Just before PAS Annual Conference began, I spoke with a long time friend of the former president Dato’ Fadhil Noor on Husam Musa’s decision to go for number two position and his chances of ousting incumbent Ustaz Nasharuddin Mat Isa. Without any hesitation this friend of mine confidently said the grassroots would go for Ustaz Nasharuddin. I fully concurred with him the moment he went on to explain two main points that PAS members held dearly; one, in that in Islam a position of power bestowed upon a person was a responsibility and not an honour; and two, those who sought power glaringly in the open or silently through unarticulated manner would never get elected.
A friend who is a keen observer in the run-up to the PAS election of office bearers also believed majority opinions in blog-sphere that Husam was the better candidate and would definitely get elected. I cautioned him against such a confidence and told him that he did not understand PAS and be prepared for a surprise. I simply quipped that Husam was a man in a hurry and that he was not a good listener. The fact that I said he was in a hurry was that he was not meticulous enough in his stride as what everyone could see and read in blog-sphere and the news and secondly, I had a chance of meeting the man and we sat over a meal and we were talking and yet he did not listen. He might have heard what I was saying but he certainly did not listen and looked at me as if I was not there. He was in town to give a talk and I was a reluctant host as I owned a property that was perfect for a sizeable crowd to congregate. After the incident I concluded that he had a long way to go despite his reassuring presence and his warmth.
In the run-up to the election, Husam was simply shouting aloud to be elected on board and quietly articulating that he wanted to get elected! Thus he met his Waterloo! This he must learn quickly and move on. The friendly neighbourhood Spiderman could tell Husam a thing or two about power. With great power comes great responsibility.
UMNO/BN propaganda machines were blaring support, so it seemed, for Ustaz Nasharuddin. Husam was said to be a candidate not favoured by UMNO/BN. Were things really that simple? Why all of a sudden UMNO/BN cared so much as to who would hold the number two post? There were actually more than meets the eyes!
UMNO/BN will never bet on one candidate. They would like to but they know that it would be futile. Even betting on both is pointless, a fact they will discover later on, that PAS members go through a different kind of initiation and training. Many fail to understand PAS. Ask any PAS member about what is PAS all about and they will literally sing to you PAS song.
God Is Our Destiny
(Allah Matlamat Kami)
The Prophet Is Our Leader
(Rasul Pemimpin Kami)
Al-Quran Is Our Commandment
(Al-Quran Perundangan Kami)
Jihad Is Our Way¹
(Jihad Jalan Kami)
Syahid Is Our Ambition²
(Mati Syahid Cita-Cita Kami)
These Are Our Struggle
(Inilah Perjuangan Kami)
¹Sacrifice. ²To die in the course of the religion.
How many political parties in Malaysia can have their members cite the gist of their struggle with such clarity? This is just the tip of the iceberg. You will learn more if you serious enough in trying to understand them. This was what the SB learnt upon infiltrating the PAS movement.
So did UMNO/BN bet on both of the candidates then? Well, it is a yes and a no. Either one would meet their objective as they would tune their strategy to suit the situation. In this case both have their strengths and more often than not, their strengths are their weaknesses. UMNO/BN will now gloat that “their” candidate won and drive a wedge deeper into a micro crack they managed to nudge in PAS wall of solidarity.
Almost all news portals rang out that the so called pro-peoples’ coalition lost to hardliners in an apparent agreement with the UMNO/BN propaganda machines. If this goes on, these emerging alternative news media will lag behind mainstream media and the law of self fulfilling prophesies will come full circle.
And on PAS situation after the much-publicised affair a hardcore member I spoke to, sighed a relief! PAS is far too mature and cultured enough to be simply lured into sullied political game and buried under a heap of casualties of political war. The party would survive to rule justly and earnestly in Malaysia with its current partners in the coalition. As for UMNO/BN, brace for a bitter feud and an eventual shameful defeat in the hands of the people. Revenge can never be sweeter than this!
troubadour has left the stadium.
Friday 5 June 2009
oh malaysia, you are the hero, you are the villain. your every move is on display!
