... why can't we all just get along?
There has been an uproar lately over this song that was written by a Malaysian Chinese by the pseudonym of Namewee entitled "Negarakuku". Here's the video, it's mostly in Mandarin..
After watching the video initially, I thought it was very well thought of and there were a lot of facts in there about the racial bias the government shows. For starters, I am sure we are all very aware of the fact that there is a bumiputra bias towards the intake of students at our local universities.
He also makes a great point about the Tourism Board being so quick to bring up our racial unity and our Chinese culture and heritage when promoting the country overseas. In truth, the government doesn't give two shits about the Chinese education system, for example, many Chinese schools have to survive on their own.
Things got out of hand however, when the media got wind of this video and started reporting it in the newspapers. One thing led to another and suddenly the government decided to stick its noses in.
A look at the Youtube video's comment section reveals a very ugly side of the Malaysian community. Racial slurs and hate speech were flung at each other. Malays telling the Chinese to go back to China and were in turn, branded "pigs".
The fact of the matter is, underneath all the media hype and well-scripted commercials promoting our racial unity, there is a lot of tension between the races in Malaysia. Racial unity? Half truths and whole lies. There are racists everywhere, I've seen and heard a lot of friends mock and slander the Malay race for being corrupt, lazy and inefficient.
I am not excluded. I will not take the moral high ground. I will say, however, that there is no smoke without fire. My sister contracted tuberculosis lately, a very contagious and serious disease. It's a long story but we were made to run around in circles by the government hospitals.
Supposed specialists treated my sister as if she were the plague itself, asking her to stand at a distance and warning her sternly to not cough at them when she hasn't even done a thing! Such was their "fear of dying". None of the two designated hospitals were willing to treat her. We ended up going to a private specialist centre. The doctors and staff in question were Malay.
Another example of the stereotypical Malay inefficiency or simply another example of inefficiency?
We encounter all of this incompetence everyday and because of the many things we heard from people about Malay laziness, we immediately associate them with every single scenario that we stumble upon. Typical Malays, we say.
The racial bias that the government adopt gets on my nerves, to be honest. For them to be preaching racial unity just smacks of irony. Having said that, I harbor no grudges. I have learned to just let it be. Just look in the mirror when you complain about the brain drain because I wouldn't think twice to jump at a better offer from another country if it comes my way.
This is a post about racism, not patriotism. Note the difference.
The realization that I have come upon is this is all irrelevant to me. I've grown out of racism and stereotyping. Just like how not all Chinese are swindlers and arrogant bastards, not all Malays are lazy and inept. So what if they have special privileges, wouldn't surviving without these advantages just reflect better on you?
I REFUSE to break into cliche and turn this post into me preaching about how we must all stick together through thick and thin. Just that we shouldn't stoop down to the lowly levels of racial discrimination and provoke hatred among the community. We should just all live together in peace and harmony. Treat others how you'd want to be treated. Love thy neighb.... damn it, can I start over?
