• pigduck
• Jul 28,2006
• In: Rants

Do Malaysians know what they want?

I was at bible study today and it was more like a, “vote for the alternative party” session.

I was late because I was working on my website. I hope you like the new layout. I quite like this clean, crisp, blue look. I hope you will too. It’s easier on the eyes and less cluttered. I came home and realised that it was a bit wonky so I spent the last 45 minutes re-doing everything.

It also doesn’t get any faster than that considering Streamyx and its moods. Can you believe an ADSL line that has such mood swings? Some times it’s up, some times it’s down. It’s like a woman. Unforunately, most of the time, it’s down.

I was meant to talk about Katharine McPhee but I will save that for tomorrow. Right now, I want to talk about this: Do Malaysians know what they want?

Today, we were asked to bring our “40 Days of Fasting & Prayer” booklet and our Purpose Driven Life book. I almost didn’t make it ‘cos I wanted to concentrate on my website.

I had to feed my car ‘cos it was on the low side and had to fix my mom’s glasses so by the time, I made it to bible study, I was late and a bit “out of steam”. My mind was kind of blank and I didn’t have much to say because we were discussing how we feel about some bible verses and maybe because I came in mid-way, I couldn’t really catch on.

We started talking about the fasting and prayer booklet provided by NECF Malaysia. The Christians in our country rally together for 40 days before Merdeka Day to pray and fast for the country. It’s a great gesture and although I’ve been wanting to write about it, I haven’t found the right time yet. It’s something that we should all be doing, praying for our respective nation(s) because they need prayer more than anything else…  

The point is, we started talking about what the book contains… according to one of the people at the square table (my bible study), it lists down specifically who and what we should pray for each day leading up to Merdeka. It’s great really, ‘cos we can never get enough of prayer.

The discussion then somehow became political. Don’t ask me how it happened. Someone I believe, brought up the issue of voting for the “other parties” instead of the ruling party to make our voice heard.

I believe it started when we brought up the “injustices” towards Christians in this country or non-Muslims who struggle to have the freedom of religion. There were some cases that were brought up where people who have given up Islam or who were mistaken to be Muslim can’t reverse their religion because the Syariah court in our country seems to have the upper hand in judiciary matters. Therefore, once you are “made” a Muslim, then… that’s basically it. You can’t denounce it, revert it , go against it, you’re stuck with it. That’s how it is now and what the non-Muslims want is for this injustice to stop. Which is fine.

Now this is a fair argument but somehow, I didn’t get the vibe at the table. Maybe because I started speaking up about what we are asking for by voting for the “alternative” parties and what do we expect and want? Do Malaysians know what we want? Do we claim to want the freedom of speech and religion when in the end, we know that it’s a losing battle? I’m not being pessimistic.

I did state that we needed the older generation to pass away before we could do anything. It’s true because the older generation is the one who is still running the country now.

This youngster who was speaking at the square table, I am sure is passionate about wanting a reformation but what is it that he wants? Does he love our country so much that he wants change or is it for the betterment of the people and the future? It could be but I always find people who scream for a reformation or who blame our forefathers just like to be caught up in the hype.

Our country is so young. We are only celebrating our 49th year of independence… and to be honest, we have such a long way to go.

Why is it so “unfair” in our country? Why do some races get extra privileges and rights? I guess it was because of the racial conflicts that happened in the 60s that shaped the way things are today… our parents had to undergo such suffering to get to where they are today. They had to run for their lives, hide and protect their loved ones and families from getting killed. There was such turmoil and we never had to go through it, thank goodness. They had to huddle in community halls and look out for one another, there were curfews implemented and it was a scary time but you know what? Instead of carrying on the fights, they chose peace. And peace comes at a price.

That was how they saw it… they saw that if they wanted to live, they would have to give up some of their privileges and rights… of course, there’s discontent from them but compare us to them and they have thrived beyond our wildest imaginations. They lapped up opportunities and converted them to successes and even with all the regulatary measures in place, people have been able to succeed and live comfortably. I believe our parents are grateful that they are living today and able to enjoy “peace and harmony” in the way that they saw fit… because they experienced the hardship.

We, the youngsters, never did and that’s why we will never have such affinity for the laws of yore. We will never really understand what it means to have our lives threatened so we don’t listen to our parents and instead think we know everything.

