Malaysia Day? Why Not?

For the past couple of years or so, I've read more about ethnic & religious harmony, and national unity in newspapers and seen or heard it on broadcast, than I ever did in my last 25 years of living as a Malaysian. I don't really know how I feel about it. How do you feel about it?

In a way, it's a good thing; every minister in the cabinet came out saying, "Malaysians are lucky to be able to live in a multiracial yet harmonious country..." or "Our achievements today would not have been possible without the unity and stability that we've kept all these years..." or "The government safeguards the needs of all races and religions in ensuring everyone's development..." And then our beloved and respected Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak would every now and then appear on TV to spread the 1Malaysia ideology... Romantic, isn't it?

Okay, sarcasm aside, I do honestly sometimes think that it's a great thing. But what pisses me off is the fact that, before this whole 1Malaysia thing started, before all the ministers and the Prime Minister himself emphasized and kept mentioning about national unity and ethnic harmony these days, we never admitted that we were a racist country for a very long time.

To prove that, we are still so used to classifying ourselves by race and religion, or which state we come from. I can safely say that I'm one of the most non-racist or non-religion-classification-judgmental person (if you have a better noun or adjective for that, please correct me) I know. But to this very day, even after all the studies and experiences that I went through to become the non-racist person that I am today, I'm still tempted to answer, "Sino-Kadazan," or "Sabahan" or "Catholic" when being asked of my race or religion. That is not the worst part. The worst part is, there is a little sense of pride when I say that. Like a chauvinistic somehow... And that's sad...

Whether we like or not, or more importantly, whether we admit it or not, we are proud to be the race that we are, more than we are about our nationality. In a way, that's great. But in a larger perspective, that's not a really nice picture. At least I think so. That is because we are not proud as Malaysians. Even more sadly, I don't think we even identify ourselves as Malaysians, but as our respective races, state of origin, and religions instead.. Prove? Quick test; Try to answer "Malaysian," whenever anyone asks you what race you are. It's not that easy (I've tried). You would find yourself pausing before you could answer "Malaysian." And even when you managed to, I bet that the person at the other end would say something like, "Ya lah, I know. But what race?" Get it?

It's not your fault or mine. I think a huge contributing factor to our mindset today, is the fact that we were subconsciously trained to (I can go into details about this years of 'subconscious training', but that would definitely defeat the purpose of this post). It got so bad that I was ever even asked, "Sudah brapa lama di Malaysia?" by someone from the Peninsular, upon learning that my friends and I are from Sabah & Sarawak. This is an experience that I believe so many others share.

But sadness, anger, and disappointment aside, regardless of how long it took the government to declare September 16th as a MALAYSIA DAY, regardless of how many requests and arguments presented and brought forward to the government to finally acknowledge the day Sabah & Sarawak joined Malaya to FORM MALAYSIA, I think we should just all rejoice that well, Sept 16th is NOW Malaysia Day.

And despite the fact that the 1Malaysia concept came about a little too late I would say (although I think Dato' Seri Najib should have came up with the idea before the March 2008 general election to make it look more real and believable), maybe we should just all put our doubts, differences, disagreements (and sarcasms) aside, and give it a shot. 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now? Why not. *wink wink*

Happy Malaysia Day everyone.

Cheers!

Change

Change. A word, more often than not, repeated in the mouths of many since the past few decades, but more prominently so since the past few months. Is it happening? The current ruling party lost its 2/3 majority for the first time last March. Five states of this nation, who had in majority voted for the Opoosition, make up a lot of people. It is a way of saying, "No more." I would say, it is starting.

The Opposition may or may not fail to do what they promised they would fulfill when/if they managed to take over the governance of this country. By the time that (take-over) happens, they'll probably be fighting amongst themselves - with the predominantly Chinese DAP in it, Islamic State-visioned PAS in it, and the Keadilan in it. We can't deny the possibility that what's happening amongst the BN coalition (pissed Gerakan and MCA peeps) can happen to the Opposition. But hey, let's accept the fact that the current situation in our government is already screwed anyway, and what we really need right now, is CHANGE. Any change now would do, probably even if it means passing on the governance to people whose ability to bring about a positive change we doubt. But any change would do. Long as we do something about it. If they (the Opposition) said they can change this country, then give them that chance. How else would we know and then learn to trust a person's driving skills without even giving them the chance to put their hands on the steering wheel?

