Like water off a duck’s back
By The Phantom Haranguer
Malaysians are an insecure lot. If you find that fact difficult to swallow it’s either that insecurity, like racism and fear, is so widespread in Malaysia that it is regarded as the norm … or that you are so insecure that your compensation mechanisms have totally masked your insecurity.
So let me point out a few examples that demonstrate just how insecure Malaysians are:
If you are not insecure, then why do you have to maintain that most obnoxious of Asian Values: that of Saving Face? The concept that permits Asians to lie and cheat and sulk and behave spitefully and requires them to blame everyone in sight rather than accept any blame for their own short comings. The concept that ensures that Malaysians never learn from their mistakes.
If you are not insecure, then why do you find it necessary to barricade yourself inside your self-imposed prison? And more recently, there is a trend to extend your prisons by developing a ghetto mentality whereby you pass to your fellow men the demeaning task of looking after your assets. Thus in your insecurity you leave yourself wide open to the abuses that come from lack of diligence on your part and potentially leave yourselves wide open to the asian version of a pogrom. With a few more nutters like those little Hitlers from Perkasa, an asian-style pogrom is definitely on the cards.
If you are not insecure, then why is cultism such a growth industry in Malaysia? Malaysians play host to every weird and whacko cult known to mankind … and a few more besides. The characteristics of all cults is that they are based on money and power (your money and their power) and they require their adherents to believe wholeheartedly in the cult thus abandoning any pretence of logic or commonsense.
If you are not insecure, then why is there such widespread fatalism operating in Malaysia? Malaysians love to give up their individuality and their control of their own destiny (and that of their children) to anyone who would willingly take control of their lives … and there are plenty of those.
If you are not insecure, then why has the obsession with Self reached such pathological levels in Malaysia? Malaysians can no longer think of anybody but themselves and it shows in ever aspect of their lives, much to the detriment of Malaysian society in general. Many of the cults as mentioned above relate to the appearance of Malaysians who think that by looking good they build self confidence when all they do is create good looking insecure people.
If you are not insecure, then why is there this desperate rush to appear better than your peers? This characteristic shows itself in many ways. By surrounding yourselves with people doing demeaning jobs … maids and security men, you think that you really are superior. By buying datukships. By the classism that is rampant throughout Malaysia. By displaying on your cars those cute lil brass thingys which proclaim how much better you are than everyone else. By awarding yourselves lollypop awards from candy floss organizations that appear in newspapers in far off countries where half the population have never heard of Malaysia. Then there are those endless empty awards which you bestow on yourselves so that you and your group can get your photos in the newspapers. And of course there is the Malaysia Book of Records.
The tudung is the badge of Muslim male insecurity as the concepts of Ketuanan Melayu, Malay rights and organizations like Perkasa scream insecurity at a community-wide level. How is it possible for a whole community that is genetically quite diverse to be insecure is a question that should be addressed because communal insecurity is widely used as a way to manipulate Malays into somehow believing they are somehow a united group of mindless people. You only have to look at the situation in Germany post WW1 to see how evil forces can manipulate an insecure people into thinking they are potential leaders of the world.
If Malaysians aren’t insecure, how come their politicians change loyalty quicker than you can open a bank account? This phenomena probably has something to do with the fact that apart from the DAP, none of the political parties appear to have any abiding philosophy apart from greed and a lust for power. With principle-free parties, it is no wonder that the followers have no need for loyalty; and it is no wonder that figureheads become so important in Malaysian politics.
If Malaysians aren’t insecure, why is it that they have so much trouble answering questions? Even with the most simple questions, the response is one of Answering a Question with a Question. “What do you want to eat “ is answered with the same question thrown back to you. When the questions get even more difficult, you will progressively get the following responses:
– They will give you the answer they think you want. This is the consequence of the Malaysian obsession with politeness. In short, Malaysians are too insecure to actually say what they think.
– They will lie. This is the automatic response to any feelings of discomfort about a question. If they think you are not convinced by their first lie, they will offer up any number of alternate lies until they think you are convinced. The DPM is expert at this tactic.
– The ultimate tactic to the very difficult questions is to maintain absolute silence. See the recent court transcript of the MACC Investigating officer or try mentioning the word ‘Mongolian’ in the presence of the PM.
And I could go on and on and on giving you endless examples of Malaysian insecurity. But as my final example, I’ll give you the absolute clincher that should persuade even the most skeptical of you. It’s the way that Malaysians Drive. It is one of the great ironies of Malaysians; that whereas most insecure people seek stability in regulations, Malaysians only do so part of the time (see cultism). The rest of the time their inflated egos (see later) take over and they reject any form of regulation because they know better … all the time.
There exists a more or less standard set of road rules that with minor variations have been adopted legally throughout the world. These standard rules have evolved over time to provide the optimum level of safety on the roads while maintaining a smooth flow of traffic. But in Malaysia, these Standard Road Rules are very rarely practiced. Instead, Malaysians have three different sets of rules that are practiced.
The Me First Rules. This is the most widely practised set of rules and are only loosely regarded as a set because every driver has his own individual interpretation of the rules. Under this system, anything goes and it’s possible to see, in one day, every violation of the standard rules, of common sense and of logic that it’s possible to imagine. This chaotic situation has led to a situation where the traffic flows at less than half the speed possible, the road toll is one of the highest in the world and the police have totally given up any attempt to manage the traffic. Mind you, the police are so insecure that even with their big macho motor bikes, they are relatively impotent and need to hunt in packs so that they can cause the maximum disruption to an already disrupted traffic flow.
