Malay? Chinese? Indian? I am Malaysian lah!
By Chris Tan, Loyarburok
Once again reports of racism filled incidents are surfacing where the Chinese and Indians were told to go back to their homeland. China is our homeland.
In my opinion, racism is like an “ajaran” by certain people and it was subsequently developed. It is caused by uneducated people. Why uneducated? And I refer them uneducated not because they do not have academic stripes but because these are people who attended school, have some form of academic qualification an yet keep a shallow mindset. Ignorant.
Why racism now?
Does 1 Malaysia mean to say it belongs to one single race and the others have to go back to their homeland? Why is it only now that these uneducated people are gaining so much momentum and raising this issue repeatedly and asking us Chinese to go back to our homeland?
It is plain stupid to say Chinese brought independence to this country. It is equally stupid to say Malays brought independence to this country. Such sentiment and statements merely highlight how uneducated these individuals are. It was the Malays, Chinese, and Indians who brought Independence back to this very country.
Why are we discussing about who brought back the glories after 53years of independence? Ironically, it is after all the heroes have died and are lying beneath the ground. Siapakah saksi-saksinya?
Cosmetics and lip service
People always raise doubts and questions about advertisements made about 1Malaysia where Malays, Chinese, and Indians are getting together happily. Do we have to be so pathetic to act in such advertisements to really feel at home, our beloved Malaysians?
I never have the problem of believing that all races live together harmoniously. To me it is just plain stupid to have such contrived tear-jerker style advertisements. I have Malay and Indian good friends. Am I acting or have I been acting since? Do I need a dramatic episode to prove our friendship?
During my secondary school days, I have Malay and Indian classmates and we are very close knit. I was quick to befriend several Malay dudes who came to me on my first day of school. We have been friends since, up to Form 5, and were in the same class without any problems.
Sometimes during Ramadhan period, students other than the Malays will avoid eating in front of the Malays as a sign of respect. We even got invited for open house during Raya and spent valuable time together catching up even though we are no longer in the same class. We even chat with Malays about their culture and stuff like the way they pray, sunat(ouch!), and et cetera.
We played futsal together with the Malays and buka puasa together at the nearby mamak stall.
Do you see any problem with it? No, because there is no problem at all!
Regardless of whether we are Malays, Chinese or Indians, when it comes to our birthday, everyone in the class will sing the birthday song to us. Do we look at the skin colours and if they are not the same as ours, we refuse to sing the song for them?
Does the colour of our skin matter so much to Malaysians?
My current good friends include Malays and Indians. I have two Indian friends who always eat steamboat with me. – you could say we’ve been sharing saliva in one big pot of soup. Also, I have Indian good friends as my classmates. We sit together in class and we have discussions together.
I do not feel any problem just because of the skin colour. Why should you?
