I love my country. Or at least, love it in the best way I know how.
And I think that it is absolutely unfair that many of us jump onto the bandwagon of irrational skepticism about Malaysia, far too easily.
How many times are we guilty of attributing some sort of flaw in our society to being the fault of 'Malaysia'? Take for example :
Some sort of censorship in music or cancellation in entertainment; "What do you expect? It's Malaysia-lah!"
Or being stalled in a traffic as people are slowing down to "kepo" on an accident; "Ish, Malaysians ah."
Or when casually asked if you were to return back home after completing studies overseas to work and serve the country; it will usually end with a negative, and then asked why; "Why should I? This is Malaysia, I cannot go far. I rather stay overseas and work there, better chance of becoming successful!"
Honestly, there has been far too many times whereby I receive comments such as "I'm sorry Vin, this is Malaysia. And Malaysia will never progress. We will remain a third world country" or the likes.
While I can understand that such a mindset was probably conceived by sentiments shared by the older generations, and by the reality that, we love to criticize our own country; I feel that at times (most of the times) accusations thrown at Malaysia or being Malaysian, are biased and immature.
It is as if such remarks are made out of habit or preconditioned attitude, instead of upon critical thinking and evaluation. Basically, an automated response without any thought being put into it therefore lacking of evidence or proper arguments to support such a remark.
I may not be the most patriotic of the lot, but it still saddens me to hear such remarks about Malaysia. Yes, I understand that such grievance could be a result of the injustice we face in this country. Well, our country is not perfect. I cannot deny that there are no corruption, I cannot refute that there are policies that I myself do not agree to, and I cannot pretend as if racial discrimination does not exist in our multiracial nation. Because to close my eyes from this Malaysian reality, is me being ignorant.
And to altruistically defend the idealistic, perfect Malaysia whereby it is free of racial discrimination and clean of corruption as depicted by the government, would be all too naive. To the point of being on the same platform as those who loves to hate this country, but just on different extremes.
Extremes. That is exactly our problem.
Now, situations I express in this post are based on my personal experiences and observations, and therefore unsuitable to use to describe MALAYSIA as a whole. But from what I know, heard and seen, most of us (my social circle) belong to the other end of "unpatriotic".
All we do is sit around mamak stalls, and complain about how messed up the system is, how corrupted and inefficient the government is and how bleak is the future of our nation. And complaining is one thing, CONDEMNING is another. I am simply repulsed by the latter. And to do either both, while not taking the initiative to at least try to make things better, isn't right, nor pleasant. Nor very mature.
And that's all we are going to be. A bunch of youth, sitting around, 'lepaking' and complaining, even condemning. We deserve the situation that we complained of because we are not doing anything about it. If we want change, we have to be that change. Because we want it, we have to work for it. And not hope or leave it to somebody else to do it.
Many a times, when I expressed sentiments such as these, I am rebutted with remarks such as "I am only one person, what can I do?", "Honestly, I don't care, I'm not gonna be here for long anyways" or even "You seriously think things can change for the better? Don't be so naive!"
Sigh.
The skepticism. : (
Okay, perhaps it is difficult to envision that we can make a difference in what seems like a long standing flawed institution, but it is not impossible.
I think we can start by erasing our sense of negativity and skepticism, to eradicate our love to hate our country. Stop focusing on the gritty nitty details of how hopeless Malaysia is, and try to see things objectively using our logic instead of following the opinions of the masses blindly without thinking analytically.
For instance,
Not ALL politicians are stupid.
Not everybody who undergone Malaysian education system are not capable of thinking.
Our freedom of speech is not completely non-existent.
(This topic alone will take a whole post on its own)
Not ALL Malaysian movies/music are rubbish.
Not ALL scholarship recepients are bumiputeras.
Not ALL bumiputeras who apply for scholarship would get it.
and believe it or not, our government does not equal to our country. We are our country.
Once we change our narrow mindset, and start thinking objectively, we've made a HUGE difference. Because with our minds opened, are we more open to progressive change. Pessimism does restraint us from moving forward. Not only in nation building, but character wise as well.
How are we to move forward if we keep thinking that we're backwards and that nothing we do will help us gain momentum?
Once our mentality has changed, so will our behavior.
Educating ourselves more about the nation affair, and the world,
being more proactive in this country either through constructive activities, intellectual discourse or the likes,
steps like these, knowing it or not, are building blocks to a better us, better society and ultimately better Malaysia.
A Malaysia that I have learnt to call my home.
And I love my home.
I love how I can sit at the mamak in the wee hours of the morning with my friends, yakking away.
I love how I as a Chinese, can also get a taste of Ramadan. Bazaar Ramadan I mean.
I love my education here in Malaysia, which is nurturing me to learn the world, and think globally.
I love how I can go to my favorite music store without fear of getting bombed at.
I love how I can enter a shopping mall without the fear of getting shot at by terrorist.
I love how I can still wear my favorite shorts, shirt and slippers out without being stoned to death.
I love it that I am able to be with my family living peacefully under one roof.
I love going for local music gigs and local productions.
I love how we can have Nasi Goreng Kampung, Nasi Goreng Cina and Nasi Goreng U.S.A. at the same place.
All in all, there are more things that I love about my home, than those that I dislike.
