The Pakatan Merdeka Day slogan goes ‘Sebangsa, senegara, sejiwa’.
What does sebangsa mean for DAP, you think?
Senegara to PAS is easy — satu Negara Islam.
Sejiwa bagi PKR ialah … satu isi rumah? After all, the party de facto leader is the husband, the party president is the wife and the party vice president is the daughter.
Chinese First
The chart below is the results of a national opinion poll conducted by the Merdeka Center from 24 May to 7 June, 2006.
The survey findings were resurrected by Raja Petra Kamarudin and reported in FMT yesterday.
It shows the Chinese are Race First while the Malays are clear and away Muslim First.
The Indians are truly the most patriotic. Yet ironically, their community is the one most beset by the problem of statelessness and lack of proper documentation, i.e. not possessing birth certificate, MyKad and citizenship papers.
About the survey
The percentages for the three major ethnicities featured in the bar chart above do not tally 100 percent as there were other combination answers: 5% with reference to Malay respondents, 4% to Chinese and 6% to Indian.
The Merdeka Center did a fairly comprehensive opinion poll across a spectrum of Malaysian attitudes. Its 87-page report can be viewed in pdf here.
The survey was funded by the Asia Foundation, whose summary report can be read here.
Raja Petra’s abstract can be read in his Malaysia Today column (excerpts below):
- “With regard to the connection between government and religion, only 3 percent of Malays agreed that ‘government and religion should be kept separate’, compared with 64 percent of Chinese and 47 percent of Indians.
. - “About 30 percent of Malays hoped Malaysia would become ‘more Islamic’, while that outcome was supported by 0 percent of Chinese and 4 percent of Indians.
. - “About 34 percent of Malays agreed that ‘government should increase the implementation of Islam by introducing Hudud laws for Muslims’, compared with only 2 percent of Chinese and 0 percent of Indian respondents.
The consensus is that the survey indicated sharp differences of views on religion and national identity among the Malays, Chinese and Indians.
Reality vs alternate universe
The Merdeka Center findings realistically reflect the attitudes of the three communities on race and religion.
Firsters who must invariably attack any mention of this reality are either in denial or deliberately wish to mislead the opposition-supporting public.
Granted that the poll was taken six years ago and attitudes may have shifted somewhat.
The survey revealed that in 2006, zero percent of Chinese had wanted Malaysia to become ‘more Islamic’ while a mere two percent of Chinese felt that implementation of Islam should be increased by introducing hudud.
Therefore the DAP evangelist politicians who are not objecting to hudud today on account of political expediency, and who hypocritically don Muslim garb, are not representative of the larger Chinese population.
Nonetheless, they appear to have swayed some Anglophile Chinese towards accepting the installation of hudud for the sake of Pakatan politics.
This is an important point to note because it is inaccurate to describe the DAP new wave fundamentalist politicians as “Chinese chauvinist’. They’re not Chinese creatures but political animals — chameleons.
What did Tunku Abdul Rahman believe?
Tunku is called Bapa Kemerdekaan and Bapa Malaysia.
He was also the father of the Alliance — a coalition of three race-based parties, i.e. Umno, MCA and MIC. (The BN was created by Tun Abdul Razak Hussein in June 1974.)
Therefore, Tunku most certainly practised communal politics which reflected the on-the-ground situation of his time. Remember all the racial classes between Bintang Tiga and Malays after the Japanese WWII surrender as well as the race riots in Singapore and Penang which occurred in the 1950s and 1960s predating May 13.
Datuk Onn Jaafar had wanted to open Umno to the other races and make it the United Malayan National Organization. His idea was rejected and thus he had to leave the party. Some of Datuk Onn’s loyalists followed him out of Umno.
Tunku did not leave the party along with Datuk Onn and the other Malay leaders. Tunku stayed on in Umno, the Malay party.
This means that Tunku did not agree with Datuk Onn that Umno should be turned into a multi-racial entity. He agreed for the status quo to be maintained.
