A united Malaysia

Before going to the serious issues, I want to first talk about the recent Nasi Lemak 2.0 by Namewee (If you think it will be draggy, skip to the third paragraph). The song has inspired me deeply. I cried both in my house and in the public library everytime I listen to it (I believe, many others as well but maybe not until you cry). I have yet to watch the movie as I am currently residing overseas. However, according to the trailer and their theme video Rasa Sayang 2.0, although most of the actors inside are Chinese, and even the theme song is in Chinese (mostly), the Malay and Indian actors inside do portray a very united community, which really gives me hope in hoping that our beloved country Malaysia will one day be truly united and that all race will love each other as though their own.

I find the first sentence of the Rasa Sayang 2.0 lyrics most meaningful and would like to share it here before going into more serious issues.

我愛我的國家 有國才有家
wo ai wo de guo jia, you guo cai you jia
I love my country. With a country, I will have a home.
Saya cinta negaraku. Adalah negara, adalah rumahku.
(apologies to the Indians, I cannot speak Tamil. Kindly translate it for me if you ever see this)

Now for the more serious issue that I would like to bring up for discussion. What is it that brings upon a united nation? Language? Culture? Religion? I used to believe that language, culture and religion are whats important. I remember suggesting to my friends, and even strongly arguing that for a united country, we need to sacrifice something important. I remember telling them that if I were to ever to join politics, the first thing I will implement is to abolish Mandarin and Tamil altogether. This is to show we Chinese and Indians are sincere in becoming one with the Malays.

Language
However, as I continued to live overseas and be more expose to a different environment filled with people of many languages, I realized, that it is not the main contributor towards a united people. Why do I say this? Look at Australia and America. These are countries that are filled with immigrants and hence, have many different languages and culture. In fact, schools in these 2 countries encourage their students to learn a different language, mainly French (no idea why), if they can. In Australia, students are encouraged to either pick up French or Bahasa Indonesia. Shocked? I sure was when I learnt of this.

Lets look at our closer neighbour, Singapore. Although the majority of the citizens there are Chinese, and the education they receive are mostly Chinese, the people there are more united than in Malaysia. Why? The Malays there maintains their mother language, Malay, by the way. The majority, Chinese, however, do not discriminate the Malays for learning a different language, which is very different from Malaysia where the Malay majority discriminate us for learning a different language. Bare this in mind, the Chinese in Singapore DO NOT learn Malay. Simultaneously, the Malays there DO NOT learn Chinese (except private classes - tuition - of course). But in Malaysia, although we learn Chinese and Tamil, we learn Malay as well.

So what is wrong here? Should not the Malays be grateful that we are learning Malay as well unlike Singapore? Besides, and as argued many times before, if we can learn 3,4 or 5 languages, then the Malays should be able to learn an extra language or 2 as well right? For those PJ and KL-lang (lang = people in hokkien), if you have EVER went to FOS (Factory Outlet Store) in the Curve back in 2005, you will notice that there was this Indian supervisor there that actually knows English, Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese. It is funny that he does not know Tamil, but that is besides the point. The point here is, he knows more languages than me and even beats me flat in "my own game" (Mandarin and Cantonese).

Of course, many people will argue and say Language is important for unity and will then throw other evidence tat me. I truly believe that language is important for unity, but it is NOT the main contributor for a united nation. For the sake of argument, I will put in the example of Thailand. The original Thais and Thai-Chinese are also more united than us Malaysians. Their education system is that EVERYTHING is in Thai. Hence, Thai-Chinese mostly DO NOT know Mandarin. I even asked my original-Thai friends,

"Who do you want to marry next time? Thai or Chinese Thai?"
28 year old reply,"What's the difference?"
24 year old reply,"As long as she's a REAL girl, can already".
(Insider joke, there are transexuals in Thailand and my friend is looking for a REAL girl)

I do not intend to base heavily my evidence on just this two's answer. However, if you ever compare this sort of answer to Malaysia, what are the chances that the Chinese and Indians will say something similar towards the Malay race? Again, bare in mind, all three race KNOWS Malay. From this example, we have a common denominator, language, and yet, the degree of unity is remarkably different.

Maybe it is because the Chinese and Indians knows an extra language, and hence the Malays feels left out sometimes. This type of answer is fairly common and I received it quite alot as well. The Malays do not know if we are discriminating them or not IN PUBLIC, IN FRONT of their face or behind their back. Let me shut this theory once and for all. The Chinese and Indian community are MORE united than the Malays themselves today (Umnoputras vs Neo-Malays). The Chinese do not know Tamil (see my lyrics translation on top? I do not know Tamil!!!) nor do most Indians know Mandarin. So here's my question, why are Chinese and Indians more united?

