The biggest hurdle in Malaysian mix marriages

Mix marriages is great for racial unity in any country. I, for one, really do encourage it. However, in Malaysia, it is a little more difficult when compared to other countries, including Indonesia. Malaysia is unique as one must convert if you want to marry a Malay and there is no way of getting out of the religion once you convert. People are afraid of being forced into something and have no way out.

On the whole, people are afraid to convert to any other religion. The same happens when once upon a time, you have to convert to Christianity if you wish to marry one. This made most families angry when their children want to marry a Christian. However, these days, a Buddhist marrying a Christian can keep his or her faith until one day he or she chooses to convert or not to convert. This relaxed rule has brought about more mixed-faith marriages.

I do believe that if everyone is allowed to keep his or her own faith in marriage, there will be many, many more mixed-raced and mix-religion marraiges.

Why advertise for candidates who are Mandarin speaking?

I was reading some comments from http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/09/malay-unity-and-malaysian-unit.html#comments and came across this comment by Azlela saying the Chinese are racists because of their adverts.

Well, at one time, I thought the same even though I am not a Malay but am not Chinese educated. I thought they were being unfair to the non-Mandarin or non-Chinese educated. However, there came a time when I, myself had to employ someone who had to be able to speak Mandarin. It is not because I am a racist but because I have no choice as the job required the person to be able to speak Mandarin or some Chinese dialects. It then made me realise that I was wrong. There were times when I had to put "only those fluent in English may apply". All this is not because of racial discrimination but because of what the job requires. I also heard from a friend of mine that her husband (Chinese but English educated) faces problems at work in factories as these days most companies have some kind of dealings with China.

So, from here you can see that it has nothing to do with race because English educated Chinese are affected too. Sometimes, we have to think deeper before we make assumptions. Once, we realise the real reasons, we should find ways to improve ourselves and our children so that they will not face this problem.

Look at the market trend and go for it. Otherwise, we will be left behind.

The ingredients for living in harmony

Just like in marriage, a harmonious multi-racial society requires the right ingredients and chef to make it work. What doesn't anyway? A prawn noodle dish will taste different in different stalls and different states. It all boils down to the ingredients and the chef.

So, what are the right ingredients for a multi-racial and multi-religion country like Malaysia need?

Malaysian Cake

Ingredients :
Seive A first -
3 cups of respecting others
3 cups of not doing to others what you do not like others to do unto you
3 cups of putting yourself in the shoes of others
3 cups of minding the language you use (remember to use only the best brands coz the fakes will turn your cake mouldy and poisonous)

B:
5 cups of loving the country


Method :
1. Put all the ingredients together and seive it to remove the "I, Me, Myself, My this and My that" bugs. They will definitely spoil the taste of your cake.
2. You also require a very good chief chef to make sure all the assistant cooks follow instructions properly. Never let them deviate from the main recipe as it would a disaster. The chief chef must get rid of cooks who bent stubborn on doing things their own way.
3. Add seived ingredient A to B. Knead it gently but firmly until the dough is mixed thoroughly and the texture is strong.
4. Bake it and voila, the Malaysian cake is born.

A school that unites all races

Malaysian politicians are a strange lot. Most of them have vision problems that are pretty hard or impossible to correct at all. They can only see extremely very short distances. So, they are actually as good as blind.

Look at our education system. We start dividing children up at such an early age. They only know their own race and religion. Worse still, some racists teachers start teaching these y0ung innocent children to be racists too. Every Barisan party only cared for their own race and fought for schools that based on language and indirectly race-based. If they really cared for the country and people, they would have fought for a school that unites all races. Shame on you politicians.

A SCHOOL THAT UNITES ALL RACES

My suggestion is that we have only one type of school but catered for all races.

