I have one specific post that I have been cooking in my head for quite some time, and that is race relation in Malaysia as seen from a Sarawakian Malay perspective in the Foochow-dominated town of Sibu.
There is something about nation-building, about friendship, about you and me, about all of us, that I want to talk about, talk in the open, without fear, but with some prejudice and bias.
I will readily admit, at certain times in my life, I was a racist. Whether I still am, is something we can talk about.
But I am now in my 30s going to the big "four zero" in life, and my outlook towards reality and life in general and interpersonal relationship in particular has changed quite a bit.
Gone were the days when I was a fanatic Islamist.
Gone were the days where I believed in Malay supremacy ("ketuanan Melayu").
Gone were the days where I looked down on the beliefs of others.
And I do this not to curry favor from my non-Malay, non-Muslim friends.
I changed because I believe in the change.
I believe if I do not change, others will not change.
If I continue to be a racist, others will continue to be racists.
So I sat down with non-Muslims, non-Malay friends, and share the food they eat, drink from the same cup they do (of course in light of Hepatitis B and all, this may not be the in thing to do, :P), joined them in mock military combats, etc etc...
So what say you...
You ready for nation-building?
There is something about nation-building, about friendship, about you and me, about all of us, that I want to talk about, talk in the open, without fear, but with some prejudice and bias.
I will readily admit, at certain times in my life, I was a racist. Whether I still am, is something we can talk about.
But I am now in my 30s going to the big "four zero" in life, and my outlook towards reality and life in general and interpersonal relationship in particular has changed quite a bit.
Gone were the days when I was a fanatic Islamist.
Gone were the days where I believed in Malay supremacy ("ketuanan Melayu").
Gone were the days where I looked down on the beliefs of others.
And I do this not to curry favor from my non-Malay, non-Muslim friends.
I changed because I believe in the change.
I believe if I do not change, others will not change.
If I continue to be a racist, others will continue to be racists.
So I sat down with non-Muslims, non-Malay friends, and share the food they eat, drink from the same cup they do (of course in light of Hepatitis B and all, this may not be the in thing to do, :P), joined them in mock military combats, etc etc...
So what say you...
You ready for nation-building?
12 comments:
Bravo ! I am glad you have responded...
Hmm, this topic is indeed mind boggling for me though it is quite simple and straight (speak your mind) but it needs a lot of reflection especially looking at the current affairs in our country.
I must admit that the government for least has inculcated in our mind since young (especially those of us from the national school) to work together among races.
It is definitely very difficult to blend all those differences without changes.
Hansac, I agree that to unify all these differences, we must be the first to change by accepting differences among us. It is hard but we must keep this building up the bonding as to create the strong wave of unity. Simple acts like wishing to each others will create small ripples, medium...like joining cultural events will promote some wind....bigger one would be mix marriages will ensure you blend your family together (but quite difficult...it needs fate ??).
Well, we must start from somewhere...probably from this blog reaching out to all our classmates of different races/etnics...organised reunion not only during Chinese New Year...which will be more Chinese oriented...but on other occasions...what say you ? (BTW, I am planning to propose for a 3rd version of Kuching Reunion during Hari Raya celebration in coming October...Heroes, you are elected as the Chairman...bingo !)
My second wife is half-Chinese. Maybe my third wife should be full-blooded, errr, Kadazandusun???
:)
It is not the people that had made the differentiation, it is the gomen that had done so all these years, despite all the patriotic and unity songs on RTM.
I look around, and I still see a lot of wonderful inter-racial friendships/relationships. I love the fact that among some of my Malay friends & me, we hug when we hvn't seen each other for a while.
My hubby is slightly racist. So I ask him this question: Do you want your children to grow up in an environment of racist chaos? Our children becomes who WE ARE and what WE DO, there is no running away from that.
There are Malays who have fought for the rights of other races e.g. a certain blogger. I respect him with all my heart.
Put all the political bulls- -t aside, we have been united all these while. Let's keep this unity for the sake of our future generation.
I have emphasis many time that at this point of time, Malaysia shall focus on its economy. The world is changing and Malaysia has lost its competitiveness in the labour intensive industry. If not without the oil and gas and other matural resources, the economy already collapse.
Manufacturing which support majority of the employment is shrinking. Foreign investors are not coming and Malaysia businessmen are investing oversea. The dependent of Malaysia economy on United State is another worrying sign. The United State is in recession. The only country that absorb the resources now is China. This is mainly to satisfy the demand of the coming Olympic game.
After the Olympic, the demand for resources will drop. The European economy is also in recession. It is a long winter ahead. Better spend wisely now as a major global recession is waiting. In addtion, the global food shortage which is rare but is happening now.
The most interesting drama is Malaysian politicians has gone overboard by performing remarkable shows.
They shall focus on building the economy. In Chinese saying, there is an opportunity in every danger. Malaysians shall explore the opportunity together during this time of uncertainty regardness of ethnics.
in another 1 decade malaysia will be like phillipine when il and gas run out
Mind to elaborate further how can Malaysia be like Phillipine when O&G ran out, Chua?
Not familiar with Phillipine country except for geographical knowledge learnt in school.
BTW, ur full name pls?
so you are very familiar with phillipine! you reside there, is it?
I have been to Philippines a few times. One time, I was there for two months. One month in Manila and one month in Batangas (80 km south of Manila, a port protected by a natural bay).
Philippines is an archipelago, and the main island, Luzon, is a burgeoning metropolis. There are more than 70 million Filipinos, majority are concentrated on Luzon.
I do agree that at some point in life, especially when we're nearing half foot into the grave, we would only then realise that life is suppose to be simple and everyone is the same irrespective of race and religion.
Like the way we were when in kindergarden school. Do we, at that time know what race of religion is? No and it dont matter at all then. Only when we grow up, we were instilled by the Government to be a racists.
Maybe some of you might not agree but look around us nowadays and all you see is a very clear line drawn on race and religion.
Hopefully, with this plan in mind by Hansac, we might be able to change for the betterment of our children, especially us Sarawakians.
when we were born we don't mind who our neighbours' are and as we grow up we start fighting for religion,power and so on...!When in grave we don't mind who our neighbours buried next to us. Stop racism!!!!
Hold on..anonymous...Government does not instilled in us on racism
...I think it is more towards those we mixed around during our growing time till current time that mould our thinking.
Race and religion is two different thing. So, we must always stay on a very healthy approach in looking at these two areas. Yes, when we are small, we may not know the difference. Thus, it is the duty of the parents to ensure this is properly educated and shared. Teachers also are playing vital role in moulding the thinking and character of the young person.
Whatever it is, we must be responsible to our own thinking and action. The moment we are aware we have done something wrong, we must stop and change to ensure no more repetition of such error. It can always start from ourself in moving forward to build a greater Malaysian.
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