Paranoid People of Malaysia

I just stumbled across

This pig headed rant

And I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh or cry. Coming from a 34 year old Malaysian who is supposed to be a Deputy Youth Chief of UMNO in the the small town of Maran, Pahang, this was unbelievable. I was tempted to give this guy a piece of my mind. Words like pig head & retard came to mind, but I saw that plenty of people had already unleashed vicious verbal attacks on this mentally challenged chap.

But I can't help but wonder how many of these retards are there out there anyway? Scroll down his blog, and you'll see that there are some who actually agree and condone such thinking. They seem to have the paranoid impression that:

#1 - Their Bumiputra rights (which they deserve by default) are being subversively stolen

Bumiputra special rights are a sensitive topic among Malaysians. The non-bumi generation of today often just ask a simple question "If we are all Malaysians, if we are all equal, why do we not all get the same rights and privileges?" Why is university placement harder for Ah Chong? Why does Muthusamy have to buy a house at a higher price? Why is Robert obligated to rope Ali in before he can do business with the government? There aren't questions meant to challenge the establishment or cause disharmony - but genuinely innocent questions from a generation of young people who was born & bred here, who call this country home, who proudly call themselves Malaysians too. We didn't grow up in China / India, we don't have relatives there, and we certainly don't have any loyalty towards those countries. We are Malaysians, and we just wonder how come some Malaysians are born more equal than others. Pardon me sir, but you can hardly call that ‘talking shit’.

I have a vague idea why the bumi special rights were placed there in the first place. I actually stayed awake during Sejarah period in school. But I think many of us did fall asleep during those critical chapters about the New Economic Policy (NEP) and what have you. The NEP was put in place TO COMBAT POVERTY. And as it turned out at the time, it was the Malays i.e. Bumiputra who needed the most help. Levels of education was poor, involvement in business was next to none, and they had no capital to start businesses or buy their own houses. And so the government started these initiatives to help the Bumiputra get a foothold. But the underlying intentions were always economic in nature, not racial. This may sound radical, but Bumiputra rights aren't really real. What's real is the rights of poor people to make a better living for themselves. A balanced country was one that had it's wealth well distributed amongst all its people, regardless of race. Everyone should realize this. Look at the system and ask yourself are these really Bumiputra 'privileges' or Bumiputra 'assistance'? Will you have the same sense of entitlement if you realize that it’s not the former but the latter? These rights aren't there because of the colour of your skin, but because of the plight of your people. What's really written on that badge you insist on wearing so proudly? "Special" or "Needy"?

#2 - That Non-Bumi's want to hog all money & wealth in the country.

As for money, I just have 2 words for you – cari makan. That’s what every one of us is doing. We’re just looking to earn a living. Contrary to popular believe, not every Chinese family is rich, not all of us have fathers doing million dollar businesses and we don’t have large properties to inherit. Just like you, I survive paycheck to paycheck and I am making a living on my own, with zero assistance from anyone. But no doubt, there are people out there to whom no amount of money is ever enough – greedy people who are really trying to get their hands on more money than they will never need. But since when does greed distinguish people by the colour of their skin? There are greedy hoarders across the board. To say that non bumi’s are trying to snatch away your money is out of baseless fear. If it seems as if we’re more money minded than most, please stop to think that maybe it’s because we’re trying to make ends me under ever slightly more difficult circumstances than you; Government scholarships are hard for us to get, university placements still follow racial quotas and we find ourselves having to pay to go to private universities / colleges which goes into the hundreds of thousands; houses are more costly for us because of the different interest rates for non bumi’s. And we aren’t allowed to buy units that are already allocated / designated as ‘bumi’ units. And since most of us need to say near where we work, we all have to competed amongst each other for the few non bumi houses available, which just makes the house price go up even more! ; Financial assistance / loans are harder to get when you’re a non bumi, so we try to save up our own money to do business. We could search for a bumi partner to do business with, but they usually aren’t interested, and have no capital to contribute anyway – hence the ‘sleeping partner’ syndrome. I’ll put all the money, sweat and tears; you just put your name. If I fail at it, I lose all my money, you lose nothing. But if I succeed, and earn a good living, please don’t turn around and tell me I’m trying to steal wealth the country’s wealth! I was just trying to cari makan - don't blame me if I did it well with my own efforts.

