Saturday, July 28, 2007

Semangat muhibah

Once, back in Penang, my car had a punctured tyre. I asked a Chinese mechanic where is the nearest car tyre shop. He pointed to a shop, way around the other side of the block. As I went towards that shop, I saw another tyre shop just a few doors away. "How come the mechanic missed this one?" I thought to myself. I went in and saw the mechanic. He was Malay. The tyre shop at the other side of the block? That mechanic was Chinese.

A boy beats up another boy at school. The boys don't go, "Sir, ada orang lawan." Or, "Sir, Ah Chong pukul Ahmad". They go, "Sir, Cina pukul Melayu."

A boy gets beat up at school. He calls his gang from outside the school. A crowd gathers at the gate after school. The crowd is clearly seen to be from two groups of different races. The police came.

Oh, and did I mention that my school just got out from the police black list this year? Yeah. How was the school black listed? For racial fights.

I went to buy some chicken ham at Giant. I bought just 200g of ham. I explained I didn't need much because I lived alone. "Jangan banyak cari duit sampai tak makan," the Malay lady said.

PIBG meeting. They were discussing how to get parents to come for a seminar on parenting. "Yang Cina itu, susah sikit nak panggil mereka datang," said the YDP. "Mereka itu lebih business-minded."

I was talking to my colleague about the socio-economic background of the students. "Budak sekolah sini miskin. Family mereka pun, tak pentingkan pelajaran. Buku pun tak mampu beli," I commented. She replied, "Tapi, orang Cina, tiada yang miskin. Kalau susah macam mana pun, tidak ada Cina yang miskin."

I was telling my colleague that I went cycling to Empangan Batu. "Sana berhati-hati lah. kadang-kadang, ada Mat Rempit nak minta duit," he said. I replied, "Pergi cycling, mana ada bawa duit? Bawa air ada lah." Another colleague interjected, "Yalah. Tapi kamu seorang saja. Sebab mereka nampak Cina... Kalau tidak ada duit, basikal pun nak bawa pergi."

We are reaching our 50th year of independence. But ask yourself, how far have we progressed socially? Do people have genuine friends from other races nowadays? Do people feel safe when they live as a minority in certain areas? What do people tell you if you get into a car accident at a kampung area?

If given a choice, would people of different races make the conscious effort to get together, other than for the purpose of politics?

Here's to Malaysia. A happy independence day.

Sometimes, when it comes to certain things... We just don't wanna say it.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wah, Joshua Hooi... Never know you know about this thing. Some more South Park... Some more provide video embed!

From the comments on my Johor Crimes posts, I get the impression that people feel the Chinese are disproportionately the victims of crimes, and Malays/Indonesians are main perpetrators.

Some even accuse the police of being apathetic or lenient because either they have 'loyalty' to their race, or even know them through relatives or what!

Unknown said...

Happy Merdeka! I didnt quite the part when the lady tells you not to cari duit samapai tak makan.


P.S -->No one seems to be able to finish the syllabus except Maths, Add Maths and language subs. The others are just halfway through... especially Physics. A good teacher that refuses to teach and manages to always find an excuse. I'm totally dependent on my tuition teacher.

Hasten said...

Scott: I always thought my blog looks kinda ugly. Wish I could add in more visuals. Check out the links I put on the right bar! Amazing, rite? Hahaha! What an accomplishment.

The mentality going around is like: If you're gonna rob someone, better rob a Chinese. Even if they don't look rich. Cos they're probably hiding the money.

Even if you're gonna be a robber, at least don't be a racist robber.

Is it so hard to believe that what you see on a Chinese guy down the road is all he has? "Ooh, let's take his bicycle. It looks cool. It probably costs more than a grand. He probably has a Mercedes Benz parked in his garage."

The thing is, if you take his bicycle away from him, he can't even go to work tomorrow! And it is only a RM300 bike! What Mercedes...

Malay/Indian guy sees a Chinese guy. They probably think he is rich. They may have thoughts of robbing him.

Chinese guy sees Malays/Indians. He instinctively avoids them. He fears they may have thoughts of robbing him.

Tell me if it's true. But most of the time, when a robbery happens, this is how it happens.

And we wonder why racial polarization is getting worse.

Hasten said...

Holyboy27: The makcik was implying that I'm a money-crazy Chinese man, who works very hard every day for his money, but scrimps on food because he doesn't like to spend money. Irritating or not?

On the tuition part... You're speciman A of why public schools can no longer exist independently from the tuition industry.

And the government goes around catching teachers who teach in tuition centers, as though they are goons.

zewt said...

good entry... tis is the reality which all of us are trying to avoid.

Peanut Kong said...

Stumbled upon your post while I was surfing other blogs. Good post and I could not agree more with your comments.

Loved the South Park clip. Hope you don't mind that I linked your post to mine here: http://leannes-say.blogspot.com/2007/08/50-years-of-merdeka-but-what-have-we.html#links.

Good going.

Leanne

Anonymous said...

somethings you just can't force on others. Like the folks in the rural areas, I'm can't speak for em' all, but sometimes they'd think the best thing to do would be to just stay out of the way. And this is a trait shared by most rural folks not just m'sian.

And although I'm aware of our country's state regarding relations between races, I still think that we're moving towards a better future. (Or maybe I'm just an optimistic person)