Just how effective are idiot boxes in our homes that keep blaring all day and night in brainwashing us to accept UMNO/BN world view? I often wonder whether or not they really make the difference, especially in this cyber information era. However, on the surface I can see that average people tend to be quite affected by them. When I say average, I am referring to the not-so-educated lot, whether formal or informal because even the ones that graduate from the University of “Hard-Knocks” have proven to be resilient to propaganda mainly because they are naturally intelligent i.e. they have the capacity to think and the power to reason.
Eighty-Twenty rule always prevail. Maybe intelligent ones make up the top twenty percent but majority of the people are generally average. These people are not exactly docile and gullible but most likely in my opinion, they simply refuse to think and what more to reason. They are afraid that their skull will explode if they start thinking! These kinds of people are banal down to the point of boringly prosaic. But mind you, they make up eighty percent of a much needed voices that can help change our political landscape. So, to be able to reach them effectively is a key to garnering their support.
How do you reckon then the idiot boxes can be made mesmerising enough? Fox News USA, the right wing and Republican unofficial station for Bush junior lined-up a select few newscasters that were expert in using body language to influence viewers to vote for him. Likewise here in this third world country with fourth world mentality (to borrow LKS line) we are seeing a similar approach but unfortunately these novice newscasters “speak of disasters with gleams in their eyes”. This is a dead giveaway. They are either lying through their teeth or down-right sinister in their reporting. They must take us the viewers, intelligent ones or average, as idiots then. But when a government is so desperate to get their official version be taken as gospel truth, they are clumsy and stumble and fall miserably.
There is a line in a song that goes “There are three sides to every story; yours, mine and the cold hard truth”. But when there is only one side that is being blasted on air daily, we begin to wonder whether there is any truth at all. For an “ancient” figure like me, twenty five years of gibberish is making me cranky already. Even my teenage sons are going bonkers listening to blatant lies on the screens of the idiot boxes daily. This is interesting indeed given that they are only politically and socially aware round about less than five years!
Al Ries and Jack Trout, two prominent marketing gurus came out with a “Law of Hype” that says that “Everything is always the opposite of what appears in the paper”. The law I believe equally applies to electronics media as well (We can talk about the papers some other time!). When there is so much propaganda being shoved down our ears, eyes, noses and throats, it is little wonder that the ENT specialists and optometrists are having a swell time. Not to mention myriad kind of ulcers that we are getting.
There is however a positive side to this intense hype by UMNO/BN propaganda machines! I have become inert to the news but I begin to think. Yes, an average man like me who is lazy to think is now awaken and start to reason out. The news and the newscasters are so repulsive and revolting that they are having a reverse effect on me. The more intense the lies being propagated, the more inconceivable they become. The funny thing is that those propagandists behind all these hypes truly believe that their slanders are being swallowed unconditionally. We pray that they continue and it will not be long before the whole nation rebel and we will have our own “Mutiny on the Bounty”.
Oh Malaysia, you’re the hero, you’re the villain. Your every move is on display!
Eighty-Twenty rule always prevail. Maybe intelligent ones make up the top twenty percent but majority of the people are generally average. These people are not exactly docile and gullible but most likely in my opinion, they simply refuse to think and what more to reason. They are afraid that their skull will explode if they start thinking! These kinds of people are banal down to the point of boringly prosaic. But mind you, they make up eighty percent of a much needed voices that can help change our political landscape. So, to be able to reach them effectively is a key to garnering their support.
How do you reckon then the idiot boxes can be made mesmerising enough? Fox News USA, the right wing and Republican unofficial station for Bush junior lined-up a select few newscasters that were expert in using body language to influence viewers to vote for him. Likewise here in this third world country with fourth world mentality (to borrow LKS line) we are seeing a similar approach but unfortunately these novice newscasters “speak of disasters with gleams in their eyes”. This is a dead giveaway. They are either lying through their teeth or down-right sinister in their reporting. They must take us the viewers, intelligent ones or average, as idiots then. But when a government is so desperate to get their official version be taken as gospel truth, they are clumsy and stumble and fall miserably.
There is a line in a song that goes “There are three sides to every story; yours, mine and the cold hard truth”. But when there is only one side that is being blasted on air daily, we begin to wonder whether there is any truth at all. For an “ancient” figure like me, twenty five years of gibberish is making me cranky already. Even my teenage sons are going bonkers listening to blatant lies on the screens of the idiot boxes daily. This is interesting indeed given that they are only politically and socially aware round about less than five years!