The second most popular set of rules that are practiced are the Buddhists Rules. It is clearly stated that to seek enlightenment, Buddhists must give way to everyone on the road. This philosophy imposes another layer of confusion on an already chaotic situation so that nobody can predict what is going to happen next.
And finally there is the LBE set of road rules that are practiced by owners of Large, Black and Expensive cars. These drivers exhibit a level of arrogance inversely proportional to their level of insecurity (and their intelligence) and they can be seen everywhere exceeding the speed limit, tail-gating and flashing their headlights at normal law abiding (well almost) citizens. I once thought that these guys paid higher tolls for the privilege of being such bastards but now I know otherwise … they are simply arrogant bastards.
So how come Malaysians are so insecure? How come with such a wide racial mix that there is such a common bond between Malaysians of all races?
The answer is quite simple. All the blame lies with the parents of Malaysia, those poor individuals who are the end product of generation after generation of insecure parents. Simply, they don’t know any better, they are just perpetuating the feudalistic philosophies of their forebears. Those philosophies that dictated that there should be no such thing as a thinking individual and that every life must be dominated by discipline and repression so that they will forever remain under the control of the powers-that-be.
Even the much praised Asian Values are just a cover up for the repression that is currently so popular In Malaysia. Respect = Blind Obedience. Politeness = Repression.
Malaysian parents seem to have overlooked the fact that their role in life is to raise questioning, curious, creative individuals, because therein lies the future of any country. Instead, they see their children as someone to care for them in their old age, labour units, or at best the opportunity to realize their own thwarted ambitions. Even the future is bleak when ‘so- called’ child rearing experts proclaim that “the disciplined child is a happy child”. That’s absolute bollocks. A happy child may well be a disciplined child, but a disciplined child is nothing but a fearful, repressed and miserable child. Another ‘expert’ thought it was perfectly acceptable to put a curfew on her 19 year old adult offspring.
In fact, Malaysian parents neglect their children at every opportunity. They farm their children out to maids (???), to grandparents (thus perpetuating archaic practices). They fail to instill in their children the basic principles of ethics and morals and they make no effort to educate children in the conventions that go to make up a civilized society. They rely on outside ‘organizations’ to teach their children morals and the principles that make for a civilized society.
And of course the government and it’s education system are rubbing their hands with glee as yet another generation of mindless drones hits the streets of Malaysia. After all, that’s what they want.
Is it any wonder that Malaysians are so insecure because they are never encouraged to be anything but? The main ethos for child rearing is to be disciplined, to be over-protected, to do as you are told and to never answer back. It’s not surprising that lack of initiative, poor time management, an inability to think analytically, commonsense and lack of self confidence are so common in Malaysian society.
So, how do Malaysians cope with such widespread insecurity? They have come up with a very clever strategy that solves all the problems brought about by their lack of confidence. It even solves the problems that arise as a result of the strategy they have adopted.
And that strategy is EGO.
It’s all very simple. As you become more and more aware of your lack of confidence, so your ego grows to fill the vacuum. Ego reaches its peak in the middle-aged male. Simply put, Malaysians know everything, can do everything and anything (Malaysia Boleh). Unfortunately, knowing everything means they don’t have anything to learn and the end result is the abysmal ignorance of most Malaysians on most topics. And of course there is a long history of monumental stuff-ups – the result of the inflated egos of Malaysians.
When a situation arises and you don’t actually know everything or there is something you cannot do, then you fall back on those great Asian Institutions – Saving Face (see above) and Doing Nothing. Doing Nothing often takes the form of creating a committee of investigation (which will do nothing) or else another common Malaysian strategy is to reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t matter if the wheel you invent has four sides – so long as you (in your ignorance) are seen not to be copying someone else (especially if it’s Singapore).
A perfect example of the Insecure Malaysian is Dr Mahathir. Right from the beginning he hated the British because he felt inferior to them. He did everything possible to denigrate and destroy the good the British did for Malaysia … even to the extent that after 50 years of Malaysian rule he is still trying to blame the British for whatever has gone wrong.
He surrounded himself by brain dead, sycophantic parasites who would never challenge him (Goodbye, Anwar) and Malaysia is reaping the benefit of his insecurity ever since he stepped down.
He wasted vast sums of the people’s money building phallic monuments to his ego.
He accumulated huge wealth for himself and his family thinking money would make him appear less insecure. In fact, all money did was make him even more insecure, because there was always someone with more money than him.
He caused to be destroyed any institution that might question his right to absolute power, so the Constitution suffered as did the Law Courts and the Education system and he manipulated Malaysians to hate any country that might criticize him or be seen to be critical. Singapore, the USA, Australia, Israel.
With the same motives, he split Malaysians apart with his race based divisive policies … and he’s still doing it.
And this is the person whom so many insecure Malaysians still idolise.
So you see, it really is a matter of Water Off a Duck’s Back. Malaysians do have some serious personal problems that affect the whole country. But when they won’t acknowledge those problems, there can be no future for this country.