A friend I was having a drink with asked me, "What exactly do we need to change?" after telling me how he's sick of people - bloggers, in particular - who just can't stop complaining and firing up opinions of their readers to chastise the government along with them. He said, "You've never been to Indonesia or India before and try living there. You don't really take into consideration how aweful it is there. Ugly politics? Check. Corruption? Check. Blood-spilling riots? Check. Checked all these and they are way worse than what our people keep complaining about here. Why don't we just be thankful for what we have? What's there to change?"

He has a point. He is right about being thankful how things are not as bad as the condition of other war-tormented countries. But friend, this isn't about only complaining. This isn't about how ungrateful we are for the country we were born in and live in. This is about loving this country too much to let it be run the way it is being run. This is about loving this country too much to let the same old takes place year by year yet things get worse. This is about loving this country too much to just sit on the problems that are occuring in her economy, education, racial relations, crimes, etc. This is about taking a stand to change, deciding to do something for our country, because she is obviously not well.

The Opposition is blaming the Government for being racists. The Government is blaming the Opposition for being power-obssesed. The Chinese are blaming the Malays for being chauvinistic. The Malays are blaming the Indians for increase of criminal rates. The Borneans are blaming the West Malaysians for being biased. And so on. For the racial tension that is going on in our country, I'd like to just blame our forefathers for not being able to handle what was possibly easily curbed simply by not demanding too much for their own respective race's gain. But now is not the time for blaming. I don't see why if truly, the Government is doing what they're doing for the sake of the Rakyat, the people of this country, can't hear people out instead of detaining them when they bring up the issues that are essential to be discussed. And if truly they are about bringing about betterment for this country, why can't they just accept and discuss the opinions of the Opposition TOGETHER, instead of lashing out at them and create war in the media, defending themselves and boast about what they have done for the people? If truly, they are about this country... Why not?

Will things be better if the Opposition takes over governance? Maybe yes, maybe no. Whatever it is, we can't keep doing things the way we've been doing it for the past decades. Like what Barrack Obama said, "We need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.” What makes me think that the Government should step down and let others take control? Present was future in the past. And in the past they had said they would change the country to be better for the greater good. But as present is now here, we see that things are only worsening. If they love this country, and the Rakyat, they would be less selfish and see that there must be something wrong in the way they're doing things, and give other people - who claim that they can do something about it - a chance.

And as for us the people, to go about organizing nationwide campaigns might sound too big and not achievable, or even ridiculous to some. The least we can do is not make things worse by being racists or biased in any whatsoever way. I have a dream that one day we will live in a world where everyone live about without being judgmental, regardless of race, of religion, of sexual orientation, of attires, of habits, of anything tangible, where everyone is selfless. Because somehow I believe that indirectly, these little things that rarely cross our worried mind are the ones that cause the bigger things. Microscopic-sized bacterias can take on your life. That's why for things to change, we need to change first, at least change in the way we treat each other.

Being a democratic country, who rules the nation is for us the people to decide. If we can change the way we see things, change the way we assume a person's character, change the way we judge others, and come as one under one name, Malaysia, we can change the country. Martin Luther said this, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," and I share this dream. If we can grasp this and put it to practice, I believe that this country would be a better place. Betterment is not impossible. Change is not impossible.

Sept 16 (Nothing to Do With Anwar's Plans to Topple the Government)

"Kamu orang dari mana datang?" asked a middle-aged Chinese aunty we met while shopping the other day. When we told her where we come from, she replied with a nice-mannered way of she "could tell by our looks." What came out next was either hillarious or offensive, depending on the decoder of the message. "Ramai orang Sabah and Sarawak datang Malaysia kerja." We laughed...