Al Ries and Jack Trout, two prominent marketing gurus came out with a “Law of Hype” that says that “Everything is always the opposite of what appears in the paper”. The law I believe equally applies to electronics media as well (We can talk about the papers some other time!). When there is so much propaganda being shoved down our ears, eyes, noses and throats, it is little wonder that the ENT specialists and optometrists are having a swell time. Not to mention myriad kind of ulcers that we are getting.
There is however a positive side to this intense hype by UMNO/BN propaganda machines! I have become inert to the news but I begin to think. Yes, an average man like me who is lazy to think is now awaken and start to reason out. The news and the newscasters are so repulsive and revolting that they are having a reverse effect on me. The more intense the lies being propagated, the more inconceivable they become. The funny thing is that those propagandists behind all these hypes truly believe that their slanders are being swallowed unconditionally. We pray that they continue and it will not be long before the whole nation rebel and we will have our own “Mutiny on the Bounty”.
Oh Malaysia, you’re the hero, you’re the villain. Your every move is on display!
Thursday 4 June 2009
deer crossing
Darwin wrote and I quote, “Survival goes not necessarily to the strongest or most intelligent, but to the species that adapts and adjusts most rapidly to changing circumstances”, unquote. Going by this statement, I think UMNO will definitely head for doom. Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” may be a hypothesis as the “missing link” has still not been found but his study on survival of various species on earth can shed some light on survival.
“Change is the only thing that remains constant”. My management lecturer, one Dr. DM Love told me so. I guess he was right as I have since seen a number of management gurus mentioned the same thing. That was more than twenty years ago. Now, a company I work for is on the brink of extinction because of excesses and world class stupidity and I suddenly find myself indulging in the subject of “Transformation” or “Change” and greatly admire the work of JP Kotter. His work became my source of reference in my bid to transform an ailing subsidiary company. Today, after a long three years’ struggle, I am heading a strong and profitable outfit, thanks to a step by step guide from Kotter.
In the aftermath of eleventh general election in 2004, I spoke with Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad, the director of PAS Research Centre. Being apolitical, I quipped that the party perhaps need rebranding now that it lost badly. He was quick to retort the brand was right and that all the party needed was “repackaging”. And then after the twelfth general election and the party was immensely successful, I was told that Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad now talk incessantly about “managing change” which is essentially a form of “transformation”. With these events as backdrops, I can’t help but feel rather pleased that the good doctor is right in his stride. PAS has shown a great deal of maturity over the years and embracing change is perhaps what is keeping the party relevant. PAS adapts rather well to changing circumstances and true to the words of Charles Darwin it will survive these turbulent times.
The father of Social Science, Ibnu Khaldun theorised that civilization reaches maturity after forty years and then will rapidly decline due to mainly excesses and internal conflicts. We are already seeing this happening with UMNO. It has to change to remain a viable party but change is exactly what it is fighting to avoid. Going by Ibnu Khaldun’s Theory of Social Science, we will witness the demise of UMNO in our lifetime, God willing. While PAS has managed to continually reinventing itself, UMNO chooses to ignore changing circumstances and remain a parochial party beseeching Malay supremacy and racists’ policy. It is little wonder that its members are leaving the party in droves and choose to remain apolitical leaning towards opposition if not openly embracing oppositions’ ideology.
Crossing over boundaries that divide distinct ideologies or set of beliefs, is analogous to migrating from one normally miserable state to a far superior form. It has to begin with an acceptance that current condition is dreadful and followed by a desire to move to a situation that is universally acceptable the very least or a far better one. The process of transformation ends with a successful acceptance and eventual embrace of a new form. The term embrace that is normally applied to acceptance of religion is used here signifying that one has to wholeheartedly accept it first and then go about understanding virtues of the new way of life. The new set of practices or behaviours is then anchored to the culture of the society or organisation. Understanding this transformation process clearly allows us to evaluate events before our eyes concerning UMNO and ascertain whether or not they will be successful. So far chain of events point towards disaster, for them that is, and a welcome sight to proponents of a birth of a civil society.
