Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia: A noble organization BUT with one extremely UGLY Malaysian

Recently I had the 'pleasure' of getting to know a member of Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM). I have no personal experience with this group other than with this individual, but from their website and online research, I believe it is a noble organization working towards the betterment of Malaysia. According to their website, they are an NGO with no political affiliation (although some of their leaders are from political parties), training and developing young Malaysians of all races and religions to become leaders and build a better country. According to this person I met, he is part of this group who works on the ground in rural areas, educating rural Malay folks and changing mindsets for the better so in future they will know to vote more wisely for a new and better government. All this is of course a great thing, and in general, I would think it's great for any young person to take time off to be part of this group.

EXCEPT that I wouldn't recommend anyone I know to join them due to my experience with this one individual who turned out to be the single most horrible, arrogant, and UGLIEST Malaysian I have ever met in my life. And since he's a member of SAMM, he has severely marred my impression of what I would otherwise think is a very noble group. As a blogger, I write about my experiences,so this is about me making SAMM look bad since I do believe they are doing good work. This is about one little member of SAMM who made himself look bad, and I as a blogger, writing my experience. So I would hope that if any SAMM leaders ever get round to reading my infuriating experience, they would better educate their young members better, or at least this kid in particular, so no one else undergoes the same demeaning personal attacks like this rude young man did to me, which achieves nothing except give people a terrible impression of their young members whom I hope are nothing like him. And just so you don't wonder who I'm talking about, he goes by the name of Dennis Chow. It would be easy for me to link to his Facebook account so you know exactly who he is, but that would open him up to online attacks by others who read this, and I am not as mean as him to resort to or encourage such cyber bullying of strangers. Especially since he has a face only a mother could love, which makes a prime target for bullies.

Early this month, I wrote an article called "What the Chinese want and why we wouldn’t ‘balik’ China" which came out on FMT, and subsequently reposted on Lim Kit Siang's blog.  I wrote it as a response to a recent question from a certain UMNO politician who actually did ask what the Chinese want, as a consolidation of the jumbled responses and brickbats I read from fellow Malaysians online. And then, after much positive response, I subsequently wrote the Malay version for the better understanding of our less English-educated Malay friends, in what I hoped was just little effort to try and bridge the gap between the races and explain why Chinese always complain about the country.

Soon after, this Dennis Chow fella sends me an FB message and proceeds to ridicule my article because according to him there is no longer a need for such messages to the urban community because all urbanites are already aware of the real issue with our country's leadership, and the real work needs to be done on the group with the rural people, which is what he and his group (SAMM) are doing. Which for the most part, I can agree with, and believe SAMM's work is good. But the way he spoke to make his point was what riled me, and ironically, he displayed all the infuriarating characteristics of the country's bigoted leaders which he claimed that his group was working against. Allow me to list down and elaborate on those intolerable characteristics:

1) Judgemental of people's intentions and character
This Dennis Chow, whom I have never met in my life, made all sorts of assumptions and judgements about me. So much that I'm ready to face God now coz' whatever judgements I get from Him, can't be any more worse than what I got from this guy. Firstly, he accused me of being an attention seeker and 'keyboard warrior' only wishing to stoke my ego. From writing one measly opinion article? By that logic, I can say that writers like Mariam Mokhtar, Marina Mahathir, Raja Petra and any other famous writer with blogs who share their opinions about the state of Malaysia are also attention seekers and keyboard warriors. We should all then quit writing and just go down to the ground to do the noble work of SAMM, because according to this Dennis Chow, every single urbanite already fully understands the country's issues. SO we don't need any more opinion letters or writers who just want attention to stoke their own ego.
Secondly, he accused me of being an intolerant racist and not being a true Malaysian, under his assumption that I do not understand our Malay friends simply because I have less friends of different races than him and also because I did not attend as many Raya open houses as him. I'm sorry, I was not aware that there was a contest for being a true Malaysian, nor that stuffing my face at people's parties was one of the judging criterion. But while I am certainly no social butterfly for my own reasons, that is no justifiable reason to accuse anyone of being a racist. If there's anyone I'm prejudiced against, it's arrogant people who behave better than God by judging people they know nothing about, like this little Dennis the Menace.
He also assumed I was an 'ignorant kid' who was just out of college and knew nothing about politics. Which at least I can consider as compliment on my youthful looks, considering I left college like 12 years ago.
Isn't such judgemental behaviour reflective of the same leaders who recently misjudged the intentions of a Muslim dog trainer and Muslim resort owner, accusing them of insulting their own religion although this was not their intention?

2)  Lack of Understanding and Tolerance
After such personal attacks and being challenged to drop everything to join his 'noble cause' (which in Dennis Chow's world is the only way to change Malaysia while the little efforts and writings of little people like me make no difference whatsoever), I did the normal thing and attempted to explain who I really am and why joining him is not an option for me. Yes, it's true that I do not have many multiracial friends, and that's because I'm not an incredibly social person in general to anyone of any race due to my introverted nature and a number of personally negative experiences with people that have made me even more introverted. It's also true that I was happy about the positive response to my article, and that's because after my demotivating experiences, it was one of the first things that helped me feel better about myself. In addition, like most people, I have a family to help care for, including aging parents and 3 young nieces in a country with no welfare, price of tuition and tertiary education is exorbitant and cost of everything else is going up. Anyone who understands responsibilities to family understands this already make it impossible to 'drop everything' and go gallivanting in the villages to 'save Malaysia'.
However, instead of even trying to be understanding of my personality, my personal issues or even my family responsibilities, this ignoramus named Dennis Chow effectively poo-pooed on my 'lame excuses', called me selfish, sad and insecure, and telling me to just 'suck it up' coz' that's life. All this time, he preached to me about being 'tolerant'. I'm sorry again, but tolerance is not just about have many friends of different races. It's about trying to understand ALL people of different personalities and their problems without making baseless assumptions about them. Not making them out as weaklings because they have had personal difficulties, or assuming they are selfish when they have family responsiblities!
This is again a extreme lack of understanding of others, which is no different from the attitude of some of our countries' leaders who also have absolutely no understanding of the real needs of the 'rakyat', telling us to spend less while they splurge and spouting nonsense like how much RM500 can go a long way in helping us to survive....