What is SABM smoking?
Haris Ibrahim founded Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM).
Haris believes that “national unity” had been the vision of Tunku Abdul Rahman. Haris speaks glowingly about ‘The legacy and inspiration left to us by Tunku‘ as the foundation for building SABM.
Aside from Tun Hussein Onn, Haris does not believe that any of the other Malaysian premiers, past and present, shared the same vision of national unity.
Haris had previously criticized Najib Razak for being clueless about “the Bangsa Malaysia soul” – keyword ‘jiwa’ as with the Pakatan Merdeka Day slogan – when he blogged his series of postings (linked below):
Haris believes that to achieve Bangsa Malaysia, “You don’t have to have a common language, if you have the same jiwa (heart, spirit, passion, devotion)” — see Part 2.
Najib fail, Mahathir fail, Hannah distinction
Haris says Najib’s 1Malaysia will fail because it has “no concrete ideas … about how to go about changing hearts and minds so that Malaysians see each other as just Malaysian and not Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc.”
“The jiwa of the man behind Vision 2020 [Mahathir Mohamad] was not in sync with that of the ordinary Malaysians who struggle to make ends meet,” Haris had written in Part 2 also.
Haris asks his readers: “Are you getting a sense of the jiwa of the man [Najib Razak] who now proposes to unite us all as a nation of a single people?” — see final part.
Haris further scoffs at how Najib “would have us believe that his 1Malaysia is the roadmap to the Bangsa Malaysia that Mahathir spoke of [in his Vision 2020 blueprint]”.
Instead Haris gives his own explanation of the ideal Anak Malaysia individual in his posting, ‘The mind and heart of anak Bangsa Malaysia‘.
Haris extolled Hannah Yeoh as “excellent candidate material” and the perfect ‘Beyond Race’ leader to help the country achieve his vision of Bangsa Malaysia.
The SABM movement has a website, http://www.sayaanakbangsamalaysia.net
The website has this story:
“In a bid to reject racial politics, a state assemblyperson attempted to register her daughter’s race as ‘Anak Malaysia’ but was told by national registration officers that the current system does not allow this.
“The six-day-old baby girl, Shay Adora Ram, who almost became the nation’s first official ‘anak Malaysia’, is the first child of Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh and Ramachandran Muniandy.
“The parents went to the National Registration Department headquarters in Putrajaya today to register Shay for her birth certificate.
“We were given a form to fill up. So we put ‘anak Malaysia‘ in the column for ‘race’, but we were told by the officer that her race must be defined according to the parents’ race, which is Chinese or Indian,” Yeoh (right) told Malaysiakini when contacted today.
‘”We replied that my daughter is not Chinese or Indian’.”
.
DAP’s Malaysian First is almost indistinguishable from SABM whereas the SABM firmament is orbited by Firster stars.
Tunku hijacked
SABM have marketed Tunku Abdul Rahman as the mascot for their colour blind and “beyond race” branding.
Tunku was father of the Alliance. Umno and MCA had allied with each other – much like the Pakatan 2008 electoral pact – to contest the 1952 Kuala Lumpur municipal election.
Tunku’s Perikatan beat Datuk Onn’s Independence of Malaya, a multi-racial party. Umno-MCA won 51 seats out of 52. IMP did not win any. Even Datuk Onn himself failed to secure a seat in his native Johor Baru.
MIC joined the Alliance in 1955. Not only was Tunku responsible for the communal party formula but the framework itself was entrenched under his stewardship.
If Tunku had believed in a non-race based political approach, he would have departed from Umno together with Datuk Onn. That he didn’t meant that Tunku rejected the idea of the multi-racial party as a vehicle for national unity but preferred the Alliance consociational model instead.
Therefore, isn’t it bizarre that Haris Ibrahim and his SABM could conscript the late Bapa Parti Perikatan to become a poster boy for their Jom Ubah new politics?
