i always wondered why we refer to caucasians as "Mat Saleh". the other time while the boss was away, my colleagues and i questioned the same thing and one of them stumbled upon the following.
The term actually originated from the term ‘Mad Sailor’. This was because during the British rule, there were many British sailors who often got drunk and harassed the people. Some locals were beaten up, while some were even raped. The locals began to call the British ‘Mad Sailors’. However, due to some problems with pronunciation, the locals could only managed to say something like ‘Mat Seler’. This, in time, became what we know today as ‘Mat Salleh’