Dia, Kau Dan Aku

Like Capt Iskandar Dzulkarnain, A Bumi speaks my mind succinctly. I said so because I, like a selected fews, spent my formative years around non-Malays and worked with non-Malays (to their astonishment that a Malay could be as competitive as they are). I have seen enough but instead of trying to get even with them and trying to be one of them, I vow that I should never manipulate another human being to my advantage. I vow that a person next to me is a human being so I must treat them with dignity. I vow that me being a Muslim would not make me an enemy to a believer of another religion because I believe all religions in the world advocate for the best interest of humanity.

I was scared of tormenting the real facts that we are who we are because of which race and religion we belong to. It IS a matter of survival and to survive, most of us adopt ‘necessity is the mother of all inventions’ attitude. As a result, here we are, divided more than ever because we know too well of our Achilles Heels. If you go through the History of our Ibu Pertiwi, you would see clearly the tactics employed, not to survive, but more of to thrive, at the expense of sweats, blood and tears of others. More than 600 years later, here we are, living “Dia, Kau and Aku” adage. We are comrades on certain issues and we are each other’s antagonists on the other issues.Without us realising, we are also at faults playing the dirty games – the ones played by our real enemy, BeNd and its allies.

Thank you A Bumi for yourlist. If there is one person I could hate now, it would be me – the woman in the mirror – for I didn’t change for us to live in harmony all these years.

“Shifts (of angels) take turns, staying with each one of you - they are in front of you and behind you. They stay with you, and guard you in accordance with GOD's commands. Thus, GOD does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change. If GOD wills any hardship for any people, no force can stop it. For they have none beside Him as Lord and Master” – Al-Ra’ad (The Thunder, Verse 13, Ayah 11).

Why I work and stay overseas — A Bumi

I am a Malay working overseas. I find working in Malaysia unattractive due to the following reasons. I don’t want to belabour the points, so I list them down in point form:

Chinese chauvinism/racism

• Most private organisations including TMI are dominated by the Chinese and/or their political agenda.

• Chinese people have a tendency to assign negative stereotypes on other races (especially the Bumiputera races).

• They exhibit cliquish, insular, secretive and calculating behaviour.

• Chinese people favour fair-skinned people even though fair skin is disadvantageous in Malaysia’s sunny climate.

• They admire China’s achievements, despite China’s oppressive regime.

• Malaysian Chinese use the Chinese languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien etc.) to isolate their discussion from others while in their presence.

• The Chinese are not honest about failures of ethnic Chinese leaderships in Philippines and Thailand.

• Tokenism is rife in Chinese companies.

• Chinese will use changing criteria to judge people of other ethnicities; one day it is academic merit, another day it may be “character.”

• The Chinese favour their own kind over others, even when other kinds are of equal stature.
• Malays fear to voice out against Chinese for fear of repercussions especially with respect to their employment prospects in the private sector.

• The Chinese still hold strongly to their ethnic heritage.

• They diminish the achievement of other races, especially the Malays.

• Harp on Bumiputera affirmative action even though Chinese people still continue to succeed at all levels of Malaysian life (even government).

• Any Malay who has strong academic background is denounced as attaining it due to “Bumiputera privilege”, even though he graduated overseas with his own money.

• Use their overseas Chinese connection to gain unfair advantage, but pretend the advantage is minimal.

• The Chinese always make unfair comparisons of Malaysia with other non-Muslim, post-industrial countries.

• Chinese people don’t recognise the special position Islam has in Malaysia.

• Enjoy talking bad about Malaysia (even when working/living overseas) as if Malaysia is on the same level as Zimbabwe even though Malaysia is far from it.

• Highly critical of institutions that are Bumiputera-dominated (ie. government), but non-critical of institutions that are Chinese dominant (like gambling).

• Show no desire to partake in patriotic activities (e.g. serve in army), but cry foul when other people point out their lack of patriotism.