3) No conscience and Provoking people to anger
I'm a not a person who swears easily, other than in my car when no one else is around and I come across an annoying driver. But after everything I was subjected by this annoying stranger, making assumptions of my life and poo-pooing my problems like it meant nothing, I simply snapped and unleased the worst string of horrendously foul words that no one else on the planet has heard me say or seen me write, because that's how furious he had made me. And even that had no effect. He did not care that he made me incredibly upset. Which was absolutely shocking to me coz' never in my life have I come across such an emotionally devoid person with no qualms of how his actions hurt others. Which on a side note, makes me quite thankful that everyone else I know actually has some capability of feeling bad about hurting others, unlike this little arrogant anomaly called Dennis Chow who seems to have no conscience whatsoever.
Again, this reminded me of certain leaders who provoke the little people on all sides into anger by stoking racial and religious tensions, and clearly not feeling any sort of remorse or guilt about it even though they profess to follow a noble religion that teaches good. Mind boggling!

4) Unforgiving of mistakes
Along our discussion, I made some pretty statements which displayed my lack of understanding of the country's parliamentary. Yes, that is embarassing and I admitted my mistake when he pointed it out. Of course, everyone makes mistakes and anyone who is truly tolerant would just correct my understanding nicely. And that's how different people of different race, religion, background, etc learn from each other and live in harmony. At least most people would think so.
However, in Dennis Chow's world, part of 'tolerance' apparently is ridiculing other's people's mistakes (even after they admit it) and lording over such mistakes to show off just how 'intelligent' he is compared to others. Coz' making strangers feel small, stupid and hanging them out to dry for it is a fine example of tolerance.
In comparison, a certain idiotic online couple named Alvivi were also persecuted by the authorities and hung out to dry for their 'crime'. Even though they made a very public apology. It doesn't make them any less stupid and insensitive for what they did, but at least they admitted their mistake, which is a lot better than the real crooks in power would ever do. YET no forgiveness or tolerance for them from the authorities either, for the sake of their own political milage.

5) Hypocritical
He preached tolerance, yet was being the most intolerant person I've ever known. He accused me of thinking I am better than everyone else, yet he made himself out to be better than, by saying that my little efforts were nothing to help the country compared to the work of his SAMM group. And several times throughout, I critisized him for wasting time and being silly, picking on an ordinary citizen supporting the same party he was when he should be using his time to go off and better the country like he claims he's doing. I challenged him to go spread his 'true Malaysian' message to more famous writers like Mariam Mokhtar, who by his logic waste a lot of time online critisizing leaders when all urbanites already are bad. Yet he didn't take up my challenge, I guess because picking on little people like me who wrote one measly article is more productive to making Malaysia a better place.
Finally, I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and made hurtful assumptions about his life, saying his lack of understanding of my family responsibilites probably means his was orphaned, abandoned or abused and has no family of his own to support. And then he said that me making assumptions about his life was me being petty. Which at that point was just hilarious. Sooooo him making baseless assumptions and ridiculing my little efforts to help the country isn't petty, but when I do the same thing to him, then it becomes petty. Hypocrite!
I don't think I need a comparison to our country's ruling leaders. We all know how hypocritical they are and how they love picking on small fry while ignoring the big fish.


Well, it might also seem extremely 'petty' of me to dedicate a long post to some insolent young punk who really means nothing to me and is 'supposedly' doing something good for the country with his SAMM friends, but unlike his perception, I don't claim to be trying to save the country. And I'm not representing any group. I'm just a ordinary blogger, writing whatever pleases me, which reflects on no one except myself. So I will happily go 'keyboard warrior' on anyone who barrages into my life with his immature notions of being a 'true Malaysian' but has NO qualms moonlighting as a cyber bully, with all the characteristics of a BN cybertrooper, and making another Malaysian's life just that much more miserable, especially someone on the same camp! All we need is one smart aleck like this picking on a much younger blogger with lower self esteem, and we could very have our first case of Malaysian suicide due to cyber bullying, which studies show is also just another one of many issues in this country.

So while he cheekily admitted that he was going have a great time joking about this sad little blogger and her insecurity issues to his bunch of friends, I do what introverts do best and write. And by writing, the rest of the world who googles SAMM out of curiosity, might just come across this little story and know that within this incredibly noble group doing good work, there exists this one incredibly ugly Malaysian. And this story will be around for many, many years to come, way after Dennis the Menace and I have forgotten each other, unless something unexpected happens like him apologizing to me, in which case I'd be happy to delete this post. Because that's what real tolerance is about. Otherwise I'm even happier to keep it up. And whether my terrible experience of this one person puts them off joining SAMM or makes them discourage their children from joining, I don't know. Probably doesn't even matter. After all, I'm just one little Malaysian whose sad little efforts and writings can't possibly make an impact or impression to the rest of the country. At least, according to Dennis Chow.

As the old adage goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Especially if that women is a blogger.

And just because this is one of those few times I go all out to bitch, this is for all those annoying little smirky smiley faces he just loved to pepper in our very memorable conversation.

[Image source]

Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia: A noble organization BUT with one extremely UGLY Malaysian

The secret for super glossy doggy fur

So my dog has a little female friend living on the row of houses near me and owned by a lovely Indian family who also likes to chat with me and take care my dog on occasion. Their black female dog recently got such a shiny glossy coat that it got my attention (and apparently the attention of some other dog-loving neighbours of their). Here's how it she looks (apologies for the sucky pics, my phone is weird).







So what's the secret of the super glossy doggy coat? Well apparently she uses a super secret ingredient called.... coconut water! Note that that is not the same as coconut milk.

Yeah, first time I heard that too. Not sure exactly how much she uses though, but I was guess just enough to cover the coat and use a brush to brush it through. And voila! Super glossy doggy coat, and apparently a lot less fur shedding too.



