"Meleis" was coined by @/1Obefiend who to my knowledge is a Malay man https://twitter.com/aina_salsabiila/status/1266047634235551744

Meleis is not a racial slur, but it can be used to put down poor Malay people so the term is pretty classist.

that doesn't make it a racial slur in any way. Not even if the Chinese or the Indians use it. Usually the ones offended by these are often Malay people who are racist, sexist and/or homophobic. Do you want to be associated with them?

BUT again, Meleis is a term MIRED in classism and attempting to "other" bigoted Malays (who are incidentally from lower classes) from the urban, well-to-do Malays (often associated with being "liberal") even though if they --

-- had the same level of education and awareness of poor Malays they would also be as racist and bigoted. Hell, a lot of urban Malays are still bigoted.

This thread also explains (better) why Meleis is a classist term: https://twitter.com/faristheahmad/status/1266301507822968832

So no, Meleis is not a racial slur, but it's still a shitty term to use especially if you're a privileged, rich Malay. I said what I said