what i think of malaysians...

Its been a while since i wrote my last blog entry. This entry is just my point of view and you can give your thoughts on it if you would like to. The first thing in my mind is Malaysia is a great country. No matter how you see it, we have all seen how good our country is. For a small nation of just 26 million people approximately, we do quite good in the world arena. Did you know that there are at least three people that have won the noble prize for certain studies that come from Malaysia. We have reached the tops of Everest, sailed across the globe, held F1 races, Le tour de Langkawi, and other various events that are really big and substantial. We boast our diversity, our differences, our heritage and our history. To say Malaysia is small is quite true but is ironically quite wrong. The leaders of our country have been involved in world politics for a long time and we have a really great effect in how certain international bodies act like the UN and other bodies like that. We should be really proud of our country. That is what i think.

The sad thing is, people often don't realize how great we are. We tend to look at the west for their culture. On how modern they are. On how fun it could be if we were like them. I think this is quite hypocritical and is a stupid idolization of the western community. We have our values. Our lifestyle. Our distinctive way of life. I know its not quite as fun. No parties like raves and discos are really associated with our actual history and lifestyle. But then again, that kind of fun is defined by the western culures. It is not of our own. In the US for instance, i see people go to parties, have drinks, fool around and "have fun". I dont know why, but i dont think it is fun. I see people come back from parties puking, getting into fights, walking around while chanting and uttering stupid stuff. Is this fun? i really dont think so. There is so many other ways to have fun. Playing soccer is fun. You get a good workout out of it. Injuring yourself once in awhile. But what the hell right? Im spending those time with friends. So it is fun. Will i be uttering stupid things? maybe but at least i have the concious of knowing what i uttered. Well i could go on an on about this and the examples of cases where we idolize the western culture in our daily lives could go on forever. I admit, i myself sometimes prefer a little bit of western culture but i have never idolized their lifestyle or wanting it to be part of mine. The fact that i am writing this in english might persuade you guys that i want to be western but the thing is, I could really convey this in english and more people could understand it when it is in english.

You know whats so great about our culture? the feeling of having a kampung. Sadly i have only felt a small portion of it in my life. But the events of slaughtering a cow for hari raya haji with a lot of people from around the kampung is quite an experience. Having going to weddings where everyone helps out in making the food, the decoration, the entertainment and everyone knowing each other. That is a good experience. I wish i could give that to my children ( although this is quite far in the future i really hope to at least give them a taste). Have you experienced that? Nowadays i see weddings done in hotels with entertainment done by a band, with people coming that even the bride and the groom doesnt really know. I hate that. We are really different nowadays. I dont even know my neighbours nowadays since they are too busy and most of them are too distant from the community. There isn't really a community at all. Theres only individual families.
Other than that, we are often mislead by our own idealism. Malaysia is diverse and different in a sense that the country is made up of different ethnicity and they make up a huge portion of the community. We often boast on how we could live in harmony. But i dont see that nowadays. There are often groups of people. The chinese often spend time with only the chinese. The indians and the malays are the same way. It is quite sad. During the olden days, my grandfather always said that he had frineds with indians and chinese and that they were really close. Have you ever realized that in certain parts of the country that the chinese could speak fluent malay and some malays could speak chinese and indian. They converse with each other every other and have connections and interactions with them. That is what diverse and living in harmony really means. I dont know about you but i have often encountered these really racist stereotypes like malays are lazy, chinese are hardcore liars and the indians smells bad. No offence to the people that are involved, i am just trying to state a fact. How could we live in harmony when these little stereotypes are imbedded in our minds. Each race are just trying to look out for themselves and there is no sense of nationality in them. I cant help but to think in times of great challenges we would falter and the country would break. We need to step in to fix this. This is oing to be cliche in so many ways but the fact is, you who read this could make a change. Though it is hard and there are so many obstacles in changing this, we can do it.

From this entry i hope that i stated a point and get these issues out there.