steadyaku47

Sunday 18 December 2011

cakap cakap...inherent rights?



Are there Malays who still think that we Malays have inherent rights? Inherent rights to be given scholarships? Inherent rights to be given preferences in government tenders? Inherent rights to be given discounts when buying houses?
Are there Chinese out there who still think with affection of their Motherland and dream of going back? Chinese who even now keep their homes and family as bastion against any attempts to make them any more Malaysian then they are now?
What about the Indians? How many of them are still mired up in the caste system despite being born and bred in Malaysia? Do they not understand that we are all one people?
And Sabah and Sarawak? Do they still think that they have had a raw deal when they joined Malaysia?
Sometimes I despair at the diversity of our people and yet this diversity is also our strength! It is our strength because despite our differences and the attempts by UMNO to divide and rule us, we are still together!  Somehow we have managed to get along with one another and lived our life not quiet in harmony and yet not quiet in discord.
I have looked upon the other races most time with affections and yet at times with worry. Are they looking at me with the same affection that I have for them or are the feeling within them one of tolerance and a resignation that as a Malay I am ‘on the other side?’ Whenever I am in KL I have gone about my business without worrying too much about these things but always, under the surface, I am sure we all marvel at how things are able to kept just so!
Take Bangsar at noon on a Friday. Cars are parked all over the place as the Malays go for their Friday prayers. It clogs up the traffic and the other races have to put up with the inconveniences. And they do! But do they do it in good humor or is the traffic jam just one more mark against the Malays for making another part of their life just that bit more difficult?
I know I can walk into Chinatown without a worry in the world but even as I walk through Chinatown I remember May 13th. I know that I am vulnerable if somehow  there are racial disturbances elsewhere – then I better get out of Chinatown fast for my own safety.
I understand that today the most violent gangsters are not the Chinese but the Indians for they are the most desperate because of the poverty that engulfs the Indian people.
I still am aware that people from Sabah and Sarawak are different from us. …in the way they talk and in the way they think. Again this might just be me and the way I perceived them to be but it stays with me and it keeps that distance between me and them. Over time I hope it will disappear.
So in essence we live on a powder keg of a potentially explosive situations. What holds everything together is the goodwill and tolerance that we have for each other. We have genuine affection for each other and we continue to give and take in all facets of our lives – and all this holds the fabric of Malaysia together.

1 comment:

  1. I don't look at you as a Malay. From your writings u come abt as an enlightened human being very concerned abt the path the country is taking due to poor governance. I share your views . I am not pro govt or pro opposition but what I want is good governance and leadership . We r not getting that from najib and his administration. All we get from them, no matter what race they maybe , is corruption and spewing hatred among the people to distract us while they keep their hands in the cookie jar. We also get stupid statements day in sat out from these morons who got to where they r tru whom they knew rather than what they know. That is why I pray very hard that we get a new Pakatan govt next GE. That have done a good job in Penang and selangor and competent in kedah and kelantan. They did well on perak until it was stolen from them. Of course if they become like BN , we kick them out the next elections

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