Wikipedia

Wikipedia is amazing. Really.

It all started when I was curious about Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia. you know, the one that is the reason for most of (note to SangYee: See I don't use TOTALISTIC words such as ALL anymore =P) the cursing and swearing of non-malays towards malays in Malaysia.

I ended up spending the whole night reading random information in Wikipedia, from the Sedition Act, to the Internal Security Act (ISA), to the Malayan Emergency, to the Malaysian Malaysia, to the People's Action Party (did u know that the DAP was actually the Malaysia branch of the PAP of Singapore?), to the Malay Dilemma, to our First Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, to Ultras, to the Presidential Council for Minority Rights in Singapore. And possibly more that I can't remember.

Makes me feel so much more empowered when I start forming opinions towards the current situation of Malaysian politics. Some long-standing questions in my head that were answered tonight:

• How on earth did the Sedition Act and the Internal Security Act manage to get itself into the Malaysian Constitution?


• What was the force behind the Malayan Communists that led to an Emergency State being called? (Stupid history books always portray them as bad guys, but I wasn't convinced then)
  
• Why did Singapore REALLY leave Malaysia? And how have they progressed so much while Malaysia pludges along behind slowly?


• What was Tunku Abdul Rahman like when he led Malaysia to merdeka? (Found out about some ugly past about Tun Mahathir and Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi in the process with regards to their status on bumiputera rights)


• How are Malays in Singapore surviving WITHOUT THE PRIVILLEGES offered to them in Singapore?

Interestingly, the Presidential Council for Minority Rights body stood out to me. Probably highlights the fundamental difference between Malaysia and Singapore too.

Article 153 in Constitution of Malaysia: Protects rights of BUMIPUTERA

Presidential Council for Minority Rights: Protects rights of every singaporean race, religion or community.

Shucks. I could go on and on now. Suddenly feel 500% more intelligent.

But I shall go to bed instead and leave it to you to check out those sites at Wikipedia.

Go on, you know you want to!

Racist Malaysians

Whenever we point a finger at someone, we end up pointing 3 fingers back at ourselves don't we?

I think that's very much the case of us Malaysians when it comes to racism. We accuse others of being racists, but the bigger culprits are ourselves. Reading my high school friend Jun-E's blog about this issue made me take a good look at myself.

Here's the insight I developed:

Whenever I refer to someone as an Australian, I usually mean 'that white skinned dude/dudette of the caucasian race that was born and bred in Australia'. Same goes to whenever someone tells me about an Australian. Never does the picture of an Australian born 'yellow-skinned dude/dudette of the asian race' enter my mind.

But what amazes me is how often non-white-skinned people who grew up in Sustralia refer to themselves as Australian.

No, not ABC (Australian-Born/Bred-Chinese), ABH (Australian-Born/Bred-Hongkie), ABK (Australian-Born/Bred-Korean) etc.

Just plain AUSTRALIAN.

They see themselves and every characteristic in themselves as Australian, nothing more, nothing less. They are proud to be Australian, and some even resent being given the labels of ABC, ABH, ABK etc. "But I'm Australian!" would be their outcry.

On the flip side of that, is how often we Malaysians like to put race over country. When people in Australia ask me and some of my other chinese friends: "Are you Malay?", we would almost instinctively respond with: "NONONONONONOO, definitely NOt malays. Malays are the darker skinned race in Malaysia. I am a Malaysian CHINESE.". (some may even have an overflow of thoughts as to how 'lazy' or 'pampered' Malays are etc).

The curious ones would then go on asking about what the difference between malays and malaysian chinese is besides their skin colour. Which brings us into a whole new level of discussion, involving the social contract and it's implications such as quotas for malays in every sector in Malaysia etc. Often we need to exert a great deal of self control to stop ourselves giving a 150 hour lecture on this issue and what we think about it.

And we end with "That's why we're Malaysian Chinese, and not Malay".

That's total B***sh**.

One finger pointed at the government, 3 fingers back at us.

Sure we don't agree to the quota system and its associated discrimination practiced in Malaysia, but aren't we practicing the same thing, discrimination, yet in a totally different form? By labelling ourselves as Malaysian chinese, do we not subtly imply that we should not be mixed up with the other races? Are we implying that we are better? hm...

No more racism from me. I'll practice EQUALITY. I am NOT a Malaysian Chinese from now on. I was born in Malaysia, therefore,

I AM MALAYSIAN.

Corruption of Malaysian History Books

Found a few blogs and discussions quite fascinating. Gives new insight to what the history of Malaysia really was. Very much in conflict with the history we learnt in textbooks during our primary and high school days.

Please do link these pages to your blog, the least we can do is help the word be spread around so that us Malaysians won't be so ignorant of our past.

The blogs are below:

Lim Kit Siang's 'CORRUPTION OF OUR HISTORY BOOKS'

M. Bakri Musa's 'WARRIOR FROM SILICON VALLEY' (discussions section)