1. Have one session schools 8.30 am - 3.30pm so that there will be more time for all activities. However, ensure they have at least 2 breaks - 20 minutes breakfast at 9.30 pm and 40 minutes lunch and rest break at 1.00 pm. Provide children with individual lockers and bathrooms to freshen up.
2. Use English as the medium of instruction for subjects like Science, Maths and Geography to improve the standard of English to be able to compete globally.
3. Have English literature classes and lots of comprehension and composition lessons.
4. Use Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for subjects like History, Moral, Arts, etc. In fact, Moral should not be taught as a single subject. It is really ridiculous. It should be integrated into Science, English and Bahasa Malaysia. This way, the children have one less subject to study. Be sure to include lots of topics that talks about racial unity and respect for one another. Let children brainstorm ideas on how to achieve racial unity.
5. Teach Mandarin and Tamil (mother tongue) everyday during the last period of the day. Those who do not want to attend, have to stay in the library to study, read a book or complete their homework. Give parents and children a choice to choose.
6. Set aside three periods a week like in the good old days for group activities like football, netball, basketball, rounders, softball and so on. Play games that encourage cooperation.
7. Encourage small group activities and projects where children can socialise as well as brainstorm ideas and teachers must make sure it is a mixed racial group.
8. While Muslim children are studying religion, the others can either opt to study their own religion or go to the library to study, read books or complete their homework.
9. Do not group children into classes based on their abilities as it makes them feel bad.
10. Encourage peer teaching and learning in small groups.
11. Reduce homework, get it all done in school so that children have time to study and have some time for themselves at home.
12. Get qualified, native English speakers to teach our children subjects taught in English if our local teachers are not proficient enough in English until we can produce our enough of our own.
13. Additional activities like clubs, sports training or games for competition should be held after school hours, 3.30 pm - 5.00 pm. Make sure all children join at least one activity. Leave weekends free for spending time with families. No extra classes or tuition.

I encourage readers to provide more positive suggestions here.

A note to PKR runned states

Today an uncle from another state visited and asked this question "How is Penang doing under the new government?" I was like err..., nothing much yet really. Yes, how is Penang doing under the new government? This is my question too.

Last week, I attended a conference and it was during our break where a group of us, Malays and non-Malays were seated together and the same question popped up. Someone there mentioned that since the new government took over, no new projects have been approved. Geez, if this is the truth, it is very bad indeed. The rakyat did not vote for a new government to freeze all projects. We want to see development in Penang. We want to see business get approved without all the red tape. We want to see new business ideas, brainstorming, etc to get Penang and all the PKR governed states doing better than before. The poor must be helped, not with just cash but with a programme to help them to be financially indepdent in the long run. Give them free business training programmes or know how. Team them up with people who have funding. We know that the Barisan Government has punished us by taking away the important mega projects but let us now sit down and sulk over it. Do something to prove to them that PKR can do it without Barisan.

I suggest PKR take the initiative of setting up a rakyat think-tank online and offline and invite the people to give ideas on how to bring about development, business, solve transport problems, etc. As the saying goes, more heads are better than one. Choose the good ones and work on it.

Digging up Barisan's trash is good but if it is only that and nothing else, the rakyat will be very disappointed. Don't fail the rakyat. Stay focused and be result orientated.

Is Ahmad Ismail willing to do the same for the Malays?

It is a shame that Ahmad Ismail of UMNO resorted to describing the Chinese as immigrant squatters and therefore not to be treated equally. He also questioned the Chinese’s willingness to share and distribute their wealth equally with the other races.

I really cannot understand why some people, especially those from UMNO can come up with such remarks. But then again, coming from someone in UMNO, I really shouldn't be so surprised.

He also has the cheek to question the Chinese's willingness to share and distribute their wealth equally with the other races. What does he mean by sharing and distributing our wealth equally? Giving away our wealth to those who are not willing to work for it? Come on. Would he and other rich UMNO politicians and Malays willingly do that? I don't see any rich UMNO politicians or Malays sharing their wealth wih the poor Malays. The point is, I and I am sure that most, if not all, Chinese or any race or any one would do that.

However, I would be willing to employ, go into partnership or work together with Malays who are hardworking and capable. I would not hesitate to teach them what I know so long as I know they are not racists. Why should I share my knowledge or work with people who hates my race or me? In all my life, I have very good relationship with my Malay and Indian friends and staff. I love them just as much as I love my own race friends. Why? It's because they do not see me as a Chinese but as a friend and I see them they same way too.

So, do not ask others to do what you are not willing to do for your own race. Instead, ask all races to come together and help each other. Ask the Malays to be willing to work hard and be efficient instead and you will see opportunities opening up for them to succeed.

Political websites need to be interactive

A visit to MCA's website some time ago to try to post some suggestions came to a dead end. No where to post comments or suggestions. Today, I clicked on a link from a blog site and it ended up in Gerakan's site. Again, there was no where to post suggestions or comments.

Seems to me that they do not want feedback from the people. How can they, as representatives of the people improve their services or their party without feedback from the people who put them into power? Thnk about it, MCA, Gerakan and all those who do not allow feedback or comments. This is the age of the internet - Web 2.0. Be part of it or be dead like a dinosaur.