Me and (second) wife went shopping at eMart, in Miri, a few moments ago. We walked past a Chinese father and his daughter and she said, in Mandarin,
"Banyak Melayu ni beli jajan" (This Malay sure bought a lot of junk food)
***
When my (first) wife's Mandarin was still good, we would order coffee and sit in kopitiams in KL and Bintulu and she would hear comments like,
"What are they doing here"
or "Why does she cover herself like that"
or even "In kai se ta men yau se choo lo"
***
I speak to my (first) wife in Semenanjung Malay, with all the accents of a KL-ite, and Sarawakian natives would assume that I myself is a Peninsular Malay. Some would converse in Iban, or Melanau, or even Sarawakian Malay, to their colleagues, thinking that I wouldn't understand their dialects. When I retorted back in Melanau, or Iban, or Sarawakian Malay, they would be red-faced.
***
I do not claim to know what are the right ingredients to hold together a nation, that seems to be bursting at the seams of racial prejudice. I do not know whether Keynesian approach (government intervention) is appropriate, or is it better to leave things at sociological evolution.
But as a Muslim, or even as a responsible pragmatist liberalist, I believe that all things should be in moderation. No extremes should be allowed. Neither end of the spectrum is good for anyone.
***
"Banyak Melayu ni beli jajan" (This Malay sure bought a lot of junk food)
***
When my (first) wife's Mandarin was still good, we would order coffee and sit in kopitiams in KL and Bintulu and she would hear comments like,
"What are they doing here"
or "Why does she cover herself like that"
or even "In kai se ta men yau se choo lo"
***
I speak to my (first) wife in Semenanjung Malay, with all the accents of a KL-ite, and Sarawakian natives would assume that I myself is a Peninsular Malay. Some would converse in Iban, or Melanau, or even Sarawakian Malay, to their colleagues, thinking that I wouldn't understand their dialects. When I retorted back in Melanau, or Iban, or Sarawakian Malay, they would be red-faced.
***
I do not claim to know what are the right ingredients to hold together a nation, that seems to be bursting at the seams of racial prejudice. I do not know whether Keynesian approach (government intervention) is appropriate, or is it better to leave things at sociological evolution.
But as a Muslim, or even as a responsible pragmatist liberalist, I believe that all things should be in moderation. No extremes should be allowed. Neither end of the spectrum is good for anyone.
***