To conclude for this section, language is NOT the main contributor towards a united nation.

Next up,
Culture
Chinese - Chinese New Year (CNY)
Malay - Hari Raya (HR)
Indians - Deepavali

During CNY, I have invited my Malay friends and Indian friends to my house. Simultaneously, my Malay friends even invited me to their house during HR! Unfortunately, I have not celebrated Indian New Years before, but I look forward for future invites as I LOVE INDIAN CURRY!!! And you know what is best about our difference in culture? We get to eat LOTS of different yet AMAZING food! By the way, to those Chinese extremists out there, not all pork dishes are awesome. My family do not eat pork at HOME ever since I was young (different story-lah if we go restaurant). It is my family culture, and we still get to taste lots of amazing good food without traces of pork.

Hence, in terms of food and celebration culture, I believe EVERYONE is in favour for a diverse celebration! (Refer to my formula below if you find my explanation above draggy and has skipped many points)

Many culture = Many food = You can be unhappy-meh?

If that still does not convince you to believe my formula, then here is another formula for you.

Many culture = many celebrations = MANY HOLIDAYS! (still unhappy? go see a psychologist)

In fact, this is what makes Malaysia truly unique from others! I have westerner friends that are jealous of our culture. Why? Here's my holiday plan in Australia throughout the year, every year.

1. Summer - 3 months
2. Winter - 1 month
3. Chrismas - it's in summer, so no replacement holiday
4. One week off in mid-semesters (2 semesters a year) for us to catch up our studies, and hence it's not a holiday to me.

Still do not see why my Westerner friends are jealous? Here, let me explain it to you. IT IS DULL AND BORING! We have Dragon dance, they have summer and winter. We have ketupat and rendang, they have summer and winter. We have Thaipusam, they have...summer and winter, ok, maybe party and beer as well. For those that do not want to enjoy summer holiday, they go for summer school. Fun eh? (on a side note, do you now see why Westerners loves to party and beer? it is because, compared to us Malaysians, they have a dull culture!)

My point for all these, is that the difference in our culture has given me, at least in my point of view, a great amount of happiness. Given the chance to stay in Australia, or even go "back" to China like many Malays have cursed me to do so, my answer for you is this. I am Malaysian. Always will be, always have been, and so will my future generations be. I am happy to have Malay and Indian friends, because I can celebrate all sorts of celebration and eat lots of different food! In fact, I believe my Malay and Indian friends are also grateful to have known me or other Chinese because, similarly, they get to enjoy my culture. If you do not believe me, I dare you, go ask ALL oversea Malaysians.

1. What do you miss most aside from your family and friends?
2. Which food do you prefer?

You will find that despite our colour, language and culture, our answers are all the SAME. Hence, we have a common similarity. Shouldn't similarty equal unity?

Ok, maybe it is a different cultural point of view that makes us different. Dr. Mahathir once commented that the Chinese are too Greedy, the Malays are too lazy and the Indians cannot be trusted. It is sad, but this is true (67% of it at least in my opinion). However, I do not blame it on their culture. I blame this on the government. Through the NEP, the Malays have been favored heavily and hence many has gotten lazy. This is a fact. Prove me wrong. Throw me whatever, and if you even dare, then get ready for more counters by me.

The Chinese? Having a barrier in front of them, they meet only 2 options. Poverty and death OR survive. In order to survive and because we all love our family, the Chinese community has no choice but to work really hard for their future generations' sake. For example, being the eldest son in a Chinese family, I have witnessed my mom coming back home at 12am everynight, since young, EVEN on occasional Sundays and go to work at 8 or 9am in the morning the next day. As for my dad, the amount of SENTENCES we ever talk is lesser than 8 in a month. Why? Because he is always outstation.

Being the eldest in the family, I am my sibling's "parent". I treat my sister as my daughter sometimes. Looking for good tuitions, go to school on her report card day, call up her teachers to check on her progress and even send her to the hospital when she broke her hand! As for my brother, despite the fact that many of his teachers has already given up hope on his education, I remained one of the only person to harbour hope that he may one day graduate and pursue his dreams in drawing. Although the way I treated my brother was VERY VERY harsh, but that is because he is not disciplined enough most of the times.

I am not the only Chinese that has this harsh experience mind you. My grandmother that has worked in the rubber plantation for more than 55years, even told me she cried for several nights when her children are asleep because her eldest son (my beloved uncle) sacrificed his primary school education half way so that he can help lessen her burden, all for the sake that her other children, including my mom and my aunts and other uncles to at least graduate from secondary school and if possible, go to college, which unfortunately, my mom did not even qualify to get into.

