50 Post to Independence - #11 - My wondering thoughts
Two weeks ago, Lulu decided to tag me with this wonderful tribute to Malaysia’s Independence started by Nizam Bashir
As I ponder as to what I would write, many reflections of my life came to my mind. I have yet to make up my mind as to what I should write but I decided an impromptu unedited version of my thoughts and feelings for this beautiful country, my rightful birthplace, Malaysia.
I have lived two-thirds of our 50th Independence and I should say it was a blend of all colours and emotions.
As a child and a teenager, life was just about me. I grew up in a beautiful quite town up north where rice is the main produce of the country. A state where the Sultan I grew to respect and love. A state which made me who I am now. A town that despite all, thougth me to respect all irrespective of colour, race and religion. Shocking? Yes, but this was true then I suppose where racial harmony was better. I had many friends and mentors of non-Indian descent. Hailing from prestigious primary(Iskandar Primary School) and secondary school(Sultan Abdul Hamid College), I learned to look at life from various perspective. Life was bliss. I felt that I was at the helm when I left the quiet town of Alor Setar to pursue my medical degree. It was here, in this prestigious academic tower, a signage of pride and excellence, I started to breakdown as I realised how segregated races can be. I had so much difficulties coming to terms with this but as the saying goes truth hurts! However, as the years pass, the evident point was that in Malaysia, and perhaps any country, unity gives the best results.
Stepping into the the working environment, brought on more awareness! I came to realise where the fault in this beautiful country’s machinery was - the government itself! It was filled with hypocrisy, lies meant to blind the rakyat, manned by disgusting politics and politicians. Greed was supreme and the quest for power and position was reigning. It has now become a land of self importance where once everybody was a neighbour, now everybody is a potential enemy. The lack of insight and vision to bringing the rakyat together was made worse by the instant reminder of a potential May 13 by our former PM. His rule alone though brought fame to the country but destroyed the essence of Malaysia. The rakyat was forever placed under gag! - well at least now many are coming out of it!
A country filled with Malaysians? Well, this would be great but sadly with the present state of affairs I doubt this would ever be a reality. The non-Malays will always be made to feel like second class citizens despite having birth rights to this “tanah tumpah darahku”. The politicians talk of harmony and love and the need for patriotism for the country - but how is this possible when we are still fighting for our right to be counted and acknowledge as equal citizens of this beautiful country, Malaysia. Don’t you think? It is like treating the symptoms of an illness without sorting the root of the illness - will it ever resolve - never! We still have a racial based political party which should be dissolved and reformed!
To make things worse, we have racial party based universities! One of them only take in a single race into its university! All to gain votes without further thought of its outcome to the future of Malaysia!
Another thought comes to mind of how politics have infiltrated the borders into absolutely no invasion zones, the infiltration of politics into education, health, law and all else. Look closely and one is able to appreciate the deterioration in services again due to lack of focus to the root problem.
So with all this, why do I still love Malaysia?
I love the people. I work with masses of rakyat from different walks of life which gives me great joy and satisfaction. I work with masses of the rakyat from differing religious and ethnic backgrounds which in turn educates me about the beauty and intricasies of life itself. Malaysians generally are very humble, kind and understanding, traits that easily exploited by the politicians and above all the rakyat is very forgiving.
I love the beauty of Malaysia. There are many beautiful countries and Malaysia is one of them. You just need to learn to enjoy and appreciate and there are many things here in Malaysia. Diving is the most enjoyable of them, others being hiking, river rafting, caving and etc. Again, some quarters of politicians are trying to spoil this very thing that gives Malaysia its natural beauty by over commercialising and making money out of it!
I just wished that the rakyat had more voice and power. I just wished that we could all be more liberated in our thinking and acknowledge each other as Malaysians with freedom of religion. I just wished the government could concentrate on the losses of its numerous intellectuals to other countries and appreciate them irregardless of their ethnicity, as it is for the future of this country. I just wished those who have the power to not abuse and obstruct the development of progress of its workforce and be more progressive rather than being a dinosaur going extinct.
I wish we all work together for the future of our motherland rather than just ourselves. But for this to be true, then the government should assure us a good future!
With this, I pass the tag to a very good colleague and friend, Bernard to continue this task.