#3 - That Non-Bumi's want to topple the current government and rule.

Everything seems to be tied to money and power these days. And there is this under siege mentally that non bumi are trying to gain more foothold in the government. We want a bigger say in government, we want to shape laws and policies to our own advantage and (gasp!) we want to be Prime Minister too. Sorry to burst you bubble, but we’re not really interested. I don’t know if you realize that the words ‘kerja kerajaan’ has many negative connotations amongst people. No offense to anyone working in the government but words like slow, inefficient, corrupt, overly political, unchallenging, lousy career prospect, no respect & poor pay come to mind – these are just some of the reasons I’d stay miles away from a government job. But if I ever am looking for a ‘goyong kaki’ job, I know where to look. As for ruling country - thanks but no thanks. Most of us rather stick to working / doing business. The things we DO want are things like fair representation, just laws, a healthy economy, quality education, a safe society & the freedom to express ourselves without fear of being arrested and practice our faith freely. If you can make these things happen, I’ll vote you regardless of who you are. And that's a fact.

#4 - That we are trying to mount a religious challenge to Islam.

This whole religious thingy has always been a sticky issue. Issues of converting people out of Islam or granting more leeway to other religions always hit a brick wall. Again, this under siege mentally comes into play that ‘if we don’t watch it, Malaysia will be surrendered to these infidels’. The more extreme (or retarded) ones basically say “Hey, this is a Muslim country OK. We’ve been very accommodating and have sacrificed a lot. So don’t push it. In fact, you should be grateful! If you don’t like it, balik China / India la….” The whole issue of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ than crops up all over again. We all argue whether having Islam as the official religion is the same as it being an Islamic country. But I learned that when talking to people, you need to suit your speech according to their level of intelligence. You wouldn’t talk to a learned man the same way you’d talk to a retard. So in reply to some of the retards out there thinking their religion is under attack, let me just say 3 words – Bak Kut Teh. We love Bak Kut Teh to bits. I’d love to share some with you, but if don’t want any, that’s up to you. It’s your loss really. If you ever ask me “Ei, babi sedap ke?” I will have to honestly answer “Sedap giler..” But rest assured that there isn’t some super secret Bak Kut Teh cult plotting to convert you out of your religion to jack up pork sales ok. The taste is really from the herbs anyway, not the meat.

But seriously, somewhere between throwing petrol bombs at churchs and planting pig heads in mosques, our emotions get the better of us and we forget what most (if not all) religions teach – which is to love and leave in peace with your neighbor. I was heartened to read many more level headed people condemning these stupid remarks made by their Muslim brothers. There is no concerted effort to topple Islam. We all recognize it as the official and majority religion in this country; we obediently leave all Muslims out of our evangelizing efforts; heck we even studied Sejarah Tamadun Islam (History of Islamic civilization) in school… and I even passed with flying colours. I dare say that I know more about Islam that many of my Muslim friends know about my own religion. So….. tell me again which is the part where your religion is under attack?

#5 - Anyways....

I know I’m going at it again with one of my ‘grandfather’ rants again. I’m saying this now so that when I’m hit with Alzheimer’s when I’m old, I can just read from this text and still sound very smart and wise. :-P

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Malaysia is such a lousy country because of these problems. So long as there are people, there will be differences. So long as there are differences, people will always argue.. and sometimes fight. In Ireland, people fought over Protestanism & Catholism even though both claim to be Christian, In America, Pro-life & Pro-Choice people are still fighting over abortion rights. Clinics known to carry out abortions are bombed. In Africa, the Tutsi’s and Hutu’s murdered each other in one of Africa’s worse tribal wars. In Europe, there very widespread distrust amongst Eastern & Western Europeans. In Thailand… hundreds and thousands of people have been taking to the streets trying to overthrow the government – for what, I don’t know.

So coming back home, knowing how good things actually are for all of us, do you really think any Malaysian is consciously trying to sabotage the country by plotting against each other? Do you really think after having been born, raised and made our living in this country all our lives, we want to start drawing racial and religious lines? If you think so, maybe it's someone doing it for their own personal material & political gains.

Maybe, its YOU - Mr. Naib Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda UMNO Bahagian Maran.