United by a game… World Cup
World Cup is finally here. Although the game only comes once every four years, it has an effect which last a lifetime and unite people like no other game.
I was reading the latest Asia edition of Reader’s Digest just now, and one article in particular ticks me… “The Goal Is Peace”. This is an article about how football helps unite… or reduce tension and discrimination of Arab Israelis in Israel. Although Israel did not qualify for the World Cup even when they did not lose a single game, the two Arab Israelis made an impact on the state where Arab Isrealis which made up 20% of its population are being discrimated in life, politics and education. But it looks like the citizen has an easier time getting along than the politician.
The Multi-racial Country
I see some similarity in Malaysia as well. I really don’t understand how can there be two definition of “Malaysian”. Yes, you can have Chinese Malaysian, Indian Malayisan, Malay Malaysian and etc… it’s ok, cause sometimes people just want to differentiate the races in Malaysia (I am a Chinese but some strangers ask me for direction in Malay… get what i mean?). But to me, it’s wrong to have 2 Malaysians having different “benefits” of being a Malaysian. How can one Malaysian get discriminated by another from things like education? or buy a house with discounts? No, I am not talking about Chinese, Malay or Indian… I am talking about being a Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera. In our generation now, they shouldn’t be two definition of “Malaysian” - Bumiputera Malaysian and Non-Bumiputera Malaysian. Most of us are BORN here…. born in Malaysia…. AFTER the independence…. after the existence of a country named “Malaysia”. There should be only one definition of Malaysian… only 1 group… united. Of course, it’s difficult to dissolve the benefits of being a Bumiputera… how about… giving all Malaysian the benefits of being a Bumiputera? It will still be fair to everyone.
In education, there shouldn’t be a quota system in place. You want a place in the university? well… fight for it! Study harder. Anyone watched the movie “Sepet” uncensored? Orkid (malaysian who didnt have straight As) get a scholarship to study overseas… while the straight As chinese guy (malaysian) is selling pirated VCDs in pasar malam? It doesn’t make sense huh? I read a forum once…. a long time ago i think… a group of Malaysian were debating… A non-bumi was arguing about how unfair the system was…. then a bumi say something like this…
“If the government did not place those policies, I wouldn’t have a chance to study and be what I am today. My parents didn’t have that kind of money to send me overseas.”
Now my dear fellow readers, what is wrong with that statement? The non-bumi replied…”My parents work twice as hard to fund for my education… I work after class…. I take out a commercial loan….”
I don’t blame the bumi who somehow thinks he was right to depend on the government. The government should be imposing policies to close the gap between the rich and the poor…. NOT imposing policies which benefit one race over the other. They have weaken a group of Malaysian who depend on those discriminating policies…. and strengthen another group who work harder to stay on top. It’s like a sling shot…. those policies are like the hands pulling the sling….. trying to slow a group down so another can catch up…. but 1 FAIR day when those policies are no longer around…. the hands will be gone… and the sling will fire the non-bumi group much more further ahead.
I should’nt be discussing politics here… which I am not. I am just against discrimination. There are hardworking bumis out there as well. There shouldn’t be non-bumiputera and bumiputera Malaysians…. There should only be Malaysians. From today onwards, the word bumiputera will not be in my shortlist of vocab anymore. If I see that word in forms, RFP or when pitching a project… I will draw a fucking middle finger on the proposal.
For uncensored Malaysian News:
MalaysiaKini
Got more source? Let me know.
May 28th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Giving scholarship away to Bumi is a soft money politics. Govt. buy Bumi’s vote. They’ll enjoy the money and keep voting the ruling govt.
It’s a bit dangerous because money is something like drugs.
In the end, we are losing our competitiveness. I’m against the idea of discrimination as well.
I always believe in equal opportunity for everybody in this country.
May 29th, 2006 at 1:36 am
Yes, equal opportunity is very important. While I was studying in UK, one of the reason that I manage to get a job at NEXUS and working side by side with the locals is because of their respect for equal opportunity. They didn’t ask me to wash the toilets or discriminate me in any way. They offered me tea… free metro (aka LRT) passes, and even a pay rise after a month’s work as a part time!
They respected me… and for that, I work as hard as any locals, and didn’t felt like I was…ermm. different. But of course, not everyone in UK are….. nice. I do have friends who got builled…but overall…equal opportunity is one of the foundations of building a good society. When u got a good society, u will have… a good, respected country.