Thirteenth general election may be a long three years’ away but opposition alliance is bracing for a long struggle and look set to be able to keep the momentum going. Many bystanders are watching with keen eyes and secretly wish and pray for a swift change of power. When the day comes, UMNO will be like a deer caught on headlights while attempting a late crossover where it freezes, stunt by the headlights and get knocked down dead and left to rot along a wretched tolled highway that they helped design, build and milk the population dry. That day will come, as sure as the sun rises tomorrow morning, God willing.
“Change is the only thing that remains constant”. My management lecturer, one Dr. DM Love told me so. I guess he was right as I have since seen a number of management gurus mentioned the same thing. That was more than twenty years ago. Now, a company I work for is on the brink of extinction because of excesses and world class stupidity and I suddenly find myself indulging in the subject of “Transformation” or “Change” and greatly admire the work of JP Kotter. His work became my source of reference in my bid to transform an ailing subsidiary company. Today, after a long three years’ struggle, I am heading a strong and profitable outfit, thanks to a step by step guide from Kotter.
In the aftermath of eleventh general election in 2004, I spoke with Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad, the director of PAS Research Centre. Being apolitical, I quipped that the party perhaps need rebranding now that it lost badly. He was quick to retort the brand was right and that all the party needed was “repackaging”. And then after the twelfth general election and the party was immensely successful, I was told that Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad now talk incessantly about “managing change” which is essentially a form of “transformation”. With these events as backdrops, I can’t help but feel rather pleased that the good doctor is right in his stride. PAS has shown a great deal of maturity over the years and embracing change is perhaps what is keeping the party relevant. PAS adapts rather well to changing circumstances and true to the words of Charles Darwin it will survive these turbulent times.
The father of Social Science, Ibnu Khaldun theorised that civilization reaches maturity after forty years and then will rapidly decline due to mainly excesses and internal conflicts. We are already seeing this happening with UMNO. It has to change to remain a viable party but change is exactly what it is fighting to avoid. Going by Ibnu Khaldun’s Theory of Social Science, we will witness the demise of UMNO in our lifetime, God willing. While PAS has managed to continually reinventing itself, UMNO chooses to ignore changing circumstances and remain a parochial party beseeching Malay supremacy and racists’ policy. It is little wonder that its members are leaving the party in droves and choose to remain apolitical leaning towards opposition if not openly embracing oppositions’ ideology.
Crossing over boundaries that divide distinct ideologies or set of beliefs, is analogous to migrating from one normally miserable state to a far superior form. It has to begin with an acceptance that current condition is dreadful and followed by a desire to move to a situation that is universally acceptable the very least or a far better one. The process of transformation ends with a successful acceptance and eventual embrace of a new form. The term embrace that is normally applied to acceptance of religion is used here signifying that one has to wholeheartedly accept it first and then go about understanding virtues of the new way of life. The new set of practices or behaviours is then anchored to the culture of the society or organisation. Understanding this transformation process clearly allows us to evaluate events before our eyes concerning UMNO and ascertain whether or not they will be successful. So far chain of events point towards disaster, for them that is, and a welcome sight to proponents of a birth of a civil society.
Thirteenth general election may be a long three years’ away but opposition alliance is bracing for a long struggle and look set to be able to keep the momentum going. Many bystanders are watching with keen eyes and secretly wish and pray for a swift change of power. When the day comes, UMNO will be like a deer caught on headlights while attempting a late crossover where it freezes, stunt by the headlights and get knocked down dead and left to rot along a wretched tolled highway that they helped design, build and milk the population dry. That day will come, as sure as the sun rises tomorrow morning, God willing.
Monday 1 June 2009
orang melayu = orang pelarian
Debates on immigrants to this land called Malaysia are still raging on with the latest DAP anger towards one of the Malay dailies for calling non-Malays immigrants. I want to have my say as well on this subject even though it will only be limited to the cyberspace.
What is actually the origin of this race called Malays or more correctly “Melayu”? I myself am an offspring of a Bugis father and a Patani mother and I am being called a Malay man. I want to put forward this hypothesis or if at the end of my argument it is convincing enough, maybe it will become a theory. Professor Khoo Kay Khim may perhaps land his expertise on history to validate my accidental finding.
