My initial reaction was how she would react to it, not whether it was gonna be ok or not for her to be away from us for days while her teacher's concern was if I would give her permission to go.
Today, at church I was pleasantly surprised that the visiting priest had said that whilst some have opinions of their own, religion freedom is pretty much how one chooses to see ones own. If their faith is strong enough, having one's church anywhere is good enough for its not the physical sense we should be concerned about.
Which brings me back to the title of this posting.
Which Malaysian are you?
Are you the type that would encourage your friend to stay on abroad after their studies so that they can have a new life?
Are you the type that would shun any attempt at nation building just like you do at the National Service camps?
Are you the type that would tell your children that they should not befriend their classmate because of their different belief?
Or are you the type that silently agree to the ways and means introduced to bridge the gap between Malaysians of different ethnicity?
Why is it that we are so readily to accept dining on different cuisine yet so indifferent to our fellow Malaysians of different culture?
There will always be extreme elements in society, but to simply generalise these elements as 'agencies' of the government, whilst encouraging public dissent to confront the law is simply irresponsible on the part of those inciting.
Are we ready to embrace the nation and set aside our prejudicial ways?
I do not see anything wrong with MINORITY groups like Perkasa voicing their concerns for Malays nor do I see anything wrong with Chinese lobby groups for Chinese education to stay. For if Hindraf did not blatantly lie about 'ethnic cleansing', they would have got my support too.
In my observations, the people whom I engaged in different issues almost completely believe in the information they received from unofficial sources.
For example, the Lynas issue would mean for them what was being said by pressure groups, and for as long as someone was arguing for Lynas, they would have been bought. Never mind official responses from government as they too are branded as lies. Someone up there is making money from this.
So, do you fit into this category?
Have we forgotten that this is indeed a democratic country and that we all did our part in the last elections? With that, this country has to move on.
I guess before I get carried away, all I am saying is, start looking a things positively and do your part. Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for her.
Just Friday, a day after I got the call, Cikgu Habsah called again to say that my second girl aged 10 will also be selected for the camp. She thanked me for saying yes, I guess this because others have said no. Naturally as parents, my wife voiced her concern for safety. I believe that both the education ministry and teachers know their responsibilities.
I know my children will learn something from this, and get a sense of pride when told that their effort is for building a better Malaysia for themselves not us.
Why not us? Some of us have already given up hope as Malaysians, choosing to badmouth a young country like ours, whilst some are more focussed on ensuring that Malaysia remains behind in the region.
But yet, there are still some of us who are committed to this Malaysia we all come to love and call our home.
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12 comments:
Way back in the early 80s I lost my job too because i was pregnant....and I was working and living in the West then...so its not just in Malaysia that this is happening.
I have never voted in Malaysia before as I've lived abroad for a quarter of a century...but I came back and readapted myself, so did my children, all 5 of them being born and bred abroad.
Frankly, I am really sick to my back teeth of all these conspiracy theories where the govt is blamed for everything thats gone awry. Its as if the govts not done a single thing right,in the eyes of the opposition parties.We have travelled so far together since independence..and we are now in serious danger of losing what our founding fathers have work so hard for.Let us stand united again under the banner of 1Malaysia before its too late...and no, I am not a member of any political party.Just a Malaysian not wanting to see the country torn apart by those with personal aspiration, racial and religious interests.Have a pleasant day and peace to us all.
muststopthis man
i like your malaysian thoughts
i don't like to generalize but now and here in our good country of birth, this is the tendency of many to do... dangerous it is to generalize
and why must we poke at one another ?
many visitors are very fond of this country, but some her own people..... need i say more !
they are more interested to see we fight one another.... this power crazed extremists
they dismiss everything good about this country
they despise those who don't go with their provoking method
they make believe the wrongs to be right
they continue to complain
at the end of the day, we are just people whether we are colored white, yellow, brown or black
God lend us some time to be here and live on earth to enjoy all the earthly rewards, so let us do just that
heaven can wait, don't you think ?
your blog page looks heavenly soothing.. nice one
orangair
I'm sorry but things are not fine in Malaysia! A lot of us are still in the denial stage. Until the day when we have a strong opposition to provide the right check & balance in the government, the rakyat will be on the losing side.
PERKASA to me is exactly the same as Hitler's NAZI party. Mind you, the NAZI party started with only 7 people in the beginning! So, how did it get its "army"? The many jobless master race "Aryan" youths who listened to the MINORITY cries that it's the Jews to blame for controlling the economy! Doesn't this sound awfully familiar now?
Anyway, back to the present. Just today, I read again in the news the former Kedah (BN) govt only managed to make RM8M of revenue from the logging industry in 2007. When PR took over, this became RM38M in 2009, RM58M in 2010; not to mention without opening new forest tracts & it was done by giving open contracts! Can you see how much has been stolen from the rakyat? This is just 1 state (not the richest state) and just 1 industry (not the biggest industry)!