Haven't gotten round yet to trying it out on my deary pooch, but I would figure that it might make him smell a bit like a coconut. And after a a few days, he would probably smell like a smelly coconut.

The experiment is on!

The secret for super glossy doggy fur

A true KL lite!

After a long day of 'lepaking' at shopping malls with my folks, surviving KL traffic and mucking around on my smartphone, I had the pleasant surprise of unlocking Foursquare's KL Lite badge.

Thank you, Foursquare, for acknowledging my achievements. I shall work hard to maintain my status as a true Malaysian mall rat! :-D :-D :-D

A true KL lite!

Grella's, new western food joint at SS19

Grella's tagline is 'Lambs, Burgers and Chics', which means their food choices are kind of limited to those, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as what they do serve is quite good. From what I can tell, it's a local business and not a franchise, so I think they deserve a bit more support as the food is worth trying.




I went with a friend and I tried the lambchop while she had a beef burger. No complaints whatsoever, as the lamb and beef burger patties were well flavoured and juicy as they should be. We shared a brownie with ice cream for desert, which tasted a bit harder than I think it should be, I guess coz' it's the frozen type brownie and not freshly made. As the place is still new, the owners are open to comments about their food, and the guy I talked to at least was friendly.
Price of lambchop and burger was around RM16 to RM18, and brownie around RM7, if I remember right.
Check out their FB page here!

Grella's, new western food joint at SS19

My photographer friend

So I know a guy who does pretty good photography, but hasn't quite made it big yet in photography and for some reason he's selling organic fertilizer instead of just doing photography, which personally I think he should be doing full time coz' I think he's pretty darn good and he makes me kinda jealous coz' I like photography too.  He mostly does nature photos, but also does wedding and photo shoots (Malaysians only, of course, unless you don't mind paying for his flight to wherever you're at). Thought I'd help give him some free publicity. And in this way I can bug him to give me a free lunch.

Check out his FB page here: www.facebook.com/KYTanKreations

My photographer friend

Apa Cina mahu dan mengapa kita tidak akan ‘balik’ ke China

Salam sejahtera saya ucapkan kepada semua warganegara Malaysia yang menyambut bulan Syawal yang mulia ini. Terlebih dahulu saya ingin dengan tulus ikhlas mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya kepada kamu dan seisi keluarga kamu.

Saya merupakan salah satu warganegara Malaysia berbangsa Cina yang telah membesar dan belajar di sekolah Melayu dan lebih fasih berbicara dalam Bahasa Melayu berbanding dengan Bahasa Cina. Saya mohon waktu sebentar kamu kerana saya ingin cuba menjelaskan satu pertanyaan yang saya rasa begitu pelik. Apa Cina mahu? Kita juga diberitahu untuk kembali ke China, manakala rakan-rakan India kita diberitahu untuk kembali ke India.

Ini adalah percubaan saya untuk menjawab soalan ini yang nampaknya sangat sukar difahami, dan saya juga ingin menerangkan apakah sebabnya pada umumnya orang Cina di Malaysia tidak mau pergi ke negara China. Oleh sebab kita sentiasa memberitahu seluruh dunia bahawa Malaysia adalah sebuah negara berbilang kaum yang harmoni dan bertolak ansur, saya berharap anda akan dapat membaca ini dengan hati dan minda yang terbuka dan tidak membuat anggapan terhadap niat sebenar saya hanya kerana bangsa saya. Saya juga akan mengutuk beberapa tingkah laku kebanyakan orang Cina, yang saya tidak takut untuk mengkritik kerana saya percaya bahawa ia adalah penting untuk mengakui apabila kaum kita sendiri sedang melakukan sesuatu yang salah.... Bagi saya, untuk menjadi orang yang berhemah tinggi, kita tidak harus menutup mata terhadap perbuatan yang tidak betul atau adil, semata-mata atas sebab kita ingin menlindungi orang daripada kaum yang sama dengan kita.

Negara China memang sekarang diketahui di seluruh dunia sebagai negara yang sedang membangun dengan cepat dan berteknologi canggih. Tetapi negara ini juga ada banyak keburukannya. Negara China dikendalikan oleh diktator, tidak ada kebebasan bersuara, dan terdapat sekatan berat terhadap penggunaan internet, akhbar, kebebasan beragama, dan kebebasan berhimpun. Terdapat perbezaan yang besar antara kaya dan miskin di China, ketidakadilan sosial yang tinggi dan rakyatnya berperangai begitu acuh tidak acuh sehingga walaupun terdapat anak kecil yang tercedera dan hampir mati di jalan raya, mereka tidak peduli untuk membantunya. Sebenarnya, semua masalah yang orang Cina di Malaysia tidak suka di negara ini, adalah jauh lebih teruk lagi di China. Bagi rakan berbangsa India kita, keadaannya lebih kurang sama di negara India. Memang tidak masuk akal untuk pergi ke negara-negara ini di mana kehidupan kita akan menjadi lebih sukar, terutamanya kerana ramai orang Cina dan India di Malaysia memang tidak pernah sekalipun melangkah satu kaki pada tanah ‘negara asal’ kita.  Kalau kita berhijrah ke mana-mana, kita lebih suka pergi ke Singapura, Amerika, Australia, United Kingdom, negara-negara yang mungkin tidak sempurna, tetapi terdapat lebih banyak kebebasan, gaji yang lebih tinggi dan peluang yang tinggi untuk menikmati kehidupan yang lebih selesa dan aman. Tetapi bagi ramai warganegara Malaysia berbangsa Cina dan India, kita lebih suka tinggal di negara ini. Sebab-sebabnya tidak sukar difahami. Kebanyakan kenangan gembira kita adalah di negera ini, dan rakan-rakan dan keluarga kita yang tersayang juga di sini. Seperti yang saya tahu, orang Melayu memang sangat mementingkan keluarga dan ini adalah satu perkara yang baik.  Jadi ia tidak seharusnya sukar untuk memahami bahawa orang Cina seperti saya tidak mahu meninggalkan orang tua saya berseorangan di negara ini, dan tidak ingin orang tua kita dibawa ke negara lain kerana mereka terlalu tua untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan kehidupan di negara baru. Kita juga suka tinggal di Malaysia sebab memang tidak boleh dinafikan makanan Malaysia adalah antara yang terbaik di dunia.

