INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

TECHNOLOGY PARK MALAYSIA

STUDENT NAME: ABU MOHAMMAD ALI SADIQUZZAMAN

STUDENT ID: TP064826 

MODULE NAME: INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS AND CULTURAL

DIVERSITY

MODULE CODE: ERA002-3-1

INTAKE CODE: APD1F2106 -SE

ASSIGNMENT TITTLE: INDIVIDUAL REFLECTIVE REPORT

HAND OUT DATE: 5TH JULY 2021

HAND IN DATE: 10TH SEPTEMBER 2021

WEIGHTAGE: 20%

 Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity Asia Pacific University Individual Report
Table of contents
1.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................................3

2.0 Description of the experience.............................................................................................3

3.0 Reflections of the experience..............................................................................................4

4.0 Reflections after the experience.........................................................................................4

References.......................................................................................................................................6

 Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity Asia Pacific University Individual Report
 1.0 Introduction
This report is about an intercultural experience I had when I had an opportunity to travel
to a place outside my birthplace. Intercultural interaction reflects a significant shift in
how people interact with the environment, influencing our identities and values. Because
we must manage new barriers (such as conflict) or possibilities when exposed to the
unexpected, we modify our way of thinking about the globe (Matthews, 2020). The focus
here is to reflect on the lessons and knowledge gained from experiencing a very different
culture.
The situation further described in this report is when I traveled from my country,
Bangladesh, to Sarawak in Malaysia to pursue my higher education, and I had to stay
there with different people with different cultural backgrounds for about six months.
. 

2.0 Description of the experience

Sarawak is a historical area that is presently a Malaysian state. It occupies the northwest
portion of the island of Borneo (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.-b).
Sarawak, Malaysia's biggest state, is the place of residence for 27 ethnicities. With 45
languages, each group has its own set of stories, beliefs, customs, and civilizations. They
also have their rich rituals, food, art, habits (Sarawak Tourism Board, 2021).
In Sarawak, I had a very diverse group of friends always around me, and Malaysia is a
melting pot of culture, there were celebrations of festivals from different cultures almost
every month. Even though I was aware of the differences between me and my friends'
cultures, but I never gave it an in-depth thought. However, during the Chinese New Year
celebration in Sarawak, which I realized is celebrated very extravagantly in Malaysia, I
was fortunate enough to get invited to my Malay Chinese friend’s house along with
another friend (from Australia) to celebrate the Chinese New Year with my friend and her
family. When we were preparing ourselves to look our best for the celebration, I realized
my friend from Australia was dressed in Traditional Chinese attire for women and had a
hairstyle similar to traditional hairstyles for Chinese/Asian women and was trying to
speak like them with a thick accent. However, it did not seem strange or alarming, but my

 Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity Asia Pacific University Individual Report
 friend who invited us pointed out that it was a form of cultural appropriation. According
to Cuncic (2020), Cultural appropriation refers to the use of artifacts or aspects of a non-
dominant culture in a way that fails to acknowledge its true meaning, respect its origin, or
strengthen the prejudices, or leads to oppression. I requested my friend who invited us to
elaborate on the topic because I wanted to know more. My friend explained that we,
belonging to different cultures, can appreciate other cultures, but we cannot appropriate
them. She also mentioned cultural appropriation comes in different forms, like- mocking
how people from a certain culture speak, dress up and celebrate through traditional
symbolism that holds historical value, and it is important to people from that specific
culture. It may also be considered disrespectful to mock a culture, even if it was done
unconsciously.

3.0 Reflections of the experience

Initially, there was a feeling of awkwardness, but also embarrassment because I did not
educate myself beforehand, and I could not speak against the cultural appropriation as I
did not have the knowledge about the particular culture. Also, because I did not want
anyone to experience disrespect towards their culture or beliefs.
However, soon a sense of curiosity came over me and I began to ask questions to educate
myself further. I realized that it is very crucial to make ourselves aware of the
surrounding cultures, especially the place where we have to live.

4.0 Reflections after the experience

To conclude, I took the incident as a lesson for myself because I had an opportunity to
experience a crucial moment in a different culture. I later researched and educated myself
on what is acceptable and unacceptable by certain cultures in Malaysia, and how to be
respectful of one’s culture, and how to appreciate and celebrate a culture without
disrespecting it, and while learning about cultures, I came across so many surprising and
beautiful aspects of different cultures. I also educated myself on how people interact and

 Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity Asia Pacific University Individual Report
 how a person from another nation, culture should interact and behave. Furthermore,
I opened myself up to listening to people from different cultures, and beliefs more, and
hearing the words of people who want to embrace me and acknowledge me as a visitor in
their culture. I discovered, instead of becoming a rescuer and attempting to change things,
I needed to strive to learn first. That is why I was constantly striving to understand more
about international interactions and gain access to more intercultural educational events
to broaden my horizon even more and become an ally to different cultures. To summarize
what I learned, Intercultural encounters help us to perceive the world from a different
viewpoint. It fosters compassion, acceptance of differences, and adaptability. It could
motivate us to improve our toughness, communication abilities, and knowledge (Bennett,
1998).
Looking back at the situation I encountered before, I would have definitely educated
myself earlier as I was already going to attend a celebration from a different culture and
know-how to be respectful and that culture is very important to people, and everyone
possesses the right to protect and conserve their culture.

[Word count- 905]

 Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity Asia Pacific University Individual Report
References
Matthews, B. (2020, January 14). You are what you think — how your intercultural experiences

shape you. Medium. https://medium.com/intercultural-mindset/you-are-what-you-think-how-

your-intercultural-experiences-shape-you-ee6cd79ad00e

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.-b). Sarawak | state, Malaysia. Encyclopedia

Britannica. Retrieved August 20, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Sarawak-state-

Malaysia

Sarawak Tourism Board. (2021, April 22). More Sarawak. Visit Sarawak 2021 #FightCOVID19.

https://sarawaktourism.com/discover-sarawak-malaysia/

Cuncic, A. (2020, August 29). What Is Cultural Appropriation? Verywell Mind.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-cultural-appropriation-5070458

Bennett, M.J., 1998. (PDF) intercultural Communication: A current perspective. ResearchGate.

Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246501677_Intercultural_Communication_A_Current_
Perspective [Accessed August 24, 2021].

 Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity Asia Pacific University Individual Report