A journey to freedom
June 20th, 2007 at 10:16 am
my thoughts indeed! The state of the country is really bad. One voice alone will not be heard. My tanah tumpah darahku will never appreciate the likes of me or my family. That is the cause of brain-drain amongst many of the rakyat. The ‘leavers’ continue to be successful and productive in their adopted countries! Ask any of them to come home and serve their home country–many will not return.
Uncertainty of the future for us and our children is enough to make me leave. I am in a country where I and my family are treated much better and appreciated. In turn I will give my best to my adopted country. Yes, I miss Malaysia- my family and friends of many races…..I will have to think of the future though.
I do not like to be reminded of may 13th constantly (like KJ and Hishamudin never fail to remind us). Why cant we be free of race-based parties and race-based everything! After 50 years!! Why not have Bangsa Malaysia? Our ancestors(Malay, chinese and Indian) who brought independance to Malaysia are surely turning in their graves! How sad!
June 20th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Dear Doc,
Wonderfully written and I believe you are articulating the thoughts of most Malaysians. Like you I hail from a ’small’ town but the realities of life have begun to encroach upon the Shire-like quality of life that ’small’ town living seems to endow upon its denizens.
Nevertheless, this is not to say that the present reality can’t be altered into something better. And if pressed to express my thoughts for the future, I can do no better than to echo the sentiments and aspirations you expressed in the last couple of paragraphs.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
[…] Posts so far - 50 (you just read it), 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32,31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 […]
June 20th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
To all who take the time to read this, please also take time to read the rest of the related articles as they are very well written. Just go to Nizam’s blog and you will get the whole link there.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Sis, thanks for the comment.
Nizam, thank you too.
June 20th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
george,
it was very well said. like you, i share the same wishes and hope to see it work out to reality.
June 20th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Woww.. George, this task is Herculean. I hope I can carry this baton well. Thanks.
I agree that university was the place where I saw segregation worst. It’s not that the NATURE of the students were such, but they entered into a culture which had been NURTURED that way by each successive generation of students.
June 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
bernard & george, glad to know that the segregation had limited effects on you and that you and george are really good buddies.
June 21st, 2007 at 3:17 am
Well, as what your sis said, the country is going to the dogs due to this racial mentality. The way the economy is growing in our neighbouring countries, our country is just going to go down the drain soon, probably in another 10-15 years when we run out of oil resources.
A lot of my family friends have already migrated and leaving happily with better respect and appreciation in other countries. I am sure your sister too is happy.
Currently most people have already planned to migrate out of this country as they do not see any future here. Some have already started sending their children out for education etc etc and finally settle down there.
Our education system is nothing more than a “kandang Kerbau” University is just another high school with closed mentality.
The reason why racial integration is so bad in the university is because of our different education system, especially the malays who are separated from other races right from Standard 6 when they enter MARA colleges…………
UiTM ?? - well you don’t have to talk about it. Everyone knows!! That’s why I refuse to teach for UiTM students, remember ?
So George, I don’t think we can change the mentality in this country. The politicians actually not interested to change the mentality of the people because of their political survival. What is the relevance of UMNO when the “special right issue” or “ketuanan Melayu” is not around anymore?? So the survival of UMNO is on that particular issue!!
AND of course they want to keep their own race mentality closed so that they can manipulate the situation to their interest.
June 21st, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Great post.
June 23rd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
*sigh* I’m not a smart student but I’m not that bad either. I can’t get in to decent institutions because it is over the quota. The result? I planted my root elsewhere.
I’ve plan to come back for good but the more I look at the situation, I wonder if I still have a place in my birth country.
I love Malaysia, but the dearness is blurring. I started to have thoughts of giving up my nationality. ;( A local friend here asked me, “how can you take it when your own country treated you as 2nd class citizen?” …..
July 18th, 2007 at 7:30 am
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July 26th, 2007 at 4:49 am
50 Posts to Independence - No 7…
Lucky number 7. I’ve been tagged by Peter Tan to participate in the 50 Posts To Independence project initiated by Nizam Bashir. And yes, I know I’m late. But isn’t doing something at the last minute a very Malaysian thing to do?
Any…
October 24th, 2007 at 10:51 am
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April 20th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
This post help me a lot. My problem solved. Great effort and i appreciated that.