It’s as bizarre as Haris’ “excellent candidate material” endorsement for a politician who supported Anwar Ibrahim’s Sept 16 takeover bid when Haris is Malaysia’s foremost hunter of ‘frogs’.
Helen Ang 
when someone says that to achieve Bangsa Malaysia “you dont have to have a common language” but have common jiwa, then obviously he does not understand the meaning of” BAHASA JIWA BANGSA”
Spot on bro.
In the end, due to globalization and interstellar race, people of the world will only be known as HUMAN RACE (not Singaporean, Malaysian, American, etc)
Meaning, don’t waste energy and time arguing on something that is constantly keep changing throughout the human evolution.
It is more beneficial if that amount of energy and time is employed to strengthen relationship among religions
Not sure what you mean. If we’re all one race (a borderless, human race), will Singapore and Amerika allow us in without passport and visa?
Kak Helen,
kalau satu undi untuk ‘adik kecil’ diimbuhi dengan satu tiket ke sorga’ maka demi kesaksamaan mutlak bukankah akan nampak saksama kalau satu undi untuk ‘abang besar’ dimbuhi dengan satu tiket ke eden?
harap Kak Helen dapat sampaikan mesej ini pada abang besar kerana kalau adik kecil boleh beri imbuhan sedemikian besar, tidakkah abang besar mahu berikan imbuhan setara atau lebih besar dari itu, supaya abang besar benar-benar nampak lebih besar dari adik kecil?
sori, kalau berbelit-belit, Kak
The stateless are the dayaks and dusuns in remote and not so remote areas of Sarawak and Sabah – being there for 5 years, I have seen their plight, and some poor but smart student dropped out of school not because they do not qualified but because they do not have IC to take SPM exam….
pada pendapat saya:
dalam kes macam ini, ketua masyarakat patut diberi tugas untuk keluarkan surat pengesahan kelahiran, dan dengan itu dapat digunakan di kemudian hari untuk urusan pengeluaran kad pengenalan. kalau pas pekerja asing boleh dipermudahkan kenapa tidak pengesahan kelahiran warga tempatan?
Helen,
The funny thing about Malaysian politics is that those who cry out loud for unity are ussually the one who are dead set against any move to unite Malaysia.
DAP claims that it cherishes the idea of multi racial dimension on every aspects of life. But look at the party. Vast majority is Chinese. worse still, it resembles a dynastic legacy:Lim dynasty.
There is no 2 way about it, If we want a united malaysians than we must start from tender age. The way for the rest of the world is a united school system. Only malaysia in infamous for separate school systems that LITERALLY SEPARATE US.
But are you willing to open up sekolah asrama, Maktab Sains Rendah Mara, Kolej Matrikulasi and also shut down sekolah agama?
All these separate the students too.
When Khalid Ibrahim suggested opening UiTM a crack to the other races, there were howls of protest. Imagine an almost uni-racial university (by policy, not geography) anywhere else in the world.
tutup sekolah agama?
ha ha, abang besar tak ada hal punya tetapi macam mana adik kecil?
semua tahu bahawa sekolah berkenaan adalah lubuk generasi pewaris untuk pihak mana, kan, kan?
makanya, sanggupkah abang besar sahut cabaran ini: “langkah turban kamik kalau nakkan sekolah kamik shut down”
ha ha, camno tu, Kak,oii!
Helen,
Opening UiTM to other races is no big things to Malay community. The reason for protest is very simple actually. Why Malays must offer UiTM if Chinese insist on ridicolous view that Chinese school is not on bargain table.
again, MCA can win in Malay majority area. It shows tolerance on Malay part. A Chinese woman can be CEO in organisation owned by Malays. Do enlighten me why “Mandarin is preferred” is important in many advertisements.
Malay leaders can “toss” Yee sang. But DAP assemblymen refuse to wear songkok as it is associated with Malays. Yet they (DAP) accuse UMNO for instilling hatred against DAP.
