world and the meaning

you carry. Furthermore, this corner is specifically designed to delve into the dynamics of the lives of international students and marginalized minorities within the Malaysian context. It explores the parallel experiences of ‘I’ and the country ‘MY’ – the unending negotiations between the personal transformations that students voluntarily undergo to immerse themselves in society and the enduring differences as foreigners that maintain the gaps. In “I, MY,” we not only see the individual but the world behind them. We celebrate the challenges, accomplishments, and concerns of marginalized people. You will observe how other students view things in Malaysian society. By dissecting the empirical dynamics of continuous transformation, we witness how the discourses a member of a minority community carries develop, finally making one extraordinary in this world.

Now, It Is Time to Talk About You

Share with us why you are changing, and tell us what remains at your core, the internal power

that will eternally define who you are. Yes, I am an alien, and I came here in peace. I have stories to share about my planet.

Written by Juyeoung

Design by Jeanette