Soalannya sekarang adalah sekiranya kita tidak ingin meninggal di China dan kita juga tidak ingin berhijrah ke negara lain yang lebih maju, apakah sebabnya orang Cina seolah-olahnya hanya tahu mengadu tidak terhenti-henti tentang negara ini walaupun kita rasa ia bukan negara yang buruk? Sebab-sebabnya dirumuskan seperti berikut:

1) Kami mahu menunjukkan kepada seluruh dunia betapa berjayanya negara kita berbanding dengan negara orang lain
2) Kita mahu rasa berbangga terhadap hasil daripada kerja yang kita usahakan, bukan menerima wang tanpa apa-apa usaha
3) Kami mahu masa depan yang cerah untuk anak-anak kita
Dan sekiranya pada akhirnya kerajaan kita tidak memberikan kita apa yang disenaraikan di atas, walaupun kita merupakan warga negara yang sama selama 55 tahun, maka kita pun masih boleh dibiarkan untuk hidup tanpa sokongan kerajaan, tetapi sekurang-kurangnya,
4) Kami mahu kebebasan untuk melaksanakan tradisi dan kepercayaan kita tanpa cara hidup kita diganggu oleh orang lain

Setiap Tahun Baru Cina, ibu bapa Cina memang sangat suka membandingkan kanak-kanak mereka dengan anak orang Cina yang lain. Mereka ingin tahu sama ada anak mereka telah mencapai keputusan peperiksaan sekolah yang lebih tinggi, atau berkerja dalam bidang yang lebih berprestasi. Anak yang menjadi doktor, atau peguam atau akauntan...ibubapa kepada anak itulah yang sangat berbangga. Bagi anak lain yang tidak begitu berjaya dalam kehidupan, anak itulah yang akan dikutuk oleh ibubapa mereka. Saya pun mengakui bahawa kebanyakan orang Cina bercakap dengan cara kasar, seperti orang menjerit-jerit menjual barang di pasar. Ibubapa kaum Cina tidak teragak-agak untuk mengutuk anak sendiri supaya menjadi orang lebih baik, akan tetapi jika anak-anak mereka telah melakukan sesuatu yang baik, ibu bapa Cina jarang memuji mereka walaupun mereka bangga. Itulah budaya dan cara pemikiran kebanyakan orang Cina yang sangat berlainan dengan budaya orang Melayu, yang saya tahu selalu diajar supaya bertingkah laku dengan lemah-lembut dan berterima kasih. Budaya suka kutuk-mengutuk ini memang menjengkelkan bagi kanak-kanak Cina, tetapi kita tahu tujuannnya adalah untuk menggalakkan kita untuk menjadi orang yang boleh berdaya saing. Walaupun ibubapa kaum Cina sering mengkritik anak mereka sendiri dan kurang meluahkan kasih sayang mereka, itu bukan bermaksud mereka tidak menyayangi anak mereka. Mereka menunjukkan kasih sayang melalui tindakan mereka, bukan perkataan mereka.

Cara pemikiran orang Cina ini adalah sama terhadap negara Malaysia. Orang Cina tahu ia adalah sebuah negara yang baik. Tetapi apabila kita melihat negara-negara lain yang mempunyai ekonomi yang lebih kukuh dan lebih kaya, kita tahu Malaysia boleh menjadi sebuah negara yang lebih baik. Malaysia sangat kaya dengan sumber semula jadi, yang apabila diuruskan dengan baik, akan membantu Malaysia membangun dengan cepat. Namun apabila kita melawat negara kecil itu yang bersebelahan dengan kita, kita perlu membayar dua kali ganda harga untuk barang yang sama. KDNK Singapura berada di kedudukan antara pangkat 5 teratas di dunia, tetapi KDNK Malaysia pulak berada di bawah kedudukan ke-55. Bagaimanalah boleh jadi begini? Kenapa walaupun kita sangat kaya dengan sumber semulajadi, negara Malaysia masih sangat kurang maju dan ekonomi kita lebih lemah berbanding dengan jiran kita yang kecil? Atas sebab inilah orang Cina merungut dan mengkritik pemimpin negara kita, kerana kita sebenarnya mengasihi negara ini dan mahu negara Malaysia untuk menjadi lebih baik daripada Singapura.

Orang Cina juga suka berbangga apabila kita memberitahu orang bahawa pencapaian kita adalah melalui kerja keras kita sendiri. Sekiranya seorang Cina tidak bekerja dan hanya menerima wang dari tempat lain, kita mungkin berfikir bahawa mereka bernasib baik, tetapi kita tidak akan menghormati orang seperti itu kerana kita berfikiran bahawa mereka tidak menyumbang kepada masyarakat. Ini adalah sebahagian sebabnya mengapa kaum Cina tidak suka akan pemberian sokongan kewangan seperti BR1M. Tidak ada kebanggaan untuk kita daripada penerimaan wang tanpa bekerja. Inilah sebabnya orang Cina begitu benci terhadap rasuah kerana orang yang menerima rasuah mendapatkan wang tanpa apa-apa usaha. Kami berasa lebih sakit hati apabila kita tahu wang rasuah itu pada asalnya merupakan wang kita yang kita dapat daripada kerja dan usaha kita sendiri. Malah, di negara China, rasuah begitu dibenci sehingga pegawai yang ditangkap menerima rasuah akan dihukum mati. Sebab yang lain mengapa kita suka kepada sokongan seperti BR1M adalah kerana pemberian kewangan tidak merupakan bentuk pendapatan yang lestari. Dalam keadaan kos hidup yang tinggi sekarang, wang itu akan digunakan dalam sekelip mata dan tidak ada jaminan bahawa ia akan berterusan, jadi apakah faedahnya yang berkekalan apabila sokongan itu dihentikan? Ia bukan satu faedah yang berjangka panjang untuk generasi yang akan datang, bukan sahaja untuk anak orang Cina tetapi termasuk semua anak Malaysia. Bagi kaum Cina, memang begitu penting bagi kita untuk memastikan masa depan yang cerah untuk anak-anak kita, sehingga ramai ibu bapa kaum Cina sanggup hidup miskin dan berjimat cermat sepanjang hidup mereka hanya untuk memastikan anak-anak mereka mendapat pendidikan yang baik dan berjaya apabila susah dewasa.