Its amazing that the avengelistas and anglophiles preach tolerance between religions yet its their leaders in europe that openly declare multiculturalism has failed.. to quote the likes of david cameron and even angela merkel..
tolerance means forcing yourself to accept others… i prefer the more elaborate term…living in harmony.. harmony itself is a paradoxial term as opposing forces intact to achieve equilibrium until some shit stirs up the yin and yang balance but it will always try to correct itself….
hence…i always believe the malays to a large extent live in harmony with the various non malays people and harmonize…even with islam the malays embrace it into the fold of existing malay life gradually rather than turning straight into hand-chopping talibans..
the malay culture itself in a short span of time absorb other cultural practices.. example the malays adopt angpau to give money during raya… serve maruku during raya and the cakes and kuih raya is western inspired yet maintaining a homogeneous identity that is worthy being belonged to that literally diluted the identity of sub malay cultures..
i am mendiling descent but i dunno whether my friends are bugues, boyan or banjar as our coexistence with similar cultural practices has transcended the tribal limits hence we see mamaks are generally accepted into the malay fold by simple adoptations of malay customs such as wearing songkok and wear baju melayu, speak a distinct malay accent that is cogent to malay ears yet the mamaks still practice their heritage via their food and speak their native indian tongue at home..
i always think that if the chinese can be pragmatic to being anglophiled to be australian and american, its sad to see that they refuse to be more malay or if better masuk melayu terus, then we all can be equal and left with internal inequality which is better than bitching how many chinese or malay billionaires are there….
example are the thai chinese who embraced thai lifestyle and brand of buddhism that they never cared that thaksin was an ah pek and even burned bangkok for him… hence i sense some truth in shuzheng rantings that the malay is a constitutional creation… created to welcome a new bangsa malaysia in the long term..
the malay polity has helped unite the banjars, boyan, javanese and buguese into a big and coherent family of various skin colors and cultures..and i bet this constitutional malay entity is just waiting for the chinese and indians to enter the fold.. i knooowww.. its another utopian option but well.. nak buat camna… rambut sama hitam pun parti dah lain lain.
In my opinion, the Merdeka Center poll result is very accurate especially on the religion section. Religion is the number one thing for most Malays. Like one of my Malay colleagues once told me, Islam sebagai addin (Islam as a way of life).
Also, Malays are very particular with the halal certification in restaurants, to certain extent some franchises like Subway was once deemed to be non-halal. I also tabik one Malay colleague for her strong religious conviction that she’ll fast during puasa even though she missed the sahur and endured the pain of having a gastritis stomach. It’s this kind of religious conviction that most non-Muslims don’t see or understand, like how she’ll always tell me, “You takkan paham punya”.
On the other hand, most Chinese are mostly concern with economy and all those stuffs that related to cari makan and education; religion is one last thing that bothers them, although some like me would tend to occasionally go to tukang tilik to ask for fortune forecast for next year, but then again fortune telling has nothing to do with religion, LOL ;)
Here’s a thought: PAS is the primary target of Project Crossover.
Are we sniggering yet, or is that too scary a thought?
“Here’s a thought: PAS is the primary target of Project Crossover.”
More likely, after the GE, will PAS be still in one piece. Will PAS disintegrate ?
Thanks to PAS and those Arab Sheiks wannabes from both sides of the political divide, the Malays are practically ruined to the very core. While the world moves on, the Malays are still enamored with the issue of religion.
Helen you say “ It shows the Chinese are Race First while the Malays are clear and away Muslim First”.
“The Indians are truly the most patriotic. Yet ironically, their community is the one most beset by the problem of statelessness and lack of proper documentation, i.e. not possessing birth certificate, MyKad and citizenship papers”..
I am not surprised by this. The Indians are always tolerant by allowing absolute freedom to the rational mind of human. They never demand any undue restraint upon the freedom of human reason, the freedom of thought, feeling and will of human.
They don’t force anybody to accept particular dogmas. They allow everybody to reflect, investigate, enquire and cogitate. Hence, all sorts of religious faiths, political parties, various forms of worship and diverse kinds of rituals and customs, have found their places side by side within Indians in India. Indians accepts and honor truth wherever it may come from.