Ya we found it funny, until it finally came to my mind how offensive that was, I screamed, "What??!!!" at her and swore my way out of the shop. Ha ha. Kidding.

It's funny (or maybe sad) how some people still think that Sabah and Sarawak are separate entities and it makes me wonder why. Part of it could probably be the blame of the Borneans themselves (some of us can be quite defensive or take pride in telling how we're not from 'here'). It's an attitude that really needs to be altered. But on the other hand, it couldn't be our fault that we're classified as 'the others' by the government, right? While all the other races are given their respective proper race classifications, we're enlisted as 'Lain-lain' (okay, okay, I know I've been going on and on about this, but hear me out). I understand that there are just too many ethnicities to list out in forms and such - hundreds. But we would appreciate it if we could tick 'Bumiputra' when filling out forms. This, and a number of other things as well, could have been the cause of Borneans sometimes being too defensive about our ethnicity. I reiterate, we should have only one race classification; Malaysia. It would be nice to stop hearing people say "Chinese," "Indian," "Malay," "Kadazan," "Iban," when they're asked "Orang apa?", or better still, not to hear people - Malaysians in particular - asking the question at all.

And speaking of that, I remember Klahid Ibrahim's proposal on making Sept 16 a nationwide public holiday. Back in KK we're used to having that priviledge. Sept 16 is always a holiday for us and we would celebrate it by attending the parade at Padang Merdeka downtown (di KK ah, bukan di KL), very much like celebrating the usual Merdeka Day. It's kind of weird not having that 'here' (again, it feels like referring to a foreign place).

It's not that I'm making up excuses for more of public holidays, but shouldn't we acknowledge the day Malaysia was formed? Doesn't it mean as much to welcome new members, which completes an entity, as it is to form one? Just a thought. (NOTE: I'm not complaining. It's just something that I thought of and want to share *smiles*).

I'm sure there are a lot of things that can be done to counter this problem, this whole racial polarization (and I don't think ISA is part of it). Just sitting on it and prohibitting people from talking about it are definitely not solutions. I've always believed that education can do so much to a person. And I mean, informative education instead of persuasive ones. One of the reasons why I became so aware and critical of issues like these was BTN, and very chauvinistic talks we were made compulsory to attend during my three-years of uni life. For a start, why don't we drop that from the course, kan? That would be nice. And probably things won't get as tight as they are today if things like BTN, TITAS and CTU don't exist. Why do they anyway? Oh well. I don't get to call the shots.

More later. Ciao.

On the Herald Issue

I love the Catholic Lawyers' Society of KL folks.

Here's what they have to say about the silly issue that shouldn't even be an issue. Read here.

There are things about Christianity that he (the Home Minister) obviously does not (neither wishes to) understand; that it is universal. Translation; it involves every aspect of life, even the littlest ones. And this is about our government, about the future of our leaders. Is it wrong to update other fellow Christians about what's happening and at the same time ask them to pray for a fair election? Which part of the constitution says that?

Yeap, another one of those religious casualties. Yawn.

Insecure Imbeciles

How utterly embarrassed and disappointed I felt when I saw the photo of 5,000 UiTM students marching to protest the 10% opening of student quota to non-bumiputras. I've heard on Sunday that there was going to be a protest, but didn't actually thought that they would stupidly do it.
What an imbecilic, insecure, racist bunch of people.

Here's what I came across in the paper today, the idiocy of the students (click on it to read the details from the source):

UiTM student body president Luqmannulhakim Mohamad Idris said the students wanted Khalid to retract the statement and apologise.
“We (the students) are very disturbed by the statement and we have planned our strategy on what to do if the Mentri Besar does not apologise and retract the statement,” he said.

Yeap, they're asking a menteri besar to apologize for a suggestion. First of all, it's a SUGGESTION, something that's yet to be implemented, or agreed upon. Imagine these people panicked just listening to a suggestion and quickly organized a completely unnecessary march which they must have thought of as heroic for acting in defense of their overrated, overly professed rights.