Bagi kaum Cina, sokongan yang ada faedah jangka waktu panjang adalah dalam bentuk pemberian biasiswa kepada anak-anak kami yang pintar, kerana anak-anak itu yang pintar akan kemudiannya dapat menyumbang lebih banyak kepada negara. Orang Cina tidak akan meminta untuk pemberian biasiswa kepada anak Cina yang tidak mendapat keputusan sekolah yang baik, kerana kita berpendapat bahawa kalau seseorang itu tidak boleh belajar, dia tidak seharusnya layak mendapat biasiswa. Kami hanya mengeluh apabila terdapat pelajar yang berprestasi tinggi dalam pelajaran mereka, tetapi masih tidak mendapat biasiswa daripada kerajaan hanya atas sebab mereka bukan daripada bangsa tertentu. Faedah jangka panjang untuk generasi akan datang seharusnya juga termasuk kos sara hidup yang rendah. Itulah sebabnya kita sentiasa mengadu bahawa kos sara hidup, perumahan, pengangkutan dan barang keperluan hidup semua semakin meningkat tetapi gaji orang biasa tidak meningkat. Ini bukan masa depan yang mampan untuk anak-anak kita, bukan sahaja untuk anak orang Cina tetapi untuk semua anak orang Malaysia. Yang lebih malang lagi merupakan keadaan hidup rakyat yang tinggal di Sabah dan Sarawak, yang masih kurang maju dan rakyat di situ begitu kurang berpendidikan. Dengan begitu banyak sumber semula jadi, kedua-dua negeri termiskin harus jauh lebih maju dan lebih kaya daripada sekarang. Jadi siapakah yang paling menikmati keuntungan yang diperolahi daripada sumber-sumber semulajadi negara kita, manakala rakyat di Semenanjung menampung kos yang tinggi setiap hari dan kebanyakan rakyat di Malaysia Timur, termasuk kaum Melayu, tidak pernah menyentuh telefon bimbit atau komputer dan tidak mengetahui apa-apa yang berlaku di dunia luar dari kampung mereka?

Orang Cina juga benar-benar suka wang. Kita suka wang begitu banyak sekali sehingga di sesetengah negara Barat, manakala kedai-kedai tempatan semua ditutup pada pukul 5 atau 6pm atau penduduk tempatan sedang mogok untuk menuntut hak-hak buruh yang lebih baik, orang yang membuka kedai sehingga lewat malam itu kebanyakkannya Cina yang gila suka wang. Begitu juga di Malaysia, pada akhirnya jika kita tidak diberikan apa-apa hak yang sepatutnya diberikan sebagai rakyat Malaysia, kita masih boleh berkelakuan seperti orang Cina di negara-negara lain di mana mereka bukan warganegara.... hanya membuat kerja atau perniagaan kami secara senyap-senyap (hanya mengadu sesama diri, seperti biasalah untuk kita) sambil mengikuti tradisi dan kepercayaan kita, dan inilah cukup untuk kita. Akan tetapi, kita rasa hairan, kenapalah terdapat orang di negara ini yang tidak boleh membiarkan kita untuk melaksanakan cara dan ajaran agama kita? Alkitab kita, yang dicetak dengan wang kita dan ditujukan untuk penggunaan rakan Kristian kita sahaja, itupun mau dibakar. Bagi rakan-rakan India kami, mereka juga tidak boleh dibiarkan oleh sekumpulan orang yang seolah-olah tidak boleh menahan perasaan benci mereka, apabila mereka membuang kepala haiwan yang disembah oleh orang Hindu di hadapan kuil mereka.

Saya hairan, kerana semasa saya membesar di negara ini, saya melihat rakan-rakan Melayu saya yang bertekad untuk bangun awal setiap pagi untuk bersolat, lagipun pada bulan Ramadhan di mana mereka perlu menahan diri daripada makanan, minuman dan segala jenis nafsu untuk lebih daripada setengah hari.  Saya telah belajar untuk menghormati kaum Melayu yang mempunyai iman yang kuat untuk menahan nafsu selama satu bulan, dan seperti yang saya faham tentang ajaran Islam, nafsu yang harus ditahan ini termasuk perasaan yang tidak baik seperti perasaan benci. Tetapi alasan daripada pihak yang ingin membakar Alkitab kita, dan yang tidak bersopan kepada haiwan yang disembah oleh rakan-rakan Hindu kita, adalah bahawa kaum Melayu akan mudah dikelirukan oleh ajaran agama kaum yang lain. Adalah memang benar bahawa kaum Melayu tidak mempunyai iman yang kuat seperti yang dianggap saya? Pada pendapat saya, alasan ini seolah-olah memandang rendah terhadap kebolehan orang Melayu sendiri, kerana ia seperti pengakuan bahawa semua orang beragama Islam di Malaysia tidak mempunyai iman yang kuat, dan iman ini selalu perlu dilindungi daripada unsur-unsur agama lain.

Walaupun sesetengah pihak sibuk membantah dan membuat laporan polis terhadap sesiapa individu yang mereka anggap sebagai ancaman kepada bangsa atau agama mereka, kebanyakan orang Cina hanya tahu mengadu antara satu sama lain dan terus melakukan pekerjaan kami. Satu contoh insiden yang paling ketara menunjukkan sifat orang Cina ini adalah apabila blogger Papagomo membuat cadangan yang amat menakutkan supaya “...orang Melayu bangkit merusuh dan membunuh semua Cina keparat" dan “...sembelih Cina macam babi”, tetapi orang Cina tidak membuat apa-apa selain daripada mengadu sesama sendiri, seolah-olah kita tidak peduli terhadap ancamannya. Pengadu utama, Jamilah Baharuddin, yang membuat laporan polis terhadap si Papagomo ini adalah ironinya bukan seorang Cina!