They are very loyal and gratuitous to their surrounding ie here of course in Malaysia. It is their culture to be more concern with humanity rather than what is my race or what is my religion. Unfortunately patriotism in Malaysia is race and religion based for the two major communities in Malaysia. As for the Indians it is a humanely evolved society that the rest need a lot of catching up to do as shown by their patriotism to be a Malaysian on a self identity.
Although the Indians were the major contributors in the yesteryears in the progress of the nation in plantation, educational, professional services, etc, it has become amidst in the current day as the taboo topic for vices in Malaysia. Why and how is not a mystery as they continue to be the scapegoat for the race and religious based patriots in Malaysia?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So caught between the 2Rs, where are the Indians headed? — Helen
Destiny ie takdir is a voyage without a self proclaimed destination when we can deduct the 2Rs for humanity.
Why not sit out the GE13 ? After all, they won’t lose anything. They have nothing to lose. But the Opposition will lose a lot of votes if Indians decide to do a no show. If not for Indian votes in 2008, where would the Opposition be ?
Kik Kik Kik,
What are you talking about “abang besar’ or abang kecik. Can you be specific please.
Helen
Harris may have had too much to drink when he said those words. I believe he is still going around intoxicated with inconsistencies, hatred and vengence.
Poor dude, Freudian psychology would suggest to look into his childhood.
wonder y the poll never ask the chinese do u prefer a more islamic + hudud versus discrimination + ketuanan?
pas can obviously lead us to the former, while umno most probably is capable of all the above.
the chinese grasp the latter well, but no clue about the former, and that is y we reject entirely pas ideology in the past, but not when balance is no more the core and policy implemented skew toward a rotten bureaucracies and economies, read le “mostly concern with economy and all those stuffs that related to cari makan and education; religion is one last thing that bothers them”.
so what make u think dap read the chinese wrong? yes i wish to tell dap doesn’t represent chinese, but fact is chinese sentiment have a role that impact how dap play the game.
i know the diff btw a hannah and let say fong kuilun, but i personally don’t want a dap with only the fong kuilun (my preference though) type. the diversity is needed as a balance.
haris ideal is the right thing, not reflected our current racism mindset does not make it wrong. blame ourselves rather than accuse haris this n that.
“haris ideal is the right thing, not reflected our current racism mindset does not make it wrong. blame ourselves rather than accuse haris this n that.”
If Haris’ ideal is the right thing, everyone is Malaysian, on the birth cert, on the race column, everyone just writes Malaysian instead of Malay, Chinese, Indian etc, then why do you still insist on preserving vernacular schools ?
You’re a liberal wannabe. But the tragedy for you and people like you is that you don’t even know that your lot are liberal wannabes.
“but fact is chinese sentiment have a role that impact how dap play the game.”
You’re wrong again. More accurately, its the opposite. For instance, the DAP speaks of Malaysian First. Now did the Chinese media report on what this Malaysian First is ? More to the point, how do you say Malaysian First in Mandarin ?
You’re being dishonest. Most Chinese, the vernacular educated types, they know nothing about this Malaysian First, beyond race politics stuff. They are just being told that change will bring hope, just like what Barack Obama told the American voters back in 2008 and failed to deliver anything since. Like all typical liberals, you’re playing with people’s emotions and manipulating the semantics.
Balance ? What this country needs is reason. Balance is a game played by politicians, especially the liberal types.
so ai, u think haris ideal is a wrong thing? what is our purpose to fill in the race column in the birth cert, my race can only be ascertain via a birth cert? i stated my reason to preserve vs many times in the past, in short, it offer a choice meant to say i am okay with any sort of school.
i am talking about pas and how dap + chinese perceive the islamic trend, so i dun know how and y mf become your point of contention, however u r right dap mf doesn’t at all have an impact toward the chinese especially those chinese educated, only here in this blog i hear it almost daily. to repeat here a second time just in case u write faster than how ur brain work, i am saying the chinese fear of islamic is not as firm as in the past due to many reasons, and dap seem to grasp the chinese mindset accurately (not mf again please), and that is y only karpal is doing the talking while the rest keep silence.
just curious y sometimes u can be so articulate in ur thought while your last two seem the opposite, must be the holiday mood.
