Disclaimer: This post is a hypothetical fantasy. Any resemblance to real life people or events are coincidental and unintended.
I have an imaginary friend. He is a malay. His got 3 or 4 degrees. He speaks fluent English, Spanish, Italian, Malay, and some french too. He volunteers at the local chapter of an international organisation. This organisation is pretty multiracial at grassroots level. It has roughly 250,000 youth (below-18) members in Malaysia. The top rungs of the organisation however, have quite a strong malay presence. Many of them are politicians. It has come my knowledge that many of the top brass doesn’t like my friend. They do not like him because he is hardworking, he loves what he do, he doesn’t do it for money or fame, and he basically does not subscribe to their crooked values and politics.
A certain group of people in the top brass labels my friend as ‘bukan melayu tulen.’ They label him thus because of his good values. Is that ridiculous? You decide. There is also another imaginary character in this story.. Call him the villian if you will. He is a school principal sometimes masquerading as the coffee boy of the top brass. Yep, he has been entrusted by the government of the country to impart knowledge and values to children. He can barely communicate in English, and when he visited England recently, he had to hang on to my friend, or other members of the delegation, because he could not communicate. Because of his shortcomings, he hates and resents my friend not only for speaking English, but for speaking Spanish and half a dozen other languages as well. He is a big big fan of the ‘bukan melayu tulen’ movement. By his definition, the melayu tulen cannot speak any other languages besides malay fluently, do not love their work, resent everyone who are smarter than them, did not study abroad, did not volunteer abroad, and must have an IQ lower than 100. The top brass are exempted because, well, they are the top brass… right?
He isn’t the top brass, but he supports the top brass. I imagine that the top brass don’t really care about melayu tulen or not. But they support the sentiment in their coffee boys because it helps them. It helps them to have stupid people under them who label their peers. Its bad politics and does nothing for the development of the organisation or the country, but they support it because it keeps them in power. People who do not question and do not doubt also do not stage uprisings, so they are good to keep below them. But people like this also do not think, do not improvise, and do not solve problems.
A ship requires a crew who are trained, disciplined but also intelligent. A ship with old brass growing older and a crew of coffee boys without brains would be hard asked to sail. It hunches when asked to stand straight, it speaks manglish with no sign of embarassment, even though everyone around them cringes, and it will crumble at the first sign of true adversity. The 250,000 builders may keep the ship from sinking, but will it sail? Or will it remain moored in dry dock, with no hope of ever entering the international arena?
ricky liow 11:07 am on April 15, 2007 Permalink |
Your blog has hit it right smack on the nail.
Unfortunately, this is already happening in this country of ours and tragically, it has evovled into what is part of our political culture!
Can we ever get out of this mess?
theodwyn 8:02 pm on April 15, 2007 Permalink |
Thanks for your comment ricky.
Its sad but true… frankly speaking, its disgusting that top-level politicians are using the upper echelions of a 100% voluntary organisation as their playground. It may be normal for a large organisation like this to have one or two figureheads who are honourary penaung and etc…… but when there are 15 of them messing about up there, it creates one hell of a mess and does nothing for the benefit of the kids at the grassroots of the organisation.
Wanna know the saddest part? Those dough-heads wanna increase the membership from 250,000 to 1 million in 3 years. The existing youth are already suffering from lack of leadership and a bad programme. If the promote the movement enough to increase the membership to 1 million, the only future I can forsee is more money in their pockets, and an even worse quality of membership for the youth. Sad huh..
a.ezekiel 11:29 am on April 25, 2007 Permalink |
it’s the typical m@LaY mentality isn’t it? It’s such a sad sad situation but is this ever going to change?
And I read your post regarding the ‘collection of As’ in SPM. From experience, it doesn’t help in you determining your passion, what you really want to do for carreer, in future. And sadly, most students will only realize this half-way through the course that they took in uni upon getting those As. It’s again the mentality. The more As you score, the ’smarter’ you are. What absolute rubbish.
The Gypsy 9:19 pm on June 17, 2007 Permalink |
What then is the global malay? Think globally, act locally. Or take an active part in world affairs.
When one learns a foreign language, one also learns a new culture, another reality of life, another political framework, a new anthropolgy.
When one understands another political situation, in an underdeveloped country, half-way round the world, one grows up… faster than expected.
When one works and live in a poverty striken latin republic, sees it daily, understands the fierce cycle of poverty, speaks the language of the poor people, carries the faces of the poor in the mind at night to sleep, one blends into a new reality and matures even faster.
When one does humantitarian work in such a place, but people at home feels he ought to serve his own brethen, not a poverty struck political turmoiled nation 1/2 way around the world speaking their language, it shows how narrow minded the forgetful power mongers at home are.
Where is freedom? Where is the act of compassion of the heart of the people? Is it apathy or TIDAK APATHY that kills the brain and heart of the rakyat? What happened to enrich your neighbour….HEY THE NEIGHBOUR NEED NOT BE NEXT DOOR COUNTRY…our big blue marble is a very big neighbourhood.
As we head out on 50 years around the corner, more of our rakyat need to head out and work in such poverty stricken conditions to know what it means to be Malaysian…. and not take what we have for granted.
If Malaysia wants to be a major global driving force, we can do it. …..
…but we need to learn by being out there, by volunteering evermore to go and serve, not necessarily by waiting for government funding but for those who can afford it, please go out there and do your bit for humanity.
PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT SAY “IT IS NOT MY PROBLEM” BECAUSE IT INDEED IS. We not need be global malays… WE NEED TO BE GLOBAL MALAYSIANS …and by the way, do not say that the second largest racial group has the money in the country… they also have their poor as well.
I am an 8th generation Yemeni + DKK = Melayu pelik. And I not not proub being a bumiputra many times.
Why – because I have been ostracised for being myslef.