Realitinya adalah orang Cina membentuk kaum yang terbesar di seluruh dunia, iaitu 20% daripada seluruh penduduk di dunia. Bersama-sama dengan kaum India, yang juga merupakan salah satu daripada kaum terbesar di dunia, kita boleh bersama-sama menguasai seluruh dunia jika kita mahu. Tetapi sila perhatikan negara-negara lain dan lihat dengan mata sendiri jika kaum Cina telah pergi ke mana-mana negara dan menuntut ketuanan ke atas kaum majoriti di situ? Orang Cina telah menjadikan kaum kita sebagai minoriti di setiap negara yang kita pergi, dan orang Cina cukup gembira selagi kita mempunyai kebebasan untuk mengamalkan cara hidup kita dan peluang yang baik untuk kejayaan ekonomi kita. Di negara ini, orang Cina membentuk 23% daripada penduduk Malaysia dan India lebih kurang hanya 7%. Adakah termasuk akal untuk menyatakan bahawa kita akan menjadi ancaman kepada bangsa Melayu yang membentuk lebih daripada 60% penduduk di negara ini, di mana kebanyakan pemimpin utama di negara ini merupakan orang Melayu, termasuk pemimpin parti pemerintah maupun pembangkang, yang pasti akan mempertahankan hak Melayu kerana hak ini sudah termaktub di dalam perlembagaan negara kita? Pada hakikatnya, kaum yang paling berkuasa di negara ini bukan orang Cina atau orang India, tetapi orang Melayu. Satu-satunya bangsa yang mempunyai kuasa tertinggi mengundi untuk menuntut perubahan di negara ini adalah orang Melayu. Kalau ada apa-apapun yang dituntut oleh kaum yang lain, keupayaan untuk memberikan hak-hak tersebut masih terletak dalam tangan pemimpin-pemimpin Melayu. Sejak 55 tahun yang lalu, kebanyakan kita telah menerima hak orang Melayu. Akan tetapi, perkara yang kita tidak boleh menerima adalah apabila ‘Hak Melayu’, yang sepatutnya digunakan untuk membantu kaum Melayu yang miskin, adalah sekarang digunakan sebagai alasan untuk melaksanakan ketidakadilan terhadap kaum minoriti, terutamanya kematian orang dalam tahanan. Orang Cina tidak mempunyai masalah menerima pemimpin Melayu. Kita hanya inginkan pemimpin yang tidak menyalahgunakan kuasa mereka terhadap rakyat biasa, termasuk orang Melayu, sampai ke tahap di mana warganegara biasa hidup dalam ketakutan setiap hari bahawa satu perkataan atau perbuatan yang dianggap menyinggung perasaan, boleh mengakibatkan orangnya dipenjarakan atau dipukul. Pada masa yang sama, penjenayah sebenar yang membunuh dan mencuri masih bebas berkeliaran.

Mungkin ramai orang Melayu akan menjadi gembira untuk mengetahui bahawa ramai orang bukan Islam telah meninggalkan negara untuk mencari peluang kehidupan yang lebih baik di tempat lain. Saya sebagai orang yang berpendidikan dan fasih dalam Bahasa Inggeris juga boleh meninggalkan negara ini pada bila-bila masa. Tetapi saya lebih suka tinggal di sini untuk bekerja menyumbang cukai saya ke Malaysia kerana saya ingin melihat negara saya menjadi maju. Saya hanya tahu satu lagu kebangsaan, iaitu 'Negaraku'. Dan saya ingin melihat manfaat daripada sumber-sumber semulajadi negara dinikmati oleh setiap rakyat Malaysia, bukan sahaja oleh segelintir pemimpin yang tamak dan tidak bertanggungjawab membahagikan rakyat untuk kepentingan mereka sendiri. Patutkah orang seperti saya dilabel sebagai pengkhianat kepada negara apabila apa yang kita mau adalah perubahan yang lebih baik? Perubahan yang boleh menjadikan Malaysia lebih mampu berdaya saing di pasaran dunia dan membantu semua rakyat Malaysia hidup dalam keadaan aman dan bukannya hidup dalam ketakutan terhadap orang berkuasa dan penjenayah?

Sekali lagi, saya mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya dan berharap surat ini dapat membantu mewujudkan pemahaman yang lebih baik dan penghormatan antara semua kaum dan agama. Maaf batin dan zahir jika apa-apa dalam penulisan saya ini telah menimbulkan kemarahan anda. 

Apa Cina mahu dan mengapa kita tidak akan ‘balik’ ke China

The article of my life

So in the span of 2 days, my article here has pretty much been shared and retweeted all over the place which is pretty mind-boggling. I would like to clarify that in version of my article published on FMT, there was one subheading in the middle on the article stating 'The Chinese Wins Hands Down', which I did NOT put in the version I submitted but included by the FMT editor. That kinda ticked me off coz' that subheading was taken out of context and it's not my intention to give the impression that any race is a winner or loser in this country, and I have no doubt that there are too many idiots around who love exploiting statements made out of context to incite under-educated people who don't know how to read proper English. Unfortunately it's already gone viral, so nothing much I can do about it at this point except to write it in a version that such poorly undereducated people can understand. And yup, I've gone and dunnit.

So I was up all night working on the Malay translated version of the same article, i.e. with some additional points I did not mention in the English version (coz' every good writer has to adapt to their audience). I just submitted the article to FMT this morning, and I'm not really sure if having it published on the first day of Hari Raya is really a great idea. Needless to say, I'm nervous like shit on how it will be received. This one will either really help to bridge the gap between the races, or really help put my head on the chopping block. I do hope it's the former coz' becoming human sushi in my own country is not a really appealing idea.

For all those who agreed with my views, thank you very much for your support. And for all those who think I'm an idiot, well, maybe I am an idiot. A crazy, crazy idiot who's about to be sushified.