I concur with you that it is “only Karpal doing the talking while the rest keep silence”. Karpal is taking the bullet while the rest play their snaky chameleon game.
Re: The Islamization (read hudud) trend vis-a-vis Malaysian First
DAP while pushing a political agenda to take themselves (i.e. their power hungry politicians who are now enjoying their office, like KGE being chauffeured around in the Merc with the PG1 number plate) to Putrajya,
are also pushing the Chinese-educated in front as the human shield to take the bullet while they – i.e. the evangelist politicians – sneak up from behind to reap the gains.
In the meantime, the Malay backlash takes the form of hitting out at Chinese schools.
For instance, the mistaken aim by the Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua movement. In their memo to the Education Minister, they pinned the blame on Chinese schools for the verbal violence and venom being spewed out in all those Malay-bashing, Islam-denigrating comments.
As I’ve pointed out before, the SSS proponents are not likely to be reading the vitriolic comments by the Firsters in hanzi (Chinese script).
They are reading online the comments which are made in English and in the English language portals. For example, the most pro-Christian online news outlet – The Malaysian Insider – does not even have a Chinese edition.
Yet Chinese schools are mistakenly targetted in a knee-jerk reaction as being responsible for producing the worst of the online mob.
It is not the Chinese-educated who are hoodwinking the Malay electorate with the “we’re Malaysians first” con.
The convergence is not between Malay language interlocutors and Chinese language interlocutors. The language medium, in which the con to hoodwink the Malay electorate takes place, is largely English.
Therefore I believe this blog is doing a public service for the larger Chinese community – who are being made a pawn of by the DAP – in raising the issues that are discussed here.
helen, i don’t think u could divert the backlash, even if we let the evangelist come forward, what next? the moment economy parity were more or less reached, they need another “reason” (sound rational if we ignore the bn logo) and bogeyman to lengthen their reign, that is either language or religion, too bad some christian were too vocal and allow some to grab the chance, is that not what we chinese call shoot the bird which takes the lead (枪打出头鸟)?
my concern of cs and cis was never the gibber I read from your blog, the global climate already evolve and i currently don’t see the survival of cs and cis become a threat, the main worry is whether the current administrator include the djz old folk ability to bring some significant changes that could lead us forward.
dear, there is no mistaken target, just a matter of timing. whether we like it or not, the political landscape has changed, the split is unavoidable when the claim on bogeyman is thin and getting thinner. i side pr (not dap, not pkr and not pas).
“i side pr (not dap, not pkr and not pas).”
Now this is self delusion. one moment you say you are with PR and the next you say you’re not with DAP, not with PKR and not with PAS. PR is made up of those 3 and you say you’re not with them ? You sure know how to spin and twist. Or is it that you have bipolar disorder ? I’ve seen a lot of spinning and twisting by opposition supporters but this one sure is one of a kind.
Shamsul you say:
Fellow Malaysian, what is the agenda?
Malaysian or the 2R that seems to bother you? If we are Malaysians why should it matter? Will you argue for the sake of it or arguing or because there is an element of truth in it. I am sure nobody is against our fellow Muslimats, but why bring race and religion as an agenda when all we want to be is a Malaysian without taking into consideration the race and religion.
I am sure you have nothing against the non Malay community in Malaysia, but why do you drivel on such an agenda when humanity is that concerns for fellow Malaysians.
Trust me, no Malaysian would want to deprive another Malaysian irrespective of our origin but only their ability to contribute as Malaysians for the betterment of the society minus the race and religion factor if we are ready to deal with it.