And, it's worth holding on to. Worth changing for.
And I think that it is absolutely unfair that many of us jump onto the bandwagon of irrational skepticism about Malaysia, far too easily.
How many times are we guilty of attributing some sort of flaw in our society to being the fault of 'Malaysia'? Take for example :
Some sort of censorship in music or cancellation in entertainment; "What do you expect? It's Malaysia-lah!"
Or being stalled in a traffic as people are slowing down to "kepo" on an accident; "Ish, Malaysians ah."
Or when casually asked if you were to return back home after completing studies overseas to work and serve the country; it will usually end with a negative, and then asked why; "Why should I? This is Malaysia, I cannot go far. I rather stay overseas and work there, better chance of becoming successful!"
Honestly, there has been far too many times whereby I receive comments such as "I'm sorry Vin, this is Malaysia. And Malaysia will never progress. We will remain a third world country" or the likes.
While I can understand that such a mindset was probably conceived by sentiments shared by the older generations, and by the reality that, we love to criticize our own country; I feel that at times (most of the times) accusations thrown at Malaysia or being Malaysian, are biased and immature.
It is as if such remarks are made out of habit or preconditioned attitude, instead of upon critical thinking and evaluation. Basically, an automated response without any thought being put into it therefore lacking of evidence or proper arguments to support such a remark.
I may not be the most patriotic of the lot, but it still saddens me to hear such remarks about Malaysia. Yes, I understand that such grievance could be a result of the injustice we face in this country. Well, our country is not perfect. I cannot deny that there are no corruption, I cannot refute that there are policies that I myself do not agree to, and I cannot pretend as if racial discrimination does not exist in our multiracial nation. Because to close my eyes from this Malaysian reality, is me being ignorant.
And to altruistically defend the idealistic, perfect Malaysia whereby it is free of racial discrimination and clean of corruption as depicted by the government, would be all too naive. To the point of being on the same platform as those who loves to hate this country, but just on different extremes.
Extremes. That is exactly our problem.
Now, situations I express in this post are based on my personal experiences and observations, and therefore unsuitable to use to describe MALAYSIA as a whole. But from what I know, heard and seen, most of us (my social circle) belong to the other end of "unpatriotic".
All we do is sit around mamak stalls, and complain about how messed up the system is, how corrupted and inefficient the government is and how bleak is the future of our nation. And complaining is one thing, CONDEMNING is another. I am simply repulsed by the latter. And to do either both, while not taking the initiative to at least try to make things better, isn't right, nor pleasant. Nor very mature.
And that's all we are going to be. A bunch of youth, sitting around, 'lepaking' and complaining, even condemning. We deserve the situation that we complained of because we are not doing anything about it. If we want change, we have to be that change. Because we want it, we have to work for it. And not hope or leave it to somebody else to do it.
Many a times, when I expressed sentiments such as these, I am rebutted with remarks such as "I am only one person, what can I do?", "Honestly, I don't care, I'm not gonna be here for long anyways" or even "You seriously think things can change for the better? Don't be so naive!"
Sigh.
The skepticism. : (
Okay, perhaps it is difficult to envision that we can make a difference in what seems like a long standing flawed institution, but it is not impossible.
I think we can start by erasing our sense of negativity and skepticism, to eradicate our love to hate our country. Stop focusing on the gritty nitty details of how hopeless Malaysia is, and try to see things objectively using our logic instead of following the opinions of the masses blindly without thinking analytically.
For instance,
Not ALL politicians are stupid.
Not everybody who undergone Malaysian education system are not capable of thinking.
Our freedom of speech is not completely non-existent.
(This topic alone will take a whole post on its own)
Not ALL Malaysian movies/music are rubbish.
Not ALL scholarship recepients are bumiputeras.
Not ALL bumiputeras who apply for scholarship would get it.
and believe it or not, our government does not equal to our country. We are our country.
Once we change our narrow mindset, and start thinking objectively, we've made a HUGE difference. Because with our minds opened, are we more open to progressive change. Pessimism does restraint us from moving forward. Not only in nation building, but character wise as well.
How are we to move forward if we keep thinking that we're backwards and that nothing we do will help us gain momentum?
Once our mentality has changed, so will our behavior.
Educating ourselves more about the nation affair, and the world,
being more proactive in this country either through constructive activities, intellectual discourse or the likes,
steps like these, knowing it or not, are building blocks to a better us, better society and ultimately better Malaysia.
A Malaysia that I have learnt to call my home.
And I love my home.
I love how I can sit at the mamak in the wee hours of the morning with my friends, yakking away.
I love how I as a Chinese, can also get a taste of Ramadan. Bazaar Ramadan I mean.
I love my education here in Malaysia, which is nurturing me to learn the world, and think globally.
I love how I can go to my favorite music store without fear of getting bombed at.
I love how I can enter a shopping mall without the fear of getting shot at by terrorist.
I love how I can still wear my favorite shorts, shirt and slippers out without being stoned to death.
I love it that I am able to be with my family living peacefully under one roof.
I love going for local music gigs and local productions.
I love how we can have Nasi Goreng Kampung, Nasi Goreng Cina and Nasi Goreng U.S.A. at the same place.
All in all, there are more things that I love about my home, than those that I dislike.
And, it's worth holding on to. Worth changing for.
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