Hopefully I can at least look half as cute as this. 

 


UPDATE: It's been a whole day and apparently FMT is not going to publish the Malay version. So I guess it's only going to be on my blog. Oh well, if that's the way it's going to be then time to rock on.

The article of my life

Holy heck, Lim Kit Siang reposted my article! *excited chicken flap* ~(*O*)~

I feel so awesome and honoured, I can totally die happy now.

Holy heck, Lim Kit Siang reposted my article! *excited chicken flap* ~(*O*)~

A request to all Malaysian netizens

Anyone keeping up with the news in Malaysia knows that the past one month has been probably one of the scariest, what with all the shootings and crime cases going almost everyday, and most maddening, seeing the authorities continuously punishing people who are really doing no harm to anyone other than behaving like idiots, while the real criminals continue to enjoy their spree on the streets. It makes me want to create a magical big bubble to live in where guns, crime, discrimination and hatred don't exist and I get to play with cute baby animals all day... or at least just continue writing about silly frivolous stuff on my blog like I intended this blog to be for.

What is equally scary to me is the reactions I've been seeing from people online. And I don't mean just people of a certain race, I mean Malaysians in general. On one end, there are the high profiles incidents that have stoked the anger of the Malays to point where they make death threats, which is frightening enough. On the other hand, I've seen comments and reactions from non-Malays that are scary as well, usually towards those in power who we know are causing the racist issues...but sometimes it's towards other fellow citizens who have fallen who their racist games and stoke the other races online.

It seems to me it's gotten to the point where people have lost the ability to filter whatever they post online with their brains. Just because it's easier to get away with throwing brickbats online than in person, we think we can say what we like without consequences, but you don't consider the negative side effects. The non-Malays are constantly being accused of being ungrateful. We know that's not the case coz' if we weren't grateful to be in Malaysia, we wouldn't be fighting and demanding so much to make it better, we'd just leave the country. But by openly insulting the intelligence of certains leaders or other netizens online, we are really not doing much to help dispel the notion that we are 'ungrateful' and just giving them more reason to be angry and more hell breaks loose. Why do they always say we only know how to complain? Because it really seems to be true, we scream our heads off at everything we don't like like the aunties and uncles selling meat at the market, but when something good is being said and done (yes I know it's rare), we are unable to acknowledge it.

Basically it's ok to be critical of people, but it's not ok to be overly critical to the point of spewing hate and insults and declaring your hope that some leaders would die and directly insulting the intelligence of individual netizens that annoy you, even if you know you're right, because you're just falling into the trap of stoking the racist flames which is exactly what those annoying politicians want. On one article I read from a Malay lady who commenting on the issue of Muslims and dogs, it seemed to me like she was being perfectly reasonable in explaining that dogs should be treated kindly but within the limit of Islamic teachings, and instead of being supportive, all she got was a bunch of angry inflamatory insults towards her intelligence and beliefs. Is that what we're reduced to? Because our leaders attack the beliefs of non-Muslims, we attack theirs too? Tit for tat, butter for fat and all that nonsense? For goodness sake, we're not five year olds, people! Behave in a way that is respectable and you get respect, and only then others will stop to listen to your opinions and consider if it is reasonable.

If you want people to respect your beliefs, then learn to respect others too. And if you want things to get better for everyone in this country and for everyone to be accepting of each other like we used to be, then stop being a troll. Think before you post, refrain from posting insults and excessive exclamation marks, and most importantly if you have nothing really constructive, helpful or at least humourous to say other than to spew off some anger, then better don't write anything at all. We're all working towards a common goal for a better country here, don't screw it up by being immature and creating unnecessary extra dissension among people who are already easily influenced by the wrong people.

I'm going to go crawl into my imaginary magical happy bubble now and hope I wake up to some less exasperating news tomorrow.

A request to all Malaysian netizens

What the Chinese want and why we wouldn't go 'back' to China

It was the infamous question screaming on the headlines of the leading Malay newspaper after GE13, and more recently asked in a more polite manner by Umno Cheras division chief Syed Ali Alhabshee. What do the Chinese want? It's pretty amazing after 55 years in the same country that our leaders still have no clue what the 2nd largest ethnic group in Malaysia wants, although it did produce some rather hilarious responses on twitter after GE13.

The second interesting thing I have heard (or rather, read in the news on or online comments) from a some individuals is their demand for Chinese to go back to China. And in the meantime, Indians go back to India too. I'm not sure what makes them think China or India would take us 'back' in the first place. Do they have any idea on the size of the populations in these countries? They're not suffering from manpower shortage anytime soon. The governments there would not only kick us back where we came from, which is Malaysia, they'd probably tell us to take some of their own citizens back with us while we're at it.

Though I am a so-called Chinese 'banana' (white on the inside, yellow on the outside), heavily influenced by Western culture and speak very little Chinese myself, I decided to attempt to make like a Spice Girl and tell what we Chinese want, what we really, really want. I apologize if my views don't represent those of all Malaysian Chinese, but I believe that for most of us, going 'back' to China, even if we legally could, is nowhere on the list. I'm also about to highlight some negative perceptions about the Chinese, which I'm not afraid to point out being a Chinese well, as I believe it's important to be able to acknowledge when your own people are doing something wrong and not be afraid to criticise it.... Something that quite a few people in this country seem to be unable to do and would rather ignore the wrong others are doing just because they are of the same race or religion.

China may be making a name for itself as a technological powerhouse, but the country is run by a dictatorship. There is no freedom of speech, and there are heavy restrictions on use of the internet, the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly. There is a huge disparity between rich and poor in China, social injustices are high and people have become so indifferent to each other that people can walk pass an injured and dying toddler on the road and not be bothered to help. Basically, everything we don't like about Malaysia, is ten times worse in China. For my Indians friend, it's pretty much a similar case in India. If we did leave the country, why go to a country where life would be more difficult? If we migrated anywhere, we'd rather go to Singapore, America, Australia, United Kingdom, where there is equal opportunity, more freedom, higher pay and a chance at a better livelihood. But for a lot of us, we'd rather stay in Malaysia, simply because most of our happy memories, friends and family are here. Plus the food here is just too darn good.