Malaysian in New York,
Tell me whether White House is allowing separate school for chinese or spanish.
Do not confuse the issue with learning one’s mother tongue. By all mean, nobody is stopping Chinese to cherish their customs, or languages. But why separate school?
I used to stay in USA. The minute you print “Mandarin is preferred ” or “spanish is preferred”, you will be accused as promoting racism.
Shamsul, I am not confusing issues but neutral on a Malaysian stand point. Like you say “Helen, Opening UiTM to other races is no big things to Malay community. Please show me if the Malay community is amicable to this based on merits as Malaysians and what they able to do about it.
USA or their practice like the rest of the world is not the issue even if their thousands of affirmative actions are for the minority unlike in Malaysia where affirmative actions are only for the majority.
Issues such as the separate schools for ethnicity based is not the issue but how one can be patriotic as Malaysian based on the survey taken to reflect the mindset of a fellow Malaysian.
I don’t intend to preach what is politically savvy nor get into an enduring argument but only what is the reality and humanely possible for Malaysians without the 2R playing a part for the economically enhanced Chinese and politically empowered Malays who continue to neglect the rest who fill into the bracket of being Malaysians just like them.
As for the person who said Mahathir started the whole Islamization thing, well, that man should go and read the history books. Islamization was already in motion way back in the early 1970s.
Mahathir co-opting Anwar in the 1980s was a stop gap measure that nonetheless failed but the fact of the matter is, despite Mahathir’s mistakes, in relation to Anwar, doing nothing would invite more dangers, as was the case of Egypt in the 1970s and 1980s when the government over there launched all out war on the religious radicals that turned radicals into militants.
my point is, y blame anwar?
What I find amusing and fascinating, is that when opposition supporters can’t make a case for rational debate, they resort to fact twisting and repeating the same old argument over and over again. They must have thought that this is some sort of a magical remedy to divert the attention of the masses. But all this only serves to deepen the self deception apparent in the hearts and minds of these people.
One way to prove this is to ask opposition supporters, especially the Chinese, this question: If you see yourself as Malaysian, and you identify yourself as Malaysian, why do you keep on insisting that vernacular schools be preserved?
Most often, they would answer by twisting the facts or reacting emotionally. Some even chose not to answer this question AT ALL.
I will be back on Monday. Till then have a great day. Helen, perhaps you could write something on what I have said about the way opposition supporters deceive themselves into believing things that are divorced from reason and reality. Cheers.
The vernacular school vs Malaysian First school question had been asked before of the Mama (who gave birth to the prototype Anak Malaysia) who “is not Chinese or Indian”.
“If you see yourself as Malaysian, and you identify yourself as Malaysian, why do you keep on insisting that vernacular schools be preserved? ”
hmmm….i think the reason many chose not to answer is because the question sound pretty stupid.
I don’t think that is a stupid question, but even it is, no harm to answer rite? y be so sensitive?
DAPsters never give a straight answer to any question in any case.
“hmmm….i think the reason many chose not to answer is because the question sound pretty stupid.”
You’ve just proven the man’s point. When you can’t give a viable answer, all you do is twist the fact, stay in denial mode, or choose to brush off the question.
The reason you responded in this fashion, as Joe put it :
“DAPsters never give a straight answer to any question in any case.”
is yet another way of misleading the readers.
I have noticed, as various readers of this blog would, that when confronted with questions that demand straight answers, you tend to either, never give straight answers through fact twisting, or by calling the questions posed by the commenter as in your words “question sound pretty stupid.”
And as ‘i’m A’ stated, and I quote:
you are, as some people would say, have thin skin. A bit of “provocation” here and there, and you start to call people’s questions “sound pretty stupid”, but here again, I myself do not find this surprising. This is common among opposition supporters.
As for Ahmad Ibrahim articulating his point of view, I find that, unlike you, he speaks his mind, while you on the other hand, as Joe pointed out, is fond of evading questions. When people ask you A, you answer B.
