I woke up an hour ago. I am 3000 kms away from K Hell and yet my first thoughts this morning was that I am a Malay. A Malay living in Melbourne. I am sitting in front of my Mac, in a sarong and singlet, a glass of ice cold water by his side...and thinking of what a government full of Malays is doing to a country also full of Malays in a world where the Malays have now become the butt of mirth and back handed comments by many because of what is now happening in Malaysia - a country that anyone with some grey matter can discern to have been so named because there are many many Malays living in it.
And so I sit here trying to make some sense of why we Malays have allowed for this to happen to ourselves and to our nation? And what will become of the Malays once this Malay led government is done with having their way with us Malays, with Malaysia .....and with the others who also call Malaysia their home?
But those thoughts linger only a while in my mind because the world is not only made up of Malays even if those in umno think it is so.
The world is also not made up of just Muslims even if Jais, Jakim, the Muftis and umno think it is so.
We who have left Malaysia to live elsewhere know that there is a life for us outside Malaysia - a good, decent and comfortable life. But a good, decent and comfortable life does not make us forget the Malaysia we left behind....and that is why even 3000 kms away on a Saturday morning, my thoughts go back to Bangsar and the Malaysia I left almost a decade ago....but as I have said....it lingers there only for a moment. There is more to life than Malaysia.
At the risk of boring some of you, let me share with you my thoughts.
It is now 5.44 AM here in Melbourne. Five minutes ago I woke up from sleep, allowed myself a few minutes to collect my thoughts, powered on my Mac and started to put into words my thoughts. I am still too tired to make myself a cup of Nescafe but what someone said to me last night has been bothering me and I want to write about it.
"But for me you are not the right person to speak for the Malays. More so you are not here and all your comments are based on hear say"
It would be presumptuous of me to even think that I am the right person to speak for the Malays!
Yes I am a Malay and I have been a Malay for 67 years but for more than half of those years I have notlived in Malaysia,
Yes I am a Malay but I am not in Umno so how dare I speak for the Malay!
I am a Malay and I do not write in Malay?
How dare I write about the Malays and about what was happening in a land where the Malays are the Tuans?
It would seems that to be Malay I must live in Malaysia, be a card carrying member of Umno, write in Bahasa and believe in Ketuanan Melayu?
And in all counts I have failed!
Agree! Not only have I failed but failed miserably because there is not an ounce of regret in my self for having failed.
How many Malays are out there who are like me? Maybe not on all counts but at least that part about being a member of Umno? And that part about not believing that the Malays are the Tuans of Bolehland?
There was a time when I was all that this guy think a Malay should be. I lived in Malaysia, I was a member of Umno and I could write in Bahasa...though not as well as I did in English and I did believe that Malaysia belongs to the Malays because the Chinese had China and the Indians could always go back to India (yes I did then!)
So what changed?
Over the years the leaders of Umno changed and as these leaders changed so did Umno.
Where once Tunku sold his shop houses to raise money for Umno today Umno buys shop houses and more for their leaders. Much much more!
Where once Malay leaders were leaders for all Malaysians and politics was an honorable calling, today Malay leaders are first Malays and are no longer honorable. Malays and politics, Malays in politics have all become synonyms for corruption, arroggance, hubris and just for safe measure...throw in racists and bigots too.
Where once the Malays leaders were decent and had the respect of others in Malaysia, today the Malays leaders in Umno, from Umno and of Umno are probably the very leaders I, a Malay, would NOT want to be associated with in any way....what more the other races!
So let me reiterate....I do not claim nor do I want to speak for the Malays. The Malays of today, especially those from Umno can speak for themselves and this they already do through their deeds.
A Prime Minister with RM2.6billion of "donations" in his personal account. 1MDB. And a slew of other scams, outright financial abuses and mismangement of our nations resources and wealth all done by Umno, all Malays, all living in Malaysia (at least until they are forced to go into exiled!) and all proudly announcing themselves to be Malays and Muslims to the world. And here are some of them in Umno, from Umno and of Umno....so help me God!
Malaysian prime minister had $700m of 'donations' in bank account.
Never let it be said that
steadyaku47 does not give due regard to the directive from the powers that be,
that the flavour of 2010 will be Ketuanan Melayu. To give due respect to this
emphasis on all things Malay, steadyaku47 will today examine what every
non-Malay have wanted to know from the time these non-Malays first landed in
this great nation of ours – some coming from as far as Kerala in India….but I
digress.
Today the Chinese will
sometime ask their trusted Malay friends if they think that the two M’s
(Mahathir and Muhyiddin) would openly make a move against that son of Tun Razak.