I was in a car on my way to a dinner with two friends who were both happened to be of Javanese descent. One hailed from Olak Lempit and that makes him a Jawa Banting and the other from Sungai Besar that qualifies him as a Jawa Sabak Bernam. Here we were in Pattaya calling ourselves Malays and Muslims and were heading for a Secret Recipe outlet for some halal food.
The Jawa Sabak Bernam joked about how Melayu and Jawa got into a quarrel, a tale told frequently amongst the Javanese community in Malaysia. The story was about a bunch of Melayu and Jawa boys sitting in a clearing just beside some bushes. Out of nowhere a pig jolted in front of them and ran across the clearing, apparently an escapee from a farm perhaps and was scared of something. The Jawa boys spotted it first and in unison shouted the words “Babi Melayu, Babi Melayu, Babi Melayu!”. On hearing this scuffle broke out between the Jawa and Melayu boys. The pig’s commotion was met met with a spontaneous remark from the Jawa boys and hence in their mother tongues. What they meant was “a pig running” or literally “babi lari”. In Javanese, the word “melayu” means “lari” in Malay or simply run in English!
Could this be the origin of the term Melayu to refer to those descendants from lands and islands around the Malay archipelagos that landed in the Malay Peninsula escaping from various kinds of persecutions and natural disasters like volcano’s eruption and tsunami? Perhaps the words “orang melayu” were referring to “orang lari” or in modern Malay “orang pelarian” or “refugees” from the islands of Sumatra, Jawa, Sulawesi and so on and so forth?
Before this enlightening event, I was wondering as to the origin of tge word “melayu”. If we consider the root word of “melayu” as “layu” (wither in English), then “melayu” means to “wither” which does not make sense. Or is it referring to an ethnic group that easily succumbs to onslaught of various ideologies? Very unlikely and therefore the hypothesis about “Melayu” as “Pendatang” or “Refugees” make more sense!
Very interesting indeed! I hope those ultra Malay NGOs that make so much noise can instead do some serious research to debunk my hypothesis. If I am a Bugis-Patani descent and am proud of it but not to the point that I wage war at others simply because my descendents are malays/refugee! I am Muslim first and a Malay second and hence my behaviour is dictated by my belief.
What is actually the origin of this race called Malays or more correctly “Melayu”? I myself am an offspring of a Bugis father and a Patani mother and I am being called a Malay man. I want to put forward this hypothesis or if at the end of my argument it is convincing enough, maybe it will become a theory. Professor Khoo Kay Khim may perhaps land his expertise on history to validate my accidental finding.
I was in a car on my way to a dinner with two friends who were both happened to be of Javanese descent. One hailed from Olak Lempit and that makes him a Jawa Banting and the other from Sungai Besar that qualifies him as a Jawa Sabak Bernam. Here we were in Pattaya calling ourselves Malays and Muslims and were heading for a Secret Recipe outlet for some halal food.
The Jawa Sabak Bernam joked about how Melayu and Jawa got into a quarrel, a tale told frequently amongst the Javanese community in Malaysia. The story was about a bunch of Melayu and Jawa boys sitting in a clearing just beside some bushes. Out of nowhere a pig jolted in front of them and ran across the clearing, apparently an escapee from a farm perhaps and was scared of something. The Jawa boys spotted it first and in unison shouted the words “Babi Melayu, Babi Melayu, Babi Melayu!”. On hearing this scuffle broke out between the Jawa and Melayu boys. The pig’s commotion was met met with a spontaneous remark from the Jawa boys and hence in their mother tongues. What they meant was “a pig running” or literally “babi lari”. In Javanese, the word “melayu” means “lari” in Malay or simply run in English!
Could this be the origin of the term Melayu to refer to those descendants from lands and islands around the Malay archipelagos that landed in the Malay Peninsula escaping from various kinds of persecutions and natural disasters like volcano’s eruption and tsunami? Perhaps the words “orang melayu” were referring to “orang lari” or in modern Malay “orang pelarian” or “refugees” from the islands of Sumatra, Jawa, Sulawesi and so on and so forth?