No one has made a study yet on how much money has moved overseas, but just have a look at what the top 10 richest men in Malaysia are doing!
I fear because I know I'm not the majority. I fear because certain parties tactics' to blame the minority (a whole race in fact) for a loss in elections is pretty much preposterous but still accepted by some. I fear because the incumbent Malaysian political party has only "bullets" of "sex videos" in their arsenal to silence the opposition. And last of all, I fear the silent majority will very rarely take action into their own hands.
Finally a voice of reason!
I keep on telling everyone that if you have nothing good to say about the country, its people & its produce (most especially in the company of foreigners), then don't say anything!
A lot of Malaysians love to complain & badmouth fellow Malaysians, Malaysian Govt and also Malaysian produce. What they don't realise is the consequence of their irresponsible yakking.
With globalisation & high-speed internet connection.. regional/global high-end or support jobs can easily move to any country.. As it is now we are already losing out to SG, PH & India. Who wants to hire Malaysians when Malaysians themselves bad-mouth & look down on their own people capabilities?
Malaysian Chinese always think that they are good, smart & hard-working... maybe if you're comparing yourself with some (NOT ALL) laid-back Malays. Wake-up!! You now have to compete with China & Singapore Chinese, India Indians, Filipinos.. maybe Koreans too. Do you honestly think that you're more hardworking & smarter than the India Indians, Filipinos, China & Singapore Chinese?
My point is: Let's not give ourselves disadvantages over other nation.. just becoz we love to bitch about other fellow Malaysians. To foreigners Malaysians are Malaysians.. regardless of colours.
Enough is enough!
*Malaysian true & true AND loving it!
am amazed with your take on perkasa. seriously, what do you think of perkasa? arent they fanning for blood? i'm worried abt how things could turn for the worst due to perkasa.
4 of us including me were sent to missionary schools in the '60s.
Those below me, 4 altogether, after the May 13 affair, were all sent to SJKC.
My late father was a HM of a Malay School..
Sad, our elders did so much to ensure their children live in harmony over thse years. My friends from Std1, mixture or Chinese and Indians, even to this very day still meet-up on a monthly basis just to keep the flame of friendship burning, right to our grandkids.
And so are my other siblings, they are so close not only with their Chinese classmates, even amongst their families.
So where did things go wrong? Which group is actually creating so much discomfort?
exConventMuslim
I don't know about you, When someone threat others like 2nd class citizen, I will not keep silent. When someone make others feel inferior, I will not keep silent. When someone threaten a whole community because he heard a rumor, I will not keep silent.
Let me ask you a simple question. If you child did something unreasonalble towards another child, will you keep silent because he is your child or will you reprimand your child because he did something wrong. We must "do the right thing" not "do things right".
Dear Tony,
Firstly, condolences to the bereaved families of the Hulu Langatlandslide tragedy.
Coming back to your post, these questions you asked must have been burning within you waiting for an appropriate moment.
I feel the same way.
"Are you the type that would tell your children that they should not befriend their classmate because of their different belief?"
By coincidence I had a text message from my daughter during cathechism class yesterday and the above quote aptly applies to what occasioned.
It will be a subject of my blogpost.
More transpired and I wanted to be more critical but your above question will suffice.
All the best
Freddie
Anonymous,
“…I fear because I know I'm not the majority. I fear because certain parties tactics' to blame the minority (a whole race in fact) for a loss in elections is pretty much preposterous but still accepted by some. I fear because the incumbent Malaysian political party has only "bullets" of "sex videos" in their arsenal to silence the opposition. And last of all, I fear the silent majority will very rarely take action into their own hands…”
Do you realize that in this para alone you have mentioned the word fear four times?
So who is sowing fear and hatred now?
Obviously, you do not have many non-chinese friends and have been indoctrinated hook line and sinker by the race based opposition hogwash.
Please be more original and don’t use your shallow hollywood mentality by accusing Perkasa equivalent to the Nazis.
I’ve yet to see any any Auschwitz concentration camps here or maybe you are going to call the National Service camps as one.
It’s obvious from your statement above that you are indeed a racist.
Therefore as you are NO DIFFERENT from them, you do NOT have the right to claim the higher ground!
Carry on Tony!
the country is so divided and the majority is threatening the minority and you dont see anything wrong with it? What kind of Malaysian are you? I'm guessing the UMNO type..You disgust me.
Too Tall,
Great posting. Malaysians have to grow through these phases:
Understand
Tolerate
Accept
Adapt
Everyone should try their best to work towards a better Malaysia and go through all these processes, unconditionally.
Thanks for sharing
kudos to you.
let's hang on to our hope
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