Another racist political figure added up to the fire by pintpointing that the MB who proposed the idea did so to fish for votes from the non-bumiputras, I guess an act done to make the opposition party to look like the big-bad wolf who's gonna snatch the main race off their spoon-fed rights.
"Melayu jual Melayu," he said.

PPIM (some consumer association) said the move would be seen as challenging the special rights of the Malays (read more here). They added that, there was "no need to sideline Malay special rights," despite the fact that Malaysia is a multiracial country. And Ms Whatever-your-name-is, what makes you think that others can be rightfully - not only sidelined, but deprived of their rights?

I've talked about this with fellow Malay friends of mine who uninamously thought that the idea is ridiculous. A bunch of university students who are supposedly educated and expected to be wise enough to not make such nonsensical decision in an absurd way (I'm pretty sure the Vice Chansellor and his peeps know how to handle it without the protest), making fools out of themselves.

The MB proposed it as he thinks that having non-bumiputras - who are known to be competitive and smart - in UiTM will actually encourage the bumiputras to be more, well, competitive, in order to produce more students of higher quality. The protestors rebutted by saying that UiTM had been producing excellent scholarsand also had many graduates who were able to compete with other races in the job market. Forget about the idiot who's making the web more complicated by linking it to politics and shit.

Now, if that is the case, if it is a known fact that UiTM had produced students of excellent quality, then why make a big fuss out of a proposal? Why panic? What else would would have made them reacted so sillily if not because of feeling intimidated by the other races?

I know that UiTM existed on the basis of enabling the bumiputras to be on par with the other races in terms of education achievements and thus, in career achievements. But do you actually think that spoon-feeding them with special rights shit will make them genuinely brilliant or excellent? I should be mindful of what I say, as I am one of those who are 'spoon-fed' by the government. But what the point of success at the expense of fairness and unbiased treatments?

I bet a lot of non-bumiputras out there who deserve to be in UiTM or any other public university for that matter. They might even deserve it more than some bumiputras who are simply taking such chances for granted. But I guess some races just need all the help in the world to make something out of their lives. Geez.

Why Selfish?

It's common sense that any issue, problem, or crisis, can be best resolved by discussing it, talk about it, find out what's the root of it all, what can be done, etc. But apparently, a majority of dumbass Malaysians (excuse the language. I wanted to use the word 'stupid', but it's too nice) prefer to just sit on it with no questions asked.

No? Really? So tell me, why was it that a number of about 400 people gathered at the headquarters of the Bar Council while they were having a forum? Sadly, the police, our ministers, even our Prime Minister and his Deputy, as well as our Education Minister, openly displayed their stupidity and dumbness by asking the Bar Council to not proceed with the forum. And when the Bar Council went on with it anyway and got protested against, the so-called respected, all-for-unity and harmony, just and fair top leaders called them stubborn, and speaks as if saying, "I told you so." Actually, that's what they said, only, it was in Malay language.

I hate to use the word stupid or dumbass when describing our leaders and a majority of our rakyat, but here's the thing; The forum was about discussing - DISCUSSING - the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court/Law and Civil Court/Law, which obviously got a lot of people, especially the non-Muslims, confused. Many are dissatisfied about it and so, they found a way to resolve it peacefully, professionally, and dare I say fairly, coz there were representatives from all possible sides to offer opinons and answer questions. Three-hours before the scheduled closure, some major idiots came with banners and sepanduks saying, "Jangan mencabar Islam." Right...

Now, let me get this straight; discussing rights and jurisdiction, and mencabar... Hmm... Can someone show me the clear relevance to that?

Worse, our beloved Prime Minister came out with a statement that encourages us not to discuss 'sensitive' matters like religion and race. So in a way, he is saying that if we are being robbed off our rights, we should just shut up and live with it even if they rub it all on our face. Kudos, Datuk.
I have friends who are Malays and Muslims as well, and we have no problem hanging out together. We talk about religion and race openly, with no major arguments that could lead us to hate each other and what we're made of. And of course, obviously, these people I know personally are nothing like those idiots up there. I put the blame fully on them coz instead of trying to resolve racial tensions in the country, they are actually firing it up and encouraging us to sit on problems that could be easily solved if only people try to understand. Unbelievable. I'm utterly disgusted with the government, as well as the oppositions (PKR, PAS) who were actually leading the protest.

