Chinese New Year
"An exemplary , respectable, constructive, honorable and principled Mr.Opposition"- Tan Sri Dr. Tan Chee Khoon (1919- 1996) to read more about him click here
What is to be done :
It is OK to be racial, not OK to be racist...
... but better to be Malaysian!
In Malaysia each of her ethnic groups are allowed to bloom for the most part unhindered; Chinese speak Chinese, eat with chopsticks, have Chinese names; Indians have Indian names and speak their own dialects; Malays follow their traditions which are the core culture of this nation. The Iban, Kadazandusun, Bidayuh, Melanau, Bajau, Murut and the other races are able to thrive culturally considering the pressures of economic modernization.
It is OK to be racial, to follow what your tradition dictates for your behavior, beliefs and customs; it enriches and grounds us, makes us feel safe and secure with who we are in relation to everyone around us. It is not OK to be racist; to think that your race is somehow superior to others and to dislike someone or some group of people because of their ethnic background; that is plain ignorance and arrogance; we are all God’s children on this planet, as human beings we are all the same.
Specifically we are God’s children called Malaysians though we seem to be able to see ourselves as Malaysians only when we are out of Malaysia. We are first and foremost Malaysians, so why not strengthen our convictions to be who we are. At the very least realize and accept that it is a functional, cognizant goal, and strive to inculcate our children with the goal of being Malaysian: speak, read and write our language Bahasa Malaysia, with ease.
Banish the divisive aspects of race; decisions involving the people must be made based on needs not on race, after all we are one race: Malaysian. The Malaysian with the greatest need, gets. Share resources including knowledge and technology.
Give and take, Compromise! Compromise! Compromise!
Be racial if you must to reinforce your personal core, but better to be Malaysian. Tell children good things about fellow Malaysians, encourage them to get to know and to make friends with children from different ethnic backgrounds. Tell them that the others are their brothers and sisters, and in a family, we must all work together for the greater good.
At zubedy our programs draw strength from shared values and traditions. We believe at the heart all Malaysians want good things for themselves and for their brother and sister Malaysians simply because our nation cannot prosper as a whole if some of us are left behind. There’s nothing more Malaysian than progress and give-and-take.
Let us add value,
Have A Meaningful Chinese New Year
Hi Anas,
ReplyDelete1Malaysia cannot work by just doing the social part of racial interaction. So far I see the programs are only based on social events like talks, cultural performances, songs, promotions on TV,etc, etc. Your comments on it's okay to be racial (I think better word to use is race proud) and not racist is to be applauded but not concrete at all. As you know, the reason for so much dissatisfaction among the non Malays here is not about racism itself as a result from ignorance of the others culture but rather the unfairness of the Government policy towards the non Bumi. On the social interaction level, we may interact well, but deep in the hearts of many non Malays there is deep dissatisfaction to be treated this way eventhough they may be 3rd, 4th generations born here. All these inequalities should be relooked by the govt if it wants to truly unite Malaysians to be the so called 1Malaysia. All should be given the equal opportunity to strive because they are Malaysians...and not chinese, Indians, dan lain - lain, etc. Going by history, you are right that the Malays have generously 'allowed' the migrants then to intergrate but time has changed, these are no longer migrants but Malaysian born here and therefore should have equal rights. Since you are the advocate of Unity of all Malaysians,instead of looking to do it from the social aspect, you should seriously consider looking at it from policies. And in your writings, you quote that "Banish the divisive aspects of race; decisions involving the people must be made based on needs not on race, after all we are one race: Malaysian. The Malaysian with the greatest need, gets." Do you mean it at policies level or at personal level? Because in the end no matter how much we try to teach our children that we are all equal in God's eyes, one day they will grow up and ask why (eg chinese kids) with results better than their Malay counterparts, are not considered for a scholarship...they cannot go on pretending this disrimination is okay for the rest of their lives here...
Sang Kanchil, i am amaze with your confidence in knowing what is in other people's heart :)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, i am in agreement with you ... TQVM
Anaz,
ReplyDeleteSo you can speak Hokkien, big deal. So can I and more. I can even speak Mandarin, Cantonese Teochew, Hakka and Hainan, Oh don't forget being Malaccan, saya boleh juga bicara dalam bahasa Malaysia. Oops, maaf, bahasa melayu. And yet you called me a pendatang. I have been away from Malaysia for 30 odd years because of the NEP. I have made it over here, inspite of your lot and your stupid NEP.
When I first heard about you and your blog, I was interested and have been an avid follower and was quite impressed with your writings. However, since that interview with the Nut Graph, you have shown your true colour,a RACIST. I failed to understand that a socalled educated person, like your self can come up with the statement that it was fine to call us pendatang. You a YEMENI a pendatang and you deem fit to call me a pendatang. I was born in Malacca a MALAYSIAN and proud of it. My family had been here much longer than yours', like many thousands of Malaysian Indians and Chinese. You seem to be singing from the same hymm sheet of that shameful mamak false malay. As far as I am concerned plus thousands more, you are just another RACIST who thinks he is a bumi knowing full well you are a YEMENI.
we are God’s children.....
ReplyDeletebetul ka?......
Dear Sang Kancil,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback.
However you may have read the Nut Graph comments in the wrong light. The non- Malays were pendatang before 1957, read history and you will understand better what transpired before Merdeka.
I suggest you read balanced books (usually written by researchers/academics not politicians or writers aligned to political parties) like Gordon P. Means’ Malaysian Politics book 1 and 2 or his latest Political Islam in SEA.
But to call those who were born here after merdeka as pendatang is wrong as I have stressed in the interview.
As for my lineage, granddad came to this country as a pendatang too but married to a local Malay woman, assimilated, the entire clan does not speak Arabic anymore, practice the Malay culture and identify themselves as Malays.
In 1957, our forefathers decided to include in the constitution a specific article to indicate what it is to being Malay – do read it – our constitution is a well thought out document of destiny. In this land, Malay is defined in its constitution.
There were many pendatangs be they Chinese ( probably those in Kelantan), Indians ( mostly in Penang and Melaka) or God knows how many other races who had done the same as my grandfather and descendents did, assimilated, drop almost all their previous culture, adopted the culture of their spouse, and, religion too, basically lived as a Malay, do what they do and happy to call themselves Malay ie this is the color of our current lot of Malays (in fact the Kedah and Perlis Sultanate accordingly have strong Arab influence).
Studying the gene pool of the Malays will be a nightmare as the Malay race is a rojak race a myriad and amalgam of people who came, fell in love with its culture and chose to be one of them.
Sang Kancil, If your granddad or grandma wherever they came from, even from the shores of Africa or were Eskimos in the early 1900s were to marry to a Malay and did what my ancestor's did, you too would have been a Malay.
The question is, do we want to continue to be trapped in our race based psyche, or choose to be a Malaysian. I have chosen to be the latter regardless if my ancestors were Malay, Arab, Moluccas + Chinese (yes we have that too from my father’s side) , Banjaran ( mother’s side) etc.
It is alright to be racial, but not ok to be racist but better to be Malaysian.
Hate in your heart will consume you too … and btw, this will be the last comment i will write in relations to your viewpoint coz we can always agree to disagree :)