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19 June - was born wayyyyyy back in 1960. Now BOTH children are grown up. Married off the younger one. Have stepped on Haraam Soil and performed minor haj. Started blogging in 2006 and enjoying my moments on blogosphere. Never did I imagine to be sharing and exchanging views with great people in cyber space [must thank my blogging sifus; HMom and sher.  My journey to this point in life would have been a tremendously boring, lonely and so much less meaningful one. Thank you girls for getting me started].

Today is 1st of July. The sun is bright and the sky is clear but there is a smell of something dark and sinister brewing. The writings on many walls in this corner of cyberspace are pregnant with malice. 9th July is looming.

As contemplated by Voices Around  here I too have been wondering who would be going to the street. And for what purpose? To bring about a change because the present government is obscenely corrupted and oppresive and apertheid? Reading the responses to milosuam's posting here, gave me cause for despair. Reminds me so much of my students' responses when I asked them why are their capital letters the same size as small letters ... "saja suke! dah biase! cantek seme sama saiz! (just because! used to it! uniform size is nice!). All I see is plentiful of FOAMS.

I am against corruption and oppresion. All my life, I believe I have been a victim. I wanted change. But, NOT this way ...

"The Nons will laugh and clap their hands. They will cheer the "Malai Lembus" to keep on fighting, lying on the roadsides, or to become suicide bombers for an express entry to paradise"  bambino on Demi Negara

Would like to share this from MI

MAY 19 — I am a Malay working overseas. I find working in Malaysia unattractive due to the following reasons. I don’t want to belabour the points, so I list them down in point form:

Chinese chauvinism/racism
• Most private organisations including TMI are dominated by the Chinese and/or their political agenda.
• Chinese people have a tendency to assign negative stereotypes on other races (especially the Bumiputera races).
• They exhibit cliquish, insular, secretive and calculating behaviour.
• Chinese people favour fair-skinned people even though fair skin is disadvantageous in Malaysia’s sunny climate.
• They admire China’s achievements, despite China’s oppressive regime.
• Malaysian Chinese use the Chinese languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien etc.) to isolate their discussion from others while in their presence.
• The Chinese are not honest about failures of ethnic Chinese leaderships in Philippines and Thailand.
• Tokenism is rife in Chinese companies.
• Chinese will use changing criteria to judge people of other ethnicities; one day it is academic merit, another day it may be “character.”
• The Chinese favour their own kind over others, even when other kinds are of equal stature.
• Malays fear to voice out against Chinese for fear of repercussions especially with respect to their employment prospects in the private sector.
• The Chinese still hold strongly to their ethnic heritage.
• They diminish the achievement of other races, especially the Malays.
• Harp on Bumiputera affirmative action even though Chinese people still continue to succeed at all levels of Malaysian life (even government).
• Any Malay who has strong academic background is denounced as attaining it due to “Bumiputera privilege”, even though he graduated overseas with his own money.
• Use their overseas Chinese connection to gain unfair advantage, but pretend the advantage is minimal.
• The Chinese always make unfair comparisons of Malaysia with other non-Muslim, post-industrial countries.
• Chinese people don’t recognise the special position Islam has in Malaysia.
• Enjoy talking bad about Malaysia (even when working/living overseas) as if Malaysia is on the same level as Zimbabwe even though Malaysia is far from it.
• Highly critical of institutions that are Bumiputera-dominated (ie. government), but non-critical of institutions that are Chinese dominant (like gambling).
• Show no desire to partake in patriotic activities (e.g. serve in army), but cry foul when other people point out their lack of patriotism.
• Show lack of understanding about Islamic religion, but enjoy taking Quranic verses out of context to further their argument.
• If pushed to think “outside the box”, the Chinese would favour Western ideals above Islamic ideals.
• The Chinese show lack of respect toward Malay leaders, but accord unnecessary respect to their Chinese community leaders, even though they hold no significant position in government.
• Always speak about “brain drain” but still keep Malaysian passports.
• Willing to spread disingenuous claim that Bumis have already achieved economic parity with the Chinese.
• Use Indians who have achieved to further their claim that Indian community is ahead of the Malay community.
• Comments in support of Chinese chauvinistic agenda are allowed to be posted in TMI, while others are censored.
• I can go on and on with more example, but I grow tired and annoyed.

PAS religionism
• Holds only their interpretation of Islam to be the truth.
• Willing to associate themselves with and be used by non-Muslims while creating enmity toward other Muslims.
• Use religion as a political tool to win arguments and foment discord.
• Ritualistic mentality.
• Have a simplistic idea/concept of the world and its affairs.

Umno nationalism
• Partake in bully politics.
• Enjoy seeing minor issues such as sexual improprieties take over the national discourse.
• Willing to give in to fervent Malay nationalism.
• Must “ampu” within Umno hierarchical structure to get to higher positions.
• Anti-intellectualism.
• Unwillingness to adapt and change to satisfy changing political climate.

Indian shiftiness
• Willing to change their allegiance due to changing political tide.
• Belief that Indian subcontinent will help them, like mainland China helps Malaysian Chinese.
• Dishonest about their caste and other internal problems.

Malaysian culture as a whole
• No proper understanding of logic and reason.
• Has not understood to segregate religious thinking from secular reasoning.
• Lost sensitivities towards other religions/races.
• Still admire Western culture, without studying their obvious weaknesses.
• Always sidetracked by minor issues rather than seeing bigger picture.
• Media not mature to show all sides of the story, media is all very partisan.
• Partisanship is being promoted at all levels from the family microcosm to the national level.

Well, couldn't agree more!.

1st August is the start of fasting month. Yeayyyy! Raya will be at the end of the month. Double yeaayyy!!