I know very well that Islam is a religion of peace and love and tolerance and justice, because i studied it for three years. But if this is how the people of Malaysia (you know who you are) depicts it, I don't think I would favor people of that belief or race anymore. Would it be too much to ask for you people to just try to understand other religions and race, like how we've understood your religion for decades?

Estranged Home

"Here in my home..." In the first place, i honestly thought that the whole idea is cliche. Don't get me wrong; the song is good. The lyrics are beautiful and the melody as well as the whole composition of the song were done nicely. Two thumbs up for Pete Teo and his fellow comrades. I seriously look up to their optimism and effort.

Pessimism however, got the best of me, as i find myself questioning the Malaysian Artiste For Unity Project. I asked, "Is this song really going to make any difference to the racial polarization in this country?"

I took Italian for my third-language course and the man teaching my Italian class was real Italian. I remember him asking me, "Why does it matter so much whether you're a Chinese, or Malay, or Indian, or Sabahan?" I guess I must have sounded a bit defensive when he mistook me as a West Malaysian.

In another incident, during my second year in uni, we were given this assignment to interview foreign ambassadors and i got myself the Ambassador of Cuba. He told me that in his country, "we don't have classifications like Malaysia does. When people ask what race are we, the only answer there is, is Cuban." Imagine how sick i felt of our country then.

Why is there racial polarization? Why do some people who were born and raised here, and had stayed here for the past donkey years still feel outcasted? Why does a Malay still generalize Indians and vice versa? Why do East Malaysians still refer to Peninsular Malaysia as 'tempat orang'? Is not this our place too?

When I first got here three years ago and looked around me, I noticed one major difference between this 'tempat orang' and the place where I come from (Sabah); segregation. The Malays will sit and eat with the Malays, the Chinese walk with the Chinese, the Indians hang out with the Indians. There was only one time when I saw that color didn't matter; in church. And that was it. Being an East Malaysian gives me the priviledge of being friends with all the main races, and the other will just talk bad about the other.

At that point on, all my beliefs about harmonious + united nation of Malaysia, shaped by all the unity ads i saw on TV and heard in radio, crushed. It was further damaged by this stupid talks and lectures delivered to us in campus. I was so loathed by how the speakers urging - in high-pitched voices, practically shouting - the Malays to fight and stand for their race and religion. Maybe they forgot that there were East Malaysians among the audience, or Malays whose parents might have been of Chinese or Indian heritage. Racist.

I immediately had my perception about racism completely turned upside-down. For a while in my life, I was tempted to buy all the notion of racism and chauvinistics; to hate the other races and fight for our rights. But in my life, i was blessed enough to meet nice people, and these people do not come from just one race; they vary. There are nice Chinese and bad Chinese. There are nice Indians and bad Indians. There are nice Malays and bad Malays. There are nice East Malaysians and bad ones. Translation; whether a person is good or bad, it is not up to his/her race/religion to determine it.

Apart from broadcasting harmonious, united multi-racial one nation ads, the government really is not doing anything more about this problem. When asked to, they denied that we have any of such problem in Malaysia. Hypocrites.

For a start, they can begin with the racial and religion classifications requirement when filling in official/unofficial forms for any applications. Just what is the need for that anyway? So that they (authorities) can give priority to the 'bangsa rasmi' of this country? Now how is that fair? I'm just sick of having have to be labeled as "Lain-lain", when the East Malaysians are the aboriginals of this country and makes up more than half the population (read more on http://amyswavelength.blogspot.com/2008/03/letter-to-whom-it-may-concern.html).