 "Did I just make you hungry?" (Image source)

 
So if we don't like China and we'd rather not run off to some developed country, why do we Chinese complain so much about Malaysia if it's not that bad? What do we Chinese want, we really, really want?  I believe it can be summarized as follows:

1) We want to show off how successful we are compared to others
2) We want to have pride in what we earn, not receive money for nothing
3) We want a secure future for our children
And even if our government doesn't give us what we want, then at the very least,
4) We want to be left alone to do earn our livelihood and carry out our traditions and beliefs without others threatening our ways.

Every Chinese New Year, the typical Chinese parent will go round getting updates from family members asking what their kids are doing, then tell what their kids are doing, then compare which kid doing better in life. It's annoying for the children, but it encourages competitiveness. Same goes for Malaysia. We know it is a good country. But when we see other countries that more economically stronger and richer, we know it could be a better country. Malaysia is rich in natural resources, which when managed well, would help Malaysia develop quickly. Yet when we visit our tiny neighbour down south, we have to pay double the price for the same thing. Singapore's GDP ranks among the top 5 in the world, but Malaysia is all the way above 55th rank. How can, man? We are losing face to our tiny neighbour! So we complain because we want to be better than them.

"Losing face is not an option!!!" (Image source)

 The Chinese like taking pride in telling people whatever we earned was through our own hard work. But if a Chinese is not working and just receiving money from elsewhere, we may think they are lucky, but not someone very respectable as they are not contributing to society. This is partly why the Chinese do not favour monetary handouts like BR1M. There is no pride in receiving money for doing no work. This is why we hate corruption so much as corrupted people are essentially getting money for nothing. It's especially annoying when we know that money was earned through our own hard work to begin with. In fact, China's Chinese hate it so much that far as they are concerned, corrupted people don't deserve to live. The other reason is because monetary handouts are not a sustainable form of income as the money is used up quickly and there is no guarantee it will be continuous, so what's happens when such handouts stop? It is not a long term benefit for us and for our future generations.  And for Chinese, ensuring a secure future for our children is very important. So much that some poor parents work all their life and stay frugal just to ensure their children get a good education and are successful in future.

So what would be better is to provide scholarships to our intelligent children. You would never see the Chinese demands scholarships for poorly performing Chinese students to get scholarships, far as we are concerned, if you cannot study, you don't deserve a scholarship. We only complain when a student has performed very well in his or her studies, but is still unable to get a scholarship in Malaysia just they are not of a certain race. Security for future generations also includes ensuring costs of living remains low. Which is why we always complain that costs of living, housing, transportation and practically everything is skyrocketing but our salaries are not. This is not a sustainable future for our children. Not for any Malaysian children, for that matter.

The Chinese also really like money. We like it so much that in some Western countries, while the local shops all shut at 5 or 6pm or locals are going on strike to demand improved labour rights, who are the ones still having shops open til late night? Those darn Chinese. Similarly in Malaysia, even if we don't get whatever rights we are supposed to get as a Malaysian citizen, we can still behave like how Chinese do in other countries where we are not citizens.... just do our work or run our businesses quietly and carry out our traditions and beliefs and be ok with it. But no, some people just can't leave us alone even to do that. They want to burn our bibles, which we use to minister to our fellow Christians. And even for our Indian friends who also want to do their own thing quietly, they're also not left alone by some jokers who had the gall to put the head of their most scared animal in front of a Hindu temple. Why? Because we are perceived as a major threat to their race. Seriously?  The Chinese make up 23% of the Malaysian population and Indians even less at 7%. On what planet of logic would it make sense that we would be a threat to a population that makes up well over half the country's population? While some extremists are busy lodging reports and protesting about anything and everything that they perceive to be a threat to their race or religion, we just continue doing our work. Even when the blogger Papagomo made an incredibly scary suggestion to “rise, riot and kill all Chinese bastards in Malaysia, and slaughter them like slaughtering pigs.”, the most Chinese do is complain online or among each other, and then we go back to doing our own thing. We're so busy with our lives that the primary complainant that lodged a report against this bigot Papagomo was ironically not even a Chinese! And instead of being appreciated, or at least left alone to focus on our work (which by the way, is how we improve the country's economy), our beliefs are hijacked to demonstrate some misguided form of racial superiority, and we are told to go back to China. Which, far as I'm concerned, just goes to show that some people are just way too free to do these kind of funny things instead of doing actual work and contributing something to the development of our country.



The reality is Chinese make up the largest ethnic population in the world population, 20% to be exact.  Together with Indians, who are also one of the largest, we could collectively take over the world but we want to. If anybody has rights to racial superiority, based on sheer numbers, the Chinese win hands down. But we don't try to overthrow governments. We don't proclaim supremacy over other races. We are perfectly ok spreading out all over the world and making ourselves minorities in other countries as long as there is freedom to practice our ways and good opportunity for economic success. A lot of Malaysians have already left the country to find greener pastures elsewhere as they see better opportunity in other countries than here, which I personally find sad. As easy as it would be for me to leave too, I'd rather stay and continue to hope for Malaysia to truly become the racially harmonious country it proclaims itself to be instead of a divided people that have fallen to the tricks and lies of certain unscrupulous politicians.

I think that answers the question well enough, so the next time I hear that silly question again , all I can do is this:

P.S.: This post was inspired by the record number of FB likes I received on my comment on FMT for this article. I shall keep this forever as my personal little trophy. Huhuhu!

What the Chinese want and why we wouldn't go 'back' to China

A Most Hilarious Video: Sex, Syariah, and Schoolchildren

I don't usually blog using other people's material, but after so much depressing and unbelievable news going on in Malaysia lately, this gave me a much needed good laugh. Seriously, these guys should be famous, and hopefully not for being arrested for sedition or whatever other idiotic law Malaysia is becoming ridiculously famous for.

A Most Hilarious Video: Sex, Syariah, and Schoolchildren