Oi orang Melayu, BANGUN LAH! July 8, 2007

EDITORIAL: I love to compare my own race, Malay to particularly Chinese. Proven from being an emotional supporter for Wellingtonian’s team against others, especially Christchurch’s during the BERSATU Games 2007 *An annual sports meeting for Malaysian students studying in New Zealand. I realised that not many Malays took part in the games from certain groups, for example CMSA (Christchurch) and UMSA (Auckland) *don’t be surprise that at the end they won the champion trophy and the first runner up. Where are the rest of the Malays? I have no idea why *because this is a simple answer for not being a judgemental jerk* Besides that, there are more than one team from Christchurch, which I too realized that CMSA is majority Chinese and PETSOC is Malays *What the hell, la kan!?* PETSOC lose and CMSA won everything. What a Malay~

I realised too that people love to give comment on Lazy Malays, which is rather more critically criticising Malays but far less respond than a special and sharp poem for Malays originally written by me titled “Saya Tak Suka Budaya Melayu Kita!”.

I am curious why someone like Michael Chick is more eager to discover about the Malay’s origin than the Malays themselves.

I am curious too why theCicak which is directed and founded by Chinese is striving for the freedom of speech in Malaysia. Well, I can see the advantage of fighting for the free speech, but humans are like “diberi betis, mahu pula peha” kind of attitude, especially between rivalry races who love to have a peaceful and full-of-great-food country like Malaysia for their own. At first they are fighting for freedom of speech, soon they will fight for their full Rights and possession over the Parlimen, who knows.

Beware too, when other races support Malaysia’s well and wealth being, where are the Malays? When other races defend Malaysia and promote Malaysia – hey Malays, don’t let you owe them later in the future. Let me remind you all, the “mudah lupa” Malays that one day your other races best friend will point their fingers to your face and say, “Where are you when Malaysia needs its people the most? I have contribute so much now, you have to thank me. . .” which means, give me your land!

This message is important: So this is me. I don’t think myself as a racist because I befriend everybody and accept them for who they are. My only concern is to make sure that Malays will go over the top and defend Malaysia. I want to make sure that Malaysia is rules by the Malays and they must rule accordingly, productively, lucratively and beneficially for all. Since I’m not in the Parlimen, yet, I want to start from here. Down here, in between, where I can see both ways, the upper and lower stratum.

Again…

I wish this essay was referring to a Malay UM (University Malaya) student.

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Shen Yee Aun Is A Malaysian.

By : John Lee

One thing that really impresses me about Yee Aun is his command of the Malay language, which rivals that of most Malays, let alone most Malaysians. His written Malay is better than his written English. Both of us liberally peppered our conversation with whole sentences in Malay.

Yee Aun had applied to study law at two local public universities, but his applications were rejected. He is now planning to do a degree in Malay Studies at the University of Malaya. He is also an avid amateur student of Islamic theology, who has even debated Muslims on their own turf by arguing that according to the Prophet Muhammad, Lina Joy has the right to apostasise.

Some might wonder if Yee Aun is a Chinese who wants to be a Malay. But talk to him, and you realise that he is not Chinese, he is not Malay — he is Malaysian.

What I like about people like Yee Aun is that they represent a Malaysia where race is no longer an issue, where we do things and behave the way we behave because we feel free to be Malaysian, instead of being constrained by our race.

The fact is, speaking Malay like a native and freely mixing with the Malays does not make one a lesser individual, any more than it makes a Malay who speaks English, Chinese or Tamil like a native and who freely mixes with non-Malays less of a Malaysian.

Of course, Malaysians will strenuously deny that they hew to any such paradigm. All is fine and well in the peaceful and harmonious world of Malaysia.

But actions speak louder than words. Economists never trust how people say they will spend their money; they carry out experiments to see how people actually spend their money, and the reality often differs from how people imagine they would behave.

Just look at how Malaysians behave. We often shy away from speaking anything than our own language, from interacting with those of our own race, from learning about the other cultures of this country in depth (as opposed to superficialities such as school-organised cultural dances).

I still remember a trip I went on as a Scout when I was 14. There were a lot of Malays on the trip, and even though I had spent much of my life studying in the same classroom and hanging out with Malays, I felt I had gained a far deeper understanding of the Malay way of life after that trip — a kind of understanding I felt sad that few non-Malays would ever experience.

The same goes for many Malays — I often feel there is a huge gulf between all races that goes both ways, because we all stick to ourselves so much, and take so much pride in refusing to amalgamate. How can we ask others to understand our point of view when we refuse to understand theirs?

We have to accept that we must be Malaysian, not Malay, Chinese or Indian. And we must accept that being Malaysian will mean accepting some aspects of the Malay culture, some aspects of the Chinese culture, and so forth. A Malaysian is not 100% Malay, 100% Chinese, 100% Indian, or 100% lain-lain. A Malaysian is a Malaysian, plain and simple.

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EDITORIAL: I want to see how those people from Lazy Malays would respond to this. . . or no respond at all?