Before this enlightening event, I was wondering as to the origin of tge word “melayu”. If we consider the root word of “melayu” as “layu” (wither in English), then “melayu” means to “wither” which does not make sense. Or is it referring to an ethnic group that easily succumbs to onslaught of various ideologies? Very unlikely and therefore the hypothesis about “Melayu” as “Pendatang” or “Refugees” make more sense!
Very interesting indeed! I hope those ultra Malay NGOs that make so much noise can instead do some serious research to debunk my hypothesis. If I am a Bugis-Patani descent and am proud of it but not to the point that I wage war at others simply because my descendents are malays/refugee! I am Muslim first and a Malay second and hence my behaviour is dictated by my belief.
angels and demons
If you think Dan Brown is the only one fascinated with the above subject, then you can very wrong. In Malaysia, the subject is very much a household item. In fact, there are so many of these angels and demons here in Malaysia appearing in many other really misleading forms.
Let us talk about the angels some other time. Today we are going to talk about demons.
There are real demons that antagonize the nation daily. These demons have no qualms about the kind of injustices they inflict upon innocent citizens.
Favourite targets for these demons to be demonised are of course the opposition figures and parties. These figures are selectively taken to task for issues being created to strategically position them on par with these real demons.
There are however those mortal souls that are continuously being “demonized”, despite their earthly and humane behaviour. Those who continue to taunt these human souls justify their actions claiming that they wage war at Malays. Little that these ultra Malays realise that their tempers flare because of the racist tendencies that they possess or inherent in them. These UMNO goons, from the least educated bunch in remote villages and urban slumps to the sleek politicians in corridors of power including the prime minister himself, are guilty of racial slurs and hatred being propagated within the society.
Look at issues that continuously make headlines in UMNO-controlled mainstream media! You will note that they continue to claim to inadvertently pick these issues as headlines, whereas in fact these racially sensitive issues are exactly what they wish to fan. They have lost all avenues that can provide platform for disagreement within Malaysian society and continue to cling this single issue that they truly believe will be straw that will break the camel’s back.
Sad to say that they were not wrong in making this racial issue as the key issue! Time and again we, the general public, continued to buy their argument. But time has changed. Pre-independence citizens are getting older and post-independence citizens have woken up to a tune of a new kind of society that are civil, free of hatred and prejudices and abhor all kinds of injustices and pagan behaviours. They simply refuse to follow the demons or be demons themselves and detest bids to demonise others to justify causes of those real demons to colonise the nation.
I welcome the advent of internet age with great awe. The dark ages have gone past us. Only demons continue to live in the dark ages because of their dark nature. As these creatures are only drawn to darkness, they will continue to remain in the shadow and will never see daylight. These nocturnal beasts will never see the bright side, however hard one tries to make them see the light. It is best that they remain in the dark and one fine day the darkness that shrouds them will engulf them.
Let us talk about the angels some other time. Today we are going to talk about demons.
There are real demons that antagonize the nation daily. These demons have no qualms about the kind of injustices they inflict upon innocent citizens.
Favourite targets for these demons to be demonised are of course the opposition figures and parties. These figures are selectively taken to task for issues being created to strategically position them on par with these real demons.
There are however those mortal souls that are continuously being “demonized”, despite their earthly and humane behaviour. Those who continue to taunt these human souls justify their actions claiming that they wage war at Malays. Little that these ultra Malays realise that their tempers flare because of the racist tendencies that they possess or inherent in them. These UMNO goons, from the least educated bunch in remote villages and urban slumps to the sleek politicians in corridors of power including the prime minister himself, are guilty of racial slurs and hatred being propagated within the society.
Look at issues that continuously make headlines in UMNO-controlled mainstream media! You will note that they continue to claim to inadvertently pick these issues as headlines, whereas in fact these racially sensitive issues are exactly what they wish to fan. They have lost all avenues that can provide platform for disagreement within Malaysian society and continue to cling this single issue that they truly believe will be straw that will break the camel’s back.
Sad to say that they were not wrong in making this racial issue as the key issue! Time and again we, the general public, continued to buy their argument. But time has changed. Pre-independence citizens are getting older and post-independence citizens have woken up to a tune of a new kind of society that are civil, free of hatred and prejudices and abhor all kinds of injustices and pagan behaviours. They simply refuse to follow the demons or be demons themselves and detest bids to demonise others to justify causes of those real demons to colonise the nation.