Like I said, our country is young and what do we want? We have a long way to be known as a developed nation… trust me on this… mega-buildings and beautiful expensive projects don’t make a developed nation, the people do and right now, we’re still uncivilised, dirty and uncouth as ever so we do have a long way to go.

We think that freedom of speech and religion is the way to go but our parents gave that up for reasons that made sense to them then… it may not make sense to us now but we are more peaceful than our neighbouring countries who have to go through civil wars to “get their voice heard”. Is that what we want? Bloodshed?

Thinking about it now, Malaysians are pretty good mediators… especially during our early years of independence in the 1950s and 60s… how we were able to come up with agreements and split with Singapore… it’s quite impressive. It’s a give and take situation. I may be barking up the wrong tree here because my history sucks…

However, of course, we all come out rather warped from such situations. We don’t come out unscathed, we have ugly scars from that time, weird kiasu traits, corruption, complacency, name calling, discontent, “sibling rivalry” between the countries and the list goes on.

I mean, look at China, they too wanted to achieve developed nation status and they wanted to do it in 20 years and look what happened? An estimated 30 million people died from famine and it was just a disastrous project through and through. I remember watching the Chinese art films at university, movies like To Live, Farewell my Concubine and feeling the bile rise up because of the injustice done towards Chinese culture and to the people of my homeland. I have to thank my grandparents for leaving China at such a time and seeking greener pastures here in Malaysia.

I watched Together a few years ago and that portrayed “modern” China with the women caught up in consumerism and their lack of self-worth. All they wanted to do was to emulate the Americans because they believed that was “cool” but they lost themselves in the process… they sold themselves… it was sad just watching that because it is so empty… I was very so hurt by it all.

I never understood why and Malaysia if we are not careful, may become desperate like them and fail miserably in the process… I do believe our government has caught a certain desperation, the need to quash their detractors and to prove themselves right. That’s what Mao tried to do too and in the end, who suffered? The people… it is evident for the most part that governments don’t give a hoot about the people, they cover it all up with politics…

You know, we lost so much Chinese history, art, music and culture during those trying times… we can never recover it… that saddens me a great deal.

So what do Malaysians want? Do we want to lose ourselves? It’s growing increasingly obvious that we are… we are becoming so fragmented that we forget who we really are but then the Chinese have nothing to really latch onto in this country, our forefathers came from China, the Indians well… they didn’t originate from this land … the Malays? Well, they don’t really know what they are… as a country, we are just too young and we should really be protecting our heritage, culture and our environment instead of destroying it all. Mr. Prime Minister did something right today and for the first time in a long time, I am proud of him for speaking out on the environmental woes of our country and how if we nurtured it and protected it, our tourism industry would boom. Sadly, that is not the case.

Here are snippets of the article:-

He said the corals would attract tourists and divers from around the world but they would not visit the country if the corals were destroyed. 

Abdullah was referring to the construction of a clubhouse, toilets and sewage facilities that started on the island two months ago. It caused serious concern among divers when there was gradual destruction of the coral reefs. 

On May 14, a barge from the construction fell onto the seabed and flattened 372.94 sq m of coral reef at the island’s drop-off point in the north. 

….

Abdullah said he was upset with the general quality of environment in the country, and that Malaysians should learn to appreciate the environment as it was a gift from God. 

“God gave us such a beautiful gift. Why are we destroying it?” Abdullah said in his speech when attending the Malaysian Professional Centre annual dinner here last night. 

- The Star, Thursday 27 July, 2006.

 

Maybe I am digressing. What then on a religious level…. how can we overcome it? We scream the need for freedom of religion, from oppression, of being stifled but luckily there was someone who just came back from China, who was relaying her experience with the church there, how her church only allows foreigners in and they have an official from the government who checks the passports every Sunday… at the same time, their worshipping times are regulated… and they can’t really preach to the mainland Chinese… we have all heard of the underground churches of China… it cannot be institutionalised because it goes against the Communist ideologies and thus, they have to do it hush-hush and it is so sad that bibles that can be found in China have been censored by their government and that is why, people smuggle in bibles… compared to them, aren’t we better off? What do we want? What kind of freedom? 