Those Indians that are
partial to the days of Samy the Velu might dare to ask any Malay YB’s they know
if there was a possibility of Samy coming back: and if the YB is a diplomat he
will insist that Samy is needed to canvass business for Malaysian Contractors
in India: i.e. that Malaysia needs Samy more then MIC needs Samy!
The Ibans and Dayaks might
ask any Malay visiting their state if it was true that the Malays in
Semananjong will be proclaimed to be the First amongst Equal even in their
State!
But we all know that these
are all small talk. The real question to be asked has not been asked simply
because it is not polite to do so unless you know a Malay very well. Protocol
and good manners prevents any non-Malay from asking any Malay of the gentler
sex the same question. In the spirit of 1Malaysia let me ask the question and
attempt to give you an answer.
What does a true Malay
wear under his Sarong!
There I have asked the
question! Will a true Malay answer the question! This is a serious academic
exercise to determine the truth and nothing but the truth. No attempt at
hilarity by saying that zippers can injure a man’s pride and wearing a Sarong
don’t….or a Sarong with underwear is just a long skirt! But we will accept
jokes done in good taste......and if you want to tell us stories about the Sarong and its uses after circumcision etc etc...you are welcome.
As for being a “true”
Malay…anybody who knows what “apa khabar” and “bumiputra” means,
qualifies.
First answer from me: This was my conversation with Cheah last night:
Hussein Abdul
Hamid : ..sorry
lah...everything good here..writing on my blog in my sarong. Cold but
comfortable
18 hours agoCheah Keat Swee
: LOL...sarong with padded
underwear?
Now that is me....different folks different strokes. Now will any other true
Malay, in the spirit of 1Malaysia, help to unravel this mystery and help to
answer what our non-Malay friends are dying to know! Camna?
Any non-Malay using a sarong can also contribute their two cents worth as "guest artists" but please no offensive language and be nice!
Even as
UMNO goes into their bunker to prepare for their last stand they are hoping
that PR will shoot themselves in the foot!But just as the Israeli bombs and missiles slam into Gaza to
pound Hamas strongholds it is the hundreds of ordinary Palestinians that would
become collateral victims and thousand of others injured. In Malaysia UMNO’s
rampaged to hold on to power is an overkill by a desperate political party
trying to hang on to power through the use of any or all government machineries
at their disposal to suppress its people. While UMNO
blames the escalation of a sense of disquiet amongst the Malaysian population
as being due to the opposition propensity to call “WOLF” when no threat exists
– the disproportionate response from PDRM and the Special Branch to contain
elements that THEY say is a threat to national security, gives rise to concerns amongst
the people. We have a government intent upon stifling dissent in a country
where there is much to disagree with.
In
anticipation of heavy casualties in the coming general elections BN are already
preparing for “war”. 'Perjuangan' demi kepentingan bangsa, ugama dan negara - as they like to call it.. The UMNO in front of all else is silent.
A war for
what exactly?Not a war for the
Malays when the Malays are dismissive of UMNO’s ability to champion their
cause. Not a war for 1Malaysia – not when their Deputy President articulates - on behalf of UMNO (after all he is their Deputy President) the claim that he is Malay first:
He is unable to understand that the first generation of any race that
immigrates to another country lives in two worlds. One foot in the old and one
in the new. It is only when they call themselves Malaysian first and then say I
am a Chinese, Indian, Iban or Malay…then we know that they and we are one - all
Malaysian.
The first rule of war is to know how to
conduct it and how to end it. Are they promising to end money politics? Are
they going to promise transparency and open government? These are impossible
goals for UMNO to achieve. Despite much promises and bluster of doom and
punishment from its leaders compliance from its first tier leadership, what
more its rank and file, has been zilch! zero! There is an absence of
leadership in UMNO to effect this change. What leaders they have now are
prepared to look the other way while UMNO sinks deeper into a cess pool of its
own making. All its veteran leaders are not able to guide UMNO towards this much-needed
renewal – or worse they are seen as the very reason why UMNO is what it is
today. Mahathir is a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black.
Given the
lack of political will for this to happen – what now? How to end it.? Thank God the people will do that for them during the coming general election.
The very
basis of Najib’s takeover from Pak Lah – to consolidate UMNO and make it ready
for the challenges ahead – may be moot. Other variables and priorities have
come to the forefront - within UMNO, within Barisan Nasional and at the National level. For all practical purposes there is now a two party system
in Malaysia. BN and PR. BN is the defecto government in power. PR has the
people’s vote and nothing much else. Neither has got on with the business for
which they have been entrusted. Each are more adept at and prefer to play
politics and are focus on point scoring.
How will
the people respond? The people have the vote. They wait to see what PR will
tell them they will do once in office. What we want to know is how PR will
govern? PR and BN need to understand that things have changed. For BN and for PR
the votes from the people must be earned.
