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
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