whither rights, race, nationality?
Two questions by Suhaini Aznam caught my eye:
Why were Malaysians of Chinese origin so ready to identify with a Chinese from China - as opposed to a Malaysian, irrespective of racial origin?After 48 years of hoisting the flag together and sharing durians, why are some of us so unMalaysian?
I have two questions of my own.
1. To whom was the first question really directed at?
2. By what or whose yardstick do you define being Malaysian and similarly, being unMalaysian?
Let’s not pretend that I am an expert regarding my own race. Nor have I been through wars and unrest that made Malaysia what she is today. But heck, do I have some thoughts.
First of all, it is not fair to lump Malaysian Chinese (or Chinese Malaysians, whatever rocks your boat) as ready-sympathisers to the grievances suffered by the China Chinese who lodged a complaint regarding abuse they suffered under our police force (PDRM). Sure, we are all Chinese — that cannot be denied and will not be taken away.
But for better or worse, we are Malaysians. My late maternal great-grandmother and late paternal grandfather were the only members of my family whom I’ve met to have migrated from China to Tanah Melayu. Ask any Malaysian Chinese if they would ‘return to China’, the majority would say no. Because China is not our home, Malaysia is. We were born in Malaysia and a lot of us will die in Malaysia. To which country I lay my allegiance? Definitely not China. It was not where I grew up. For all the beauty of the natural landscapes and history of my racial culture, China is not where my heart is. I do not feel for China the way I feel for Malaysia. Is that enough to answer the first question? For all the masking of words, I felt that it was the hidden question.
If that question was directed at the DAP members, namely Teresa Kok and Lim Kit Siang, then I fear that it is no more than political play on the part of The Star. The history of DAP as an opposition party goes a long way back and from what little I know, has been more pro-Chinese than other political parties. However when you take the nude squat incident into consideration, I do feel that it is beyond a racial issue, regardless of the unofficial guess works that the girl in the video is a Chinese and not Malay. It is an issue of human rights abuse, by certain members of our PDRM no least. If what the China Chinese women stated in their report were true, theirs is also a serious case power and human rights abuse, far more grievous for the victims are nationals of another country. You and I have been living in this country for what little or long years; sad to say the general consensus is that the PDRM is not as just nor upright as we would like them to be. This too goes beyond the issue of race. Certainly I am not naive in believing that the police force in other countries are fair etc, but we are not in other countries. We are here, in Malaysia. At the very least, we would like to feel safer under the protection of our police force. Instead we seem to have to watch our backs all the time, especially when it comes to the police. It is a sad and demoralising situation to have developed.
Not to say that we Malaysians are all just or upright. There is a tendency in our shared culture to offer duit kopi in hopes of getting away with our offences, traffic offenses being the most common among middle class people. We don’t seem to learn. Then we wonder why the practise is always in cycle. And we complain why it seems to be like a police state these days. ‘Give also cannot, don’t give also cannot, it’s a catch-PDRM’. Ermm… no. The problem lies in ourselves too.
But I am not here to talk about that now. I seriously do not know the position of the DAP for I am not one of them, but given the girl in the video is a Malay, I would feel outrage all the same. If she were an Indian, I would still be pissed off. Dayak? Kadazan? Iban? Okay… whatever, she’s still a Malaysian and because of our history and current situation that does not seem to change for the better, that person could one day be me. I could be out with my friends at a club, then take a Panadol for not feeling well at that time, and if I were unfortunately arrested my urine result would not be favourable towards me. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong medicine, three months later would a video of me doing naked squats be distributed across the country because someone had the access and mind to record the incident? All hypothetical but stranger things have happened.
And that is the core of the entire situation. Medical practitioners have come out to say that just ten squats are not enough to obtain anything from the vagina. The length not the number matters. So why just ten? It seemed to be a routine procedure (however ineffective and illegal) than really wanting to check if there was anything hidden. That is one thing. The other is the MMS video itself; how it was taken, transferred, distributed, and why? More importantly, is this the first time it has happened? What of other unreported cases, if any? Not just illegal filming, but any other cases of police brutality? Come on, no one is stupid. The difference is that the China Chinese were willing to come out with their case and most Malaysians are not. ‘More trouble for me and my family’, they are most likely to say, ‘I might as well keep quiet and get over it.’ Who can blame them? The China Chinese, after having made the complaint and had their case taken by Teresa Kok, said that they were harrassed by the police henceafter. The 18 year old student who lodged a report with the ACA was slapped with a lawsuit by the same policeman. Datuk Nazri Aziz himself had to advise the lawsuit to be dropped, rightly explaining that it would create a fear among people who decide to complain about the police.
So, where does thy anger lies? If you think that it is still about race, then I’d have felt everything I’ve felt and typed all those words in vain. I would question if my love for my country is unfortunately much unrequited just because I do not want to see it go down the path of self-destruction, national and international relations considered.
As for being Malaysian, I am sorry if what I feel about all these issues make me unMalaysian. But for the sake of petty argument, what makes a Malaysian Malaysian, and what makes a Malaysian unMalaysian?
I was born in Malaysia, grew up in Malaysia, attended national schools in Malaysia, mixed with many friends of different races in Malaysia. I eat Malay, Chinese, Indian and fusion food all the time, I penned poems in Malay when I was young, I watch English, Chinese and some Malay movies, I listen to English, Chinese and some Malay songs, I studied some Malay Classics in Form 5 and Form 6, I went out with Malays, Chinese and Indians as well as guys of other races, I can’t write in Chinese save for my Chinese name, I can barely recognise Chinese words or Indian words, I read English material because I am more comfortable reading and using that language, I adore P. Ramlee movies and Sheila Majid’s songs, I bought Siti Nurhaliza’s first album because she is a wonderful singer, and so on and so forth.
Does this make me Malaysian? Good.
I think the efforts in promoting national sports is a joke. I don’t think many people in power actually know what they are doing and should just cease trying to cover their own behinds. I think the plan to go drap a pyramid in Egypt with a Malaysian flag is laughable and most insulting, not just to the Egyptions but also to ourselves. I think the biggest Chinese glutinous rice cake, the longest pohpiah, the tallest roti tisu and everything else bound to be included in the Malaysia Book of Records is a waste of time, effort and money. I think the whole public transport system in KL is almost a farce. I think it is unfair that my folks in Batu Pahat had to suffer unclean, muddy water for months because some soil got into the water system and the local authorities could not do anything about it for the source of the pollution came from a privately-owned estate.
Does that make me unMalaysian?
I really do like the Petronas Twin Towers. I believe in the national anthem. I love our mixture of cultures that make us so uniquely Malaysians (or unMalaysians, haha). I understand that change cannot be immediate due to the history of our country and I accept that. I think Pak Lah has hoardes of potential if he would only exercise his true power. I appreciate that free speech is more allowed and tolerated under Pak Lah’s governance.
Okay, now I am confused.
Actually, no I am not.
I am a Malaysian, like it or not and it is an issue that goes beyond durians and pandering to your notions of what makes me Malaysian. It is not me who wish to feel so divided. I have hope but little things like this can sometimes make it so hard for me to believe that I am speaking up for my rights as allowed by my citizenship.
So, don’t lah make things so difficult.
sorry, breaking the rules a bit)