I was at the monorail station waiting for the next train and i overheard a Chinese kid, not more than five years old, asking his dad at the point of seeing another Chinese family, "Hey dad look, they're Chinese too." His nodded with a smile. The kid looked around and stopped at the point of seeing an Indian kid with his family as well, and asked his dad, "Are they Chinese too?" His dad of course answered, "No, they're Indians." The same question asked when the kid saw a Malay kid, and the dad answered, "No, they're Malays." The kid must have heard the homophonic of Malays and Malaysia and asked the dad, "They're Malaysians?" to which his dad asnwered yes. He continued asking, "Aren't we Malaysian too?" And the dad told him, "It's not the same," and the conversation ended there.

I cannot quite make out what his means by saying "It's not the same." But I could detect some bitterness in pointing that out.

The government and other ignorant, indifferent people should really stop pretending like everything's okay between us. They should stop emphasizing so much on what race a person is and stop giving special rights to different races and religion. Why don't we all just be a Malaysian?

Yet Another Religious Casualty

It had been the talk of our classes on a daily basis, "Boycott Dutch products." Me, obviously, and my two other non-Muslim friends couldn't care less. And no, it's not because the film wasn't anything regarding my faith, or that we're agreeing with Geert Wilders' ideas and opinions. Well, okay, maybe it's a bit of the former. But here's the thing, Christianity, probably especially Catholicism had been "wrongly perceived" too, and badly presented (my vocab is worsening by the minute) for so long. Did we make a big fuss out of it? I'll get back to you later.

This whole "Fitna" issue suddenly brings me back to the things that had happened previously, issues regarding religion matters. When we were discussing it in the class this morning, i was suddenly reminded of the Da Vinci Code movie issue. Wait a minute, hold it; for the past couple of years studying in a university, i would know it's an issue if it's talked about in class as a discussion. Previously, there was the caricature issue; Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. was depicted as the head of Jihad. And now this, misinterpretation of the Holy Qu'ran (just what is wrong with the Dutch). Yes, these i consider as issues as we were asked to discuss them in class. Obviously, it is always when Islam is being humiliated, negatively presented and lowly put. Of course, it's only right because the said religion is the official religion of the country and its a majority. But as a democratic country cultivating freedom of religion, harmony and all, don't you think that when other religions are being mocked and contradicted, they should be openly discussed a well?

I remember when Gibson's Passion of the Christ was released, it wasn't shown in cinemas in Malaysia. And even the VCDs came out on the market only weeks after its release. And not long after that, Da Vinci Code came out; it was an immediate blockbuster film, up and going in cinemas across the nation. Note that these are two very contradicting on each other. The first one promoting (no, that's not the word, just what is wrong with my vocab these days), or more of in support of the Catholics, while the other one completely deject the Holy Trinity and depict Jesus Christ as a human being. And which one made it to the cinemas in Malaysia, and which one did not? Doesn't that get you thinking?I made it a point to bring it up for discussion someday and i just did today (well, since we were already talking about religion). Surprisingly, some of my fellow friends of the different creed do not even know about Mel Gibson's movie. I don't blame them. The one to blame is, (i hate to mention the big G word), no, not God, you silly. The Government. Or the enforcement, or whoever it is that is in authority. My lecturer then asked if the churches in Malaysia did anything about it (bising-bising as she would say it), and i replied, "Even if we did, i don't think the mainstream media won't pay enough attention to it" and don't ask me why coz i'm not about to make any assumptions. The point is, why is it when our religion is being mocked like that, it doesn't become an issue?

A Letter To Whom It May Concern

Dear Dato',

Look, I appreciate the government's efforts in maintaining the peace and constantly ensuring the development of this country. And i know you and your people up there are worried sick by now; worried that you'll lose the upcoming election, seeing that the opposition is doing pretty well in trying to convince electorates to "VOTE FOR CHANGE". But why should you worry? The EC is obviously on your side of the game. Can't you see that they're doing everything to ensure your victory, even changing the rules the way they like and whenever they like it (I'm referring to the EC's sudden decision to not use the indelible ink for voting, four days before the big day. Four days). So, why worry? You guys have been winning the election for the past 50 years what. Why worry now, why wouldn't the EC cover your ass now, right? So just sit back and relax. We the citizens know what the government has been doing for us and there's no need for you nor the oppositions to affect our decisions and our stands. You don't have to tell us to not believe what the opposition had said. Neither do they have to convince us. We KNOW very well in our being that IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE. You see, it's a knowledge, which used to be an unconfirmed opinion. Now it's a stand.