Malaysia in New York,
No sir. You preach humanity and at the same time you see nothing wrong in children studying separately. What an irony.
The simple issue is separate school separates us literally speaking. Let us not deny the elephant in room. Will the Chinese community disappear from this planet if they study together with other races under one roof?
If we want to go on completely merit based, then I am afraid Malays have ample stories to tell about massive discrimination against non Chinese in private sector.
Shamsul, grievances are plentiful. This happens because political agenda becomes paramount rather than what is humane. We need to look into solutions that infringes humanity first, then we can massage race and religion to fit in on a national agenda. We are all aware of the strength of the Chinese in the private similar to the Malay in the goverment sector. Both work hand in hand but fail to address the need of the rest. The fabric of the nation allows one the opportunity to make choices and this is not a bad thingy.
Language, race, religion should not be a barrier to create a patriotic feeling like how you seen in the survey. Patriotism emanates within its community irrespective of the origin for a nation when policies are humane in its approach in equality and fairness at least in these current circumstances. If these policies are lopsided for humanity purpose, it causes the rippling effects to divide us further because the race and religion becomes the desired act or omission that we practice like how the politicians do. I think it about time we reach out between each other and not to be too concerned on how the politicians deviate and manipulate issues and policies that concerns basic humanity between us to coexist in harmony.
Correction, “If these policies are lopsided for humanity purpose”, It should be if these policies are lopsided without a humanity purpose or concern.
malaysian in new York,
then why not start with time tested method applied everywhere in this planet? Start with one school system.
“language, race, religion….”. it is a barrier in Malaysia as we allow seed of separation from tender age.
MalaysianinNewYork,
have you seen or experienced racial discrimination in private sector? have you seen same qualification with same years of experience, end up different salary?
all those not because of “mandarin speaking prefered bullshit”. indian who can speak good mandarin also shared same fate with the malays. “berpijak di bumi nyata, kebenaran selalunya pahit”. racial discrimination is real thing and the separation of school system is like pouring vinegar to an open wound.
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Mencelah kejap: I’ve rarely come across DAPsters with Chinese school background. They’re usually from convent and mission school, according to their Facebook status. — Helen
helen,
mencelah di celah kesibukan jalan raya di georgetown…
ya loh, i wonder if the status is correct as i remembered, during my fb indulgent years people used to ‘tipu’ their status, even gender… but maybe correct also that those IT savvy, bloggers and social media friendy DAPsters were from english school becoz they are ‘good’ in english, whereas many (not all) DAPster who ‘not so good’ cannot use new media coz all instruction in english.
this is just my opinion.
It’s not that easy to fake a mindset.
For example, even tho’ I’m competent in BM, I would not be able to write like a PASter b’cos I lack exposure to the culture (wouldn’t know how to use Islamic greetings, Arabic words, etc). But more than language, it’s the way people in a certain milieu think.
That’s why someone who posted as ‘mohd aziz’ in my blog raised the suspicion of other readers who did not believe that he was Malay as his name suggests, and true enough there was another Indian name user posting comments from the same IP address.
DAP cybertroopers are notorious for using Malay nics.
However, the ‘Convent’ status Facebookers do display a mission school thinking. I don’t think it’s easy either to fake a Hannah Yeoh mindset that tweets “May God have mercy on the racists” unless you or I can think like an evangelist.
Shamsul,
Human beings do not thrive when isolated or compounded by force. The fabric of our nation involves various multicultural factors. We can’t eradicate this because of a one school system.
The school system is not the factor that causes the problem, but the inability for us to comprehend and understand the need of the others. No man is an island entire by itself. We have lived and adjusted amongst us in the past as Malaysians irrespective of our origin so why a one school system is so pertinent to create when we have co-existed without much ado.
Shamsul, you have lived in USA, what strings them together is their patriotism. As you would have noted in the survey, patriotism seems to be a misnomer for the Malay for religion and the Chinese as a race. Where do you stand for patriotism for those caught in between like the rest besides the two major community of Malaysia?