• Show lack of understanding about Islamic religion, but enjoy taking Quranic verses out of context to further their argument.

• If pushed to think “outside the box”, the Chinese would favour Western ideals above Islamic ideals.

• The Chinese show lack of respect toward Malay leaders, but accord unnecessary respect to their Chinese community leaders, even though they hold no significant position in government.
• Always speak about “brain drain” but still keep Malaysian passports.

• Willing to spread disingenuous claim that Bumis have already achieved economic parity with the Chinese.

• Use Indians who have achieved to further their claim that Indian community is ahead of the Malay community.

• Comments in support of Chinese chauvinistic agenda are allowed to be posted in TMI, while others are censored.

• I can go on and on with more example, but I grow tired and annoyed.

PAS religionism

• Holds only their interpretation of Islam to be the truth.

• Willing to associate themselves with and be used by non-Muslims while creating enmity toward other Muslims.

• Use religion as a political tool to win arguments and foment discord.

• Ritualistic mentality.

• Have a simplistic idea/concept of the world and its affairs.

Umno nationalism

• Partake in bully politics.

• Enjoy seeing minor issues such as sexual improprieties take over the national discourse.

• Willing to give in to fervent Malay nationalism.

• Must “ampu” within Umno hierarchical structure to get to higher positions.

• Anti-intellectualism.

• Unwillingness to adapt and change to satisfy changing political climate.

Indian shiftiness

• Willing to change their allegiance due to changing political tide.

• Belief that Indian subcontinent will help them, like mainland China helps Malaysian Chinese.

• Dishonest about their caste and other internal problems.

Malaysian culture as a whole

• No proper understanding of logic and reason.

• Has not understood to segregate religious thinking from secular reasoning.

• Lost sensitivities towards other religions/races.

• Still admire Western culture, without studying their obvious weaknesses.

• Always sidetracked by minor issues rather than seeing bigger picture.

• Media not mature to show all sides of the story, media is all very partisan.

• Partisanship is being promoted at all levels from the family microcosm to the national level.

* A Bumi who chooses not to provide his identity, and who has worked in a China-man company as a token executive.

Caged Morality

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” – Gandhi

Early this month, The Star reported on beastly conditions of our animal enclosures. This is definitely not the first report on inhumane treatments to animals and deplorable states of our animal enclosures as such plights have been highlighted by many parties for so many years. If I could point a finger or two on this on-going animal cruelty, I would point it to our government. You may say why we should make fuss about animals when we still have people living in dire straits in Klang Valley. It does matter because once we have the hearts (or the stomachs) to inflict such sufferings to animals, we will do that to other people. And for me, that is where we have been very wrong so far and thus, explains why we are burdened with our current corrupted, power-bloated government, as we are being treated like animals, reducing ourselves to mere commodities.

Being an overtly sensitive person, I am hurt whenone asked if I keep my cats in the cage at home, whenever I told them that I have 3+2 (mine plus my sis’) cats. While my sister feels that if I love my cats I should cage them so they won’t run away, I always believe that my cats deserve their independence, to roam the land and socialize along the way (yes, without much worries, I have neutered and spayed them). I could take these cats away from the alleys, but I could never take the cat out of them!

What if I were to put myself in my cats’ paws, would I be jolly happy, thinking my loved one cares for me so much I am now languishing behind bars? Well, lest, I am just like Syed Hamid Albar, my orang kampong, who detained Ms Tan Hoon Cheng under ISA for her safety reasons back in September 2008.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail?” So, what is the purpose of having everything according to our heart’s desires at the expense of others’ liberty? So, if I may put my curiosity to you, why do we have this penchant to cage and chastise? Do we do so because we are concerned for their safety or is it more of us not wanting to allow freedom takes place as we tend to associate freedom with troublesome?

Such cruelty to animals reflect our insensitivity to our surrounding.

We are willing to pay to see animals in agony, as we thronged our animal enclosures during school holidays to show our children the beauty of nature while they see the harsh reality of being animals.