I welcome the advent of internet age with great awe. The dark ages have gone past us. Only demons continue to live in the dark ages because of their dark nature. As these creatures are only drawn to darkness, they will continue to remain in the shadow and will never see daylight. These nocturnal beasts will never see the bright side, however hard one tries to make them see the light. It is best that they remain in the dark and one fine day the darkness that shrouds them will engulf them.
racists and civil society
What determines whether a person grow up to be a racist or not? Upbringing I presume. Second would be the experience that one goes through outside his home.
I have a number of friends that I admire. One particular friend comes to mind whenever I think of an exemplary person that I look up to. He was older than I am but somehow his respect for a person goes beyond age and wisdom. He was a person in my study group. We studied a “way of life”, a wide subject indeed. His reference has always been the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
In my years of knowing him, he never uttered words that I can classify as a racist remark. He worked in the government and still does but he is the opposite of what I see amongst the UMNO men.
On the contrary, I came across a particular individual in my yahoo-group that is very racist. I went to the same school as he did and was taught by mostly Chinese teachers. The teachers were excellent educationists and were serious in their work to teach us the village boys to become model citizens, educated and cultured.
I guess not everyone came out minted and cultured. Some I believe grow old but never grow up. They become more stupid as days go by and eventually become racists and take swipe at others. Most if not all the time, their outlook is so short-sighted and myopic that they are not able to see beyond certain skin colours and ethnic group.
This particular creature that taunts people daily on behalf of another creature simply because they have this belief that this “Malay” reigns supreme in Malaysia and others deserve to be banished to Siberia! How could we have these kinds of people continue to be borne out of our society?
This brings us back to the friend that I admire a great deal. I would say that his transformation to a polished and exemplary individual is a result of his lifetime education, both formal and informal, that shaped him as an excellent human being. Can we replicate this phenomenon and breed generations that are devoid of hatred and without racist tendencies? I sincerely believe that we can do that and this requires a complete overhaul of our education system and other systems that continue to divide us. And looking at the damage done and the state in which we are in today in Malaysia, this transformation is impossible without a change of leadership, a leadership with the right kind of ideology and determination to see a civil society emerging from this heap of dung we created. It is time we throw out this UMNO/BN government and replace them with those that are serious enough to build a civil government and nurture a civil society.
I have a number of friends that I admire. One particular friend comes to mind whenever I think of an exemplary person that I look up to. He was older than I am but somehow his respect for a person goes beyond age and wisdom. He was a person in my study group. We studied a “way of life”, a wide subject indeed. His reference has always been the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
In my years of knowing him, he never uttered words that I can classify as a racist remark. He worked in the government and still does but he is the opposite of what I see amongst the UMNO men.
On the contrary, I came across a particular individual in my yahoo-group that is very racist. I went to the same school as he did and was taught by mostly Chinese teachers. The teachers were excellent educationists and were serious in their work to teach us the village boys to become model citizens, educated and cultured.
I guess not everyone came out minted and cultured. Some I believe grow old but never grow up. They become more stupid as days go by and eventually become racists and take swipe at others. Most if not all the time, their outlook is so short-sighted and myopic that they are not able to see beyond certain skin colours and ethnic group.
This particular creature that taunts people daily on behalf of another creature simply because they have this belief that this “Malay” reigns supreme in Malaysia and others deserve to be banished to Siberia! How could we have these kinds of people continue to be borne out of our society?
This brings us back to the friend that I admire a great deal. I would say that his transformation to a polished and exemplary individual is a result of his lifetime education, both formal and informal, that shaped him as an excellent human being. Can we replicate this phenomenon and breed generations that are devoid of hatred and without racist tendencies? I sincerely believe that we can do that and this requires a complete overhaul of our education system and other systems that continue to divide us. And looking at the damage done and the state in which we are in today in Malaysia, this transformation is impossible without a change of leadership, a leadership with the right kind of ideology and determination to see a civil society emerging from this heap of dung we created. It is time we throw out this UMNO/BN government and replace them with those that are serious enough to build a civil government and nurture a civil society.
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