Hence, with such a background, please tell me, how can we not want more money? The NEP does not favor any of us remember? We do not want money for the sake of wanting it, but so that our future generations will not have to suffer like the current generation. It is because we understand the meaning 苦 (bitter), which is why we do not wish this bitterness upon our loved ones. Furthermore, its not like we rob or steal from people. We work hard for it. Is it a crime to work hard? If it is so, tell me, under what article in the Malaysian law, that clearly states, you are not allowed to work hard?

For the Indians, I wish I can say much about them but unfortunately, I cannot. I cannot not because I hate them, but I just do not see how they are not trustworthy! My indian friends seems to be more trustworthy than some of my Chinese friends apparently. Maybe I am just blessed with good friends that are relatively more trustworthy than Dr. Mahathir's circle of Indian friends. Then again, this is entirely my point of view, so I could be wrong.

To put it simple, culture is not to be blamed here, but government policy's such as the NEP. I agree that we must help the poor Malays to stand on their feet, but such a move is only crippling them more. To make matters worse, it favors the rich Malays EVEN more because the policy applies to them as well. Furthermore, poor Chinese and Indian communities are helpless because the policy does not see them as deserving.

Lastly,
Religion
I want to point out that we Malaysians have respected each other's religion for many years now, until recently of course, because of dirty politics. Since 2006 till this year, I have been to Batu Caves to perform first aid. I remember the first time I went there, I heard Indian chanting a certain word towards their family members for support. Not knowing that it was forbidden to do so, I actually shouted chants beside a family to show support. Of course, many Indians then looked at me at most, angrily. No one cursed or threw anything at me. I was told later on of course about my inappropriate behaviour and have then stopped. The Indians in this story has showed that they were tolerant with me despite our differences. It is because we know we are different, we therefore grew to be more tolerant towards each other because not everyone celebrates the same culture.

I know that this is quite wrong for the Malay extremist, but there are also Malays that celebrates unofficial Christmas with me even and they do not see anything wrong with it. We merely exchange gifts and greeted each other out of respect because they know that we celebrate Christmas, and just want us to be happy on that joyful day. Simultaneously, we do not sing carols or preach the gospel in front of them because we know that they are Muslims. Hence, it is our unofficial Christmas.

During Puasa, I understand that it is unfair to be eating in front of Malays. But during breaks and lunch periods, we have our food in restaurants and canteens. It's not like we actually buy food, look for a Malay and eat in front of them. Furthermore, if we look at other multi-religious country, I will point at Indonesia because it is most similar to Malaysia, you will find that the Indons there do not really find other race eating during Puasa month much of a bother. Why? It is because they too have grown tolerant towards understanding our differences. I am sure most Malay feels the same way they do as well, especially the neo-Malays.

Hence, I dare say that religion is, like the 2 other factors, are not a major factor towards disunity. People might try and use religious wars between Christians and Muslims since ancient times against me. But let me ask you, these separate groups, do they coexist together or do they live in 2 separate countries? I believe most religious wars started because 2 different religions did not coexist together and hence people were more extemist back then. Look at China. You will be surprised, but there are in fact a large number of Chinese Muslim citizens. In terms of percentage, I could be wrong as I did not do much research on it, but the PERCENTAGE of Chinese Muslims may perhaps be LOWER than Malaysian Christians. Nonetheless, their number is higher and higher number means it is relatively easier for a single person to spark hatred amongst the community to divide the whole Chinese community altogether. However, they too are living peacefully, unlike in Malaysia today.

Answer?
So what is it that creates disunity? I personally do not know if I have the right answer. Not much research have been done on this, and I can only speculate based on me and my friend's opinions. If you really want to know my point of view, it would be the government policies.

By the way, I do not blame NEP entirely, even though the NEP, by itself, has played a large propotion is separating us Malaysians. I blame largely on the government's FAILURE to promote effective policies. If the government can perhaps give incentives towards lets say children of mixed heritage, there will be more intermarriage between races and people will find that they can no longer point fingers at each other entirely for being different.

Furthermore, although Malaysia is a Muslim country, forcing Malays and other people that had once convert into Muslims to remain faithful to Islam is just a fallacy towards Islam and against human rights. Indonesians are not forced to become Muslims, and yet the majority of the population are Muslims. So why is the government so afraid of this to the extent that such policy must be heavily implemented? It only scares people into not blending together into 1 united community and hence, separate us all.

Perhaps one day, when the right policies are implemented, will we see if what I have said is true or not. Until then, no one will really know.