We are willing to threaten a lawyer (in the case of Cik Fadiah Nadwa Fikri who was threatened by our Men in Blue when she requested to talk to her Anak Guam in private) from carrying her duties. Based on my brother’s personal experience, this is definitely one of our Men in Blue’s trick to cut short their investigation, as herAnak Guam, out of desperation, would admit guilty. These Men in Blue would rather put people behind bars, without prima facie. They caged their morality in return for their livelihood.

We are willing to see people, for generations to come,dying from exposure to toxic effluents. Last weekend, 4 DAP members were detained by these Men in Blue again, during an Anti-Lynas protest. Yes, they were being held because they protested for the safety of the local people, who would suffer as much as Bukit Merah’s folks, if Lynas comes to Gebeng. Our government is more than willing to cage their morality so that our FDI improves.

But the worst of all is that we are willing to continue voting BeNd, which is now busy cashing in their ‘Fixed Deposits’ to finance their campaign for the next GE (cutting vital subsidies) without any care at all for detrimental socio-economic impacts to many of us.

Perhaps, our ego is too hard to be massaged or our heart is already dead.

Perhaps, we never realized that the door to liberty is unlocked, ready for us to open and make better changes to our Ibu Pertiwi.

My Case of Brain Drain

Thanks to World Bank’s report on Malaysia’s alarming brain drain – I think I too suffer from a brain drain.

Last year, I saw exodus of my buddies to OECD. They left our Ibu Pertiwi because they know they are destined to live a larger life, than surrendering themselves to our pariah-state socio-politics. They know their life and those of their next generations will remain meaningless even if their races are being represented in our August House for as long as we continue to elect the racist and sexist smart alecks. As much as they want to, I wonder if they see our Ibu Pertiwi and its people are those of beyond repair, that any of their helps to bring positive changes won’t be good enough.

Their exodus to greener, freer and wiser land makes me numb. I lost my appetite in digesting matters shared on our Blogosphere because with their departure, I have not been able to sniff anintellectual discourse, a rational justification and a thoughtful reflection on any given matters.

Blogs have been a den for rumour mongers, whom have lost, their sanity, humanity or ‘kejantanan’, for they hit below the belt most of the time. My buddy once told me that we should not hit one when one is down. During this intense mud-slinging moment, I sorely miss my buddy.

Bloggers are like congregation of EPL club fans on Saturday night, who would cheer up their club, jeer down their opponent and close their eyes to biased referee treatments. Another buddy said that what maketh a man is his manners and never is his popularity. During this maddening prelude to GE, I yearn for my buddy’s wisdom.

As much as our Ibu Pertiwi is losing from their exodus, my case of brain drain clearly show that what maketh a nation is not how many people it has (or how many BeNd supporters do they have) but how many people it has to maketh it a nation.

For the last 6 months, I find myself sitting at one particular Pizza Hut Restaurant, at least once a month. Over steaming hot pasta and extra cheesy pizza he personally delivered, I steal a look or two at the Manager (if you really know me, I am rather infamous for walking around blindly with my eyes wide open – Yes, I don’t fancy making eye contacts unless I’m in a conversation or a meeting) – one whom I complained to too many a time before for black-hued prawn fritters and running roaches over their tables (I wonder if he finds my complaints amusing to him as he just gets friendlier). While I douse my thirst and hunger over the meal, I too douse my missing for my buddy (he’s a mirror image).

