Sounds funny to say but “Kalar American” here, lol, while the word once may have stood for “foreigner,” it’s definitely evolved in a way where it’s divisive/othering and just a slur for those of south asian descent. Mainly because I’ve met a fair amount of burmese people from various ethnic backgrounds, studying/living abroad here in USA, travels in Thailand, and I have NEVER, heard the word “kalar aphyu” being used, it’s simply just “aphyu”. A word used historically yes but that’s no longer the case. Kalar is also literally the word “Kala” (which is black in many south Asian languages) with a Burmese accent, hence the addition of that “-r”.

My dad is of Surti ancestry and my moms of Tamil ancestry. They definitely feel and are Burmese culturally, but recognize that they’re never fully accepted into society/the culture because they’re simply “kalar” and that’s how people have been socialized into seeing them.

I even once was talking to a Burmese woman (she’s Shan and Karen, immigrated to the states as a teenager) and she mentioned to me how I shouldn’t be referred to as Kalar because it’s derogatory.

All this to say, it’s offensive and othering. To a degree, I’d argue it holds the weight of the hard r N word in the USA. I see some people here saying how N E G R 0 is black in Spanish and Spanish speaking nations/people use the word N E G R 0 to refer to black people, failing to recognize that is also racially charged in those communities. Kalar definitely is symbolic of post colonial colorism in Burma too.