We are so free already, allowed to gather and meet up whenever we feel like it as a church… which explains the numerous church activities that happen and are on-going…. we are allowed to talk about our faith pretty openly just not to certain people but the point is, we’re hardly restricted…

Some times how I see it, if these people continue doing all their doing, picketing, making noise and using the internet as their mouthpiece (I guess I’m doing this too… hahah… it’s more of my venting too, to be honest), more restrictions will be put into place, more censorships, more rules. Then what?  

As people we are never satisfied with what we have… we keep looking at the grass on the other side …we keep thinking other countries have it better than us… but all countries have their flaws and in some countries in Europe and in America, even with their majestic churches, their losing touch with God… it is sad… so what do we really want? Is it really so much better with freedom of religion? Remember, it’s a give and take situation.

I do get annoyed at the young upstarts of this country who think they know it all, who think they know what is best, who scream for reformation and changes but at the end, are just dissatisfied… I wonder some times whether this discontent stems from jealousy and envy because other people get better rights and they want in… they want some share of the cake… they want some of the benefits and privileges… that could be it, right?

I don’t think it’s for the love of the country… I think Malaysians are generally apathetic about the country… that is unfortunately, something we picked up from the older generation who probably put a death sentence on this country a long time ago… It’s true. Our parents, instead of asking us to be loyal to our country, to work hard and to want this country to succeed, they are asking their kids to go overseas to make their money, to live elsewhere and to leave their homeland… Maybe we strive for development and our country isn’t moving at the pace we want it to and thus, go elsewhere to live in a more “civilised” society. We laugh at the government and their desperate measures in trying to attract professionals to come back… was the damage done too long ago? Did they forget to instil patriotism? Even now, when we discuss the government, we are tainted with a cynicism that is so unbecoming of people who “love their country”.

I think at the end of the day, the young upstarts think they are smarter than the older generation… they think they know what is right… I know a lot of these people who make so much noise but at the end, aren’t even living in this country! The point is, they never went through the hardship and sorrow and thus, demand for change but are they willing to pay the cost?

We discussed online media too… It grates on my nerves when I read comments made by Malaysians some times. We shoot from the hip and we don’t really make sense… we have these uneducated trains of thought where we think opinions matter more than facts… yes, I am guilty of this too… We discussed the pros of online media and the “alternative” news and of course, now we have videos of bullying surfacing from our local universities but so what? It’s just sensational… bullying has been going on forever in this country… don’t tell me we weren’t aware of it until now?

We’re a barbaric and gangster nation like I said earlier and it’s not surprising… so just because we have “evidence” now, what are we going to do about it? How are you going to change the mindset of the people? Imposing more laws? That is the question to pose to these people who say online media is good for bringing awareness… to me, it’s just sensational… nothing substantial… are we willing to change? No… we’re going to work harder to send our kids overseas to study… we’re going to deter our kids from entering such universities … it’s strange some times, how those who are privileged enough to study overseas, may be the smartest or the richest but the point is, the ones left in Malaysia are the poor, uneducated gangsters who really are the ones in need of an education… so what are we really striving for as a nation and if we want our voice to be heard… for what reasons? They better be valid ones…

I just got really annoyed at the bible session today because it was obvious that for one of them, their agenda was just to promote voting for the opposition because they were displeased with the current ruling party… over some of the “Christian” issues that were brought up and to make a difference, we should exercise our voting rights… that was the message of the day… I just find it so baseless … and not forgetting, pointless. 

‘Cos we are leaving it all up to the government to make the changes and we could easily do it ourselves… we could work on the ground, improving and enriching lives… making a difference in that sense but we aren’t… we are attacking the wrong part of the tree because we want our rights and needs to be recognised first before we do anything… we want the system corrected first but shouldn’t we show fruits of the alternative system to prove to these guys that it’s feasible instead of just talking? I think we’re afraid they might take us for granted. But Malaysians have always had a “what’s in it for me” attitude.

To me, fighting for these rights, it’s nothing but earthly battles since if we know we’re Christian and we have a relationship with God… when we die, we’re still going to go to heaven… getting that piece of paper on earth to prove that we have changed our religion is not going to get us into heaven… so what we’re saying here is that we care how people see us… ? Or we just want the statistics to show the right demographics? Who knows…

Anyway, I’m being harsh and I’m probably also a hypocrite in some ways… I hope I didn’t send out a mixed signal in any way… just my thoughts… ok, it’s freakin’ late and I need to sleep.