Fighting Against The Prejudice of Bias & Stereotyping

 Hey again! It's been a while, huh? My previous post is from 2021, apologise for the long pause guys 👀 I've been completely absorbed with work, projects and personal life!

Well, I guess today is the right time to post about this particular topic that I wanted to post since a while ago. However, these days I received some 'triggers' related to the topic and thus, the blog post. The title says a lot, I am here fighting against the prejudice of bias and stereotyping. I believed at some point of your life, you might have received or have some biases and stereotyping someone which is a natural response of human being when they see someone who is different from them, and they may have heard positive or negative things from a specific 'cluster' of human.

In this post I won't lecture people on the wrong and the right things to do related to the bias and stereotyping system. I just want to share some experiences due to my different physical appearance after I decided to wear my headscarf (hijab) to improve my faith. I'm not saying I'm better than the others, but I made this decision to be a better version of myself, based on my perspective as a practicing Muslim. Since then, I received different treatments from others. Some are good, some are not. Especially when I moved abroad and now, based in a Western country. People would not think that I am extremely easy-going and accepting of others due to the wrong perception of Muslim people, and with my current appearance it is clear for them that I am a Muslim. But being a Muslim means you are tolerant and loving, that is how the religion taught us how to be a good human. Don't judge from the people, learn from the original source (Qur'an). 

I know some of my friends took off the hijab as they could not stand the pressure of living in the West world with a hijab on, that might affect their social life as well as career (unfortunately racist practices are still being seen a few times). For me, I am willing not to care about those things and fight for my freedom of wearing hijab. I know I am imperfect, but I strive to be better and better. I want to improve and improve, step by step. I am not forcing myself to do something I am not comfortable of, I am still following the fashion trends, it is just an additional piece of headscarf that completes my look. Sadly, when people don't know really well about me, they tend to have prejudices rooted from the biases against Muslim people and stereotyping us into some negative clusters. 

Bella is just so different tho :) I received high-quality education thank you for my parents, and have been an expatriate working abroad since 2015 due to my hard work and support from my family. An expatriate with a hijab? Pretty rare sight, huh? Nope it is not, I know some other hijabis who are very successful with their career and are very independent of their lives. It is sad to know that whenever the word 'expatriate' is mentioned, people would think of a specific race or religion, specific look, specific country of origin. It is just so wrong.

Understanding that I standout a lot in this 'niche' crowd, it made me more confident to present and shape the positive perception about 'hijabi' and Muslim to the international world. I am who I am. It is me, Bella. Also a proud Indonesian! (sad that a lot of people know about Bali, but not Indonesia)

I don't care about what people say, I am still assimilating well with the others, I accept differences and respect others. So please, stop building your own biases and stereotypes against any group of people because you can't generalise everyone. It hurts. Spread more love and positivity so we can build a better world.

With love,

Bella