Looking at the Manager, I cannot help but realized that by us continuing to drive away valuable human capital and human beings, like my 2 buddies, our nation will end up like a Pizza Hut – cooking steaming, cheesy meals but of no real values, fresh ideas and authentic identity.

p.s. I laughed till I cried reading Talent Corp’s CEO saying this to the Little Red Dot's media, “Ultimately, what gets implemented are the policies of the prime minister and the government”, in his plea to professional Malaysians overseas to ignore race rhetoric and come back to serve the country. Isn’t PM = UMNO = PERKASA? I want to convince myself that our Talent Corp is running some Talent Time Shows, with contestants the likes of Sarah Palin (she surely doesn’t know about so many things before and after running for VP).

p.p.s.Most fast foods serve our guilty pleasure foods. The growing fad of fast-fooding reflects our ‘Fast-Food’ approach to life.

p.p.p.s. I believe in foods cooked in our own kitchen, with tender, loving thoughts and care. It takes a lot of efforts but we’re worth it.

Utusan _____(sia)sia

As I bent over, lining my dustbin with UtusanMalay(sia)sia last weekend, I saw “Blog BigDog”. Wow! Those words immediately gave me a model-like upright posture. How could this blogger, who is famous for his foul words and scanty photos all over his ‘dog house’, got his name entombed on this good-for-nothing daily? Damn it! I need to read the headline!

What! Shit! (shamelessly countlessly uttered). Phew, I was glad I had finished cooking for the day or if not, with those shits I bet those dishes would turn bad instantly.

What an ironic that a Malay ultra-UMNO guy, who calls himself Big Dog in his blog, divulged to that good-for-nothing daily that our Malaysian Christians are ‘conspiring’ to fight for Christian be made the official religion to our nation and that a Non-Muslim could be appointed as the Prime Minister. If I am a true Malaysian Malay Muslim, like he professes to be, I would have, not just second thought, many thoughts in fact, before believing his absurd allegations when he called himself “Big Dog” when dogs are amongst those ‘panic buttons’ to many ultra-Malay Muslims.

I am not questioning his nom de plume. I am questioning how a good-for-nothing national daily could rely on one Malay Muslim Blogger called Big Dog for such ‘all hell broke loose’ headline.

Heck! I later found out that my shitty worries are unfounded for my parents, who read Utusan _____(sia)sia, think they should not listen to someone called Big Dog to talk about ‘menegakkandanmemartabatkan agama Islam’. With another episode of shooting their feet off by Utusan _____(sia)sia, I wonder if you out there are still not convinced enough that it is such an urgent NEED to get rid of B(e)N(d) and its allies. When Pakatan Rakyat is pushing for Freedom of Information (“FOI”), B(e)N(d) and Utusan _____(sia)sia are pushing for Freedom of Lies.

I remember those evenings I spent on Ayah’s laps learning to read from once-credible Utusan Malaysia when I was still a naïve and sweet little girl. As I turned into a vile and riled old woman, it too has changed into a meaningless Utusan _____(sia)sia.

Here’s Muse’s “Uprising” for you to get energised and kick some butts and buts.

p.s. If I ever be a mother, I want my child to grow up learning about his people and nation from our local newspaper. It is high time Pakatan Rakyat comes out with its own daily to feed the mind, the heart and the soul of Malaysians.

p.p.s. A few of my buddies complained that they could not accept Pakatan Rakyat’s leaders giving talks and interviews overseas on our government’s misdeeds. I hope they’d realise by now that telling the truths should be considered courageous and admirable compared to spreading lies after lies just to stay in power. May we be reminded that having power isn’t about being powerful but having the power to carry out the responsibilities entrusted in our hands.

I'm Flying Without Wings

The spell has gone.

Alhamdulillah for His kindness for giving me back what I once lost. I never knew how precious it was to be able to write away my thoughts and emotions till I found myself sitting, gazing at the screen without an ability to type the storms in my mind. I am the one who believes that writing puts my thoughts and emotions in perspective. I am at my best writing away.

Alhamdulillah for His Grace for giving me an immense depth of subconciousness to feel the warm thoughts and prayers I am bestowed from my dearly beloved, no matter how near or far we are. He has awakened me from this deep slumber.

I'm, now, flying without wings. I wish everyone out there, too, would be able to find that special something; and come and join me, flying without wings.

Sky is definitely not the limit.