I think that we've tolerating the government's nonsense for years now. I'm not trying to be racist, or bring up religious matters up and trying to relate it to political issues. But the truth is, it is interrelated, and yes, it affects the way we think about the governance about this country.

I'm a Catholic Sabahan. Being a Sabahan is one, being a Catholic is another. The one issue that is never even made an issue is the "lain-lain" classification of my race, our race, the aboriginals of what makes up larger than 50% of the country. When filling in forms of applications of what sorts, there are only four classifications of races; Melayu, Cina, India, Lain-lain. Sometimes, they'd be nice and put Bumiputera instead of Lain-lain. But even if so, why are we differently Bumiputera classified than the Melayu? It's bitter to talk about this. 50 so called years of independence and we still reasons to argue with the ruling party. Sad.

That's one thing (and trust me, you don't want me to go on talking more about it, it's tiring). The second matter is even worse. I'm sorry to say, the way the leaders in Malaysia (not all of them) interpret Islam is very scary, biased, and radical.We, the ones considered as minority religions (and i'm not just talking about Christians) had tolerated, closed our eyes and let our constitutional rights being ripped from us, conscious or unconsciously. I'd say that these leaders say one thing in front of us and say another behind us, when they're with their "crew". It's not impossible for me to list down a few of things that i feel unnecessary, ridiculous, unfair, and even cruel committed by the authority towards people of its different beliefs, race and creed. But that may take forever, coz a lot had taken place.

So dear Dato' Sri, that is why i want to vote for change. That's why there's a lot of us who wants to vote for change. I'd said earlier that i appreciate the government's efforts in maintaining the peace of this country, and I mean it. But keep in mind that peace had only survived because we've been tolerating your nonsense, and tolerance has a limit. Don't take it for granted.

Crossword Puzzle Over Chauvinism

Fortunately i brought my crossword puzzle book along. At least i had something to do rather than listen to another prolonged, time-consuming (or time-wasting i would say), baseless, crappy speech about special rights of a certain race. Okay, Malay. There you go, i said it (and yes it makes me sick already alright, so sue me).
I did not expect to gain much from the talk/speech/or whatever you call it, that my lecturer asked all of me classmates to attend. But i honestly did not expect to be injected with chauvanistic/racist statements either. The moment he said out loud that "kita tidak harus pandang ringan hak kita sebagai M...", I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Here we go again..." Seriously, when will you people (not all the Malays, only those who is so into chauvinism) ever stop?
Trust me, i'm not racist, nor do i support people who talks about it. But you know what, it makes me sick to hear some of 'em "clever" so-called leaders who keep on talking about fighting for racial rights and shit. Melayu ka, India ka, sama ja semua. I thought we're supposed to be a harmonius multi-racial country and our fore-fathers had long instilled in us a pride in the fact that although we're all different, we're all one. To this very day we're still able to see and hear leaders of our nation saying "Kita harus berbangga kerana kita adalah bangsa terbilang..." Ah, bullshit. Hypocrites. We keep on putting this front to other nations that we're all united and able to work together as one nation. But what truly happens is that we keep making fuss about our special rights, demanding to be given extra attention than the other races. And just why the hell there are special rights implemented in the constitution if really, REALLY we're all about unity and harmony?
If there was anything anyone ever did wrong in the history of Malaysia, it would be putting down the Union Jack and replacing it with...you know what. I was once proud to be a Malaysian. Now i barely care about what happens. Coz the pride had already been broken by completely idiotic individuals who always forgot that we're a multi-racial nation acting as one and moving towards one goal; for the prosperity of the country, and just can't seem to stop 'bising-bising' pasal hak-hak mereka like drawing out a Keris when doing his speech. Racist.