Sunday, August 31, 2008

How do we unite all the different races in Malaysia?

Racism in Malaysia is a very hot topic these days. Let us not harp on this and condemn each other with vulgarities and sarcasm anymore. Instead, put all our minds to work and suggest to the government here on how and what they can do to unite us. The government does need help here, don't you agree? They, especially UMNO, is totally lost so let us, the citizens of Malaysia help them.

I invite all races to participate. One exception though, racists are not welcomed here. You can join UMNO instead. However, please do not do what the politicians do. Use common sense, have respect for other races and moderate language to express yourselves. To sum it all up, mind your language and be civilized.

Do put a subject title for your suggestions okay? I will put up those exceptionally good ones on a page by itself. Helps readers to locate it easier.


My first suggestion will be coming soon. Mine will be about schools.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Why are Malaysians so divided? The answer.

Malaysia has a very strange educational system. We have schools that are categorised by language and also religion. We have Chinese schools where most children are Chinese and some non-Chinese, Malay schools where majority are Malays and Tamil schools where almost all are Indians.

Does it have to take a genius to try to figure out why we are so divided? Come on, the children are taught from young to mix only with their own race. In doing so, they are not given the opportunity to mix with other races, learn other cultures and have other races as close friends. Therefore, is it suprising that why the different races look at each other with suspicion?

The best years for teaching tolerance and getting along with other races are when children are young. These are the years where they have best friends. These are the years where they play with everyone regardless of race because children are not born racists. Racism is taught directly or indirectly to children.

So, to all the Chinese, Indians and Malays who fight so hard to have this type of schools, this is the result you get - racism.

I know many of you out there, especially the Chinese will not be happy with what I mentioned here but you have to face the fact that this is the truth.

My next blog will be on suggestions on how to help solve this problem without taking away the right to learn your mother tongue.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Gone are the days when kids of all races played together

I remember my days as a kid where mixing with different races was a norm. In Kulai, Johor, my first neighbour was an Indian family. Their son, Ravi and me used to play together everyday. His mom would put the puttu or the "red dot" on my forehead. After they moved, a new Malay neighbour moved in, the Majids. They had four children namely Din, Noor, Nina and Nini. We played a lot together and my parents and their parents also got on very well. I was only about 5 or 6 years old when my parents gave permission for me to follow my neighbour to Muar for a week to attend a kenduri. We trusted each other fully.

Unfortunately, it was our turn to move after several years later. My dad was posted to Perak. He was in the civil service so we had to move quite a bit.

In Perak, my first neighbours were Chinese. When they moved, a Malay family with nine children moved in. I cannot recall all their names as it was such a long time ago. I can remember Mahathir and Marzuki the most as we played with our other friends of different races everyday.

Our parents, on the other hand would sit down at their stairways to chat every evening. We also helped each other to make kueh or some snacks for tea frequently. Other times, we would teach each other on how to make simple crafts.

Thursday nights saw our house packed with Malay friends. All were here to watch Malay movies together. At that time, we were one of the very few who had a television.

Every Chinese New Year, my parents would hold an open house day and the house would be packed with Chinese, Indians and Malays. We had a lot of fun without looking at the skin colour like today.

When we had to move again, this time to Kelantan, my father's colleague's son, Azhar followed us to Tanah Merah. He stayed with us for a whole full month. We respected each others faith. He would slaughter the chicken the muslim way with prayers and we cook it, making sure it was halal for him. He didn't condemn us for praying to our God either. We were like a family.

These days, we don't see much of this scenario around. Chinese kids stick with other Chinese kids, Malays with Malays and Indians with Indians. The muhibbah spirit is lost. Just look around you closely and you can see how divived we are.

What really went wrong? Why are we worse off than before? I'll share my views on this in my next blog.