Marginalised?

I used to live on estate when I was small. I have Indian friends who didn't go to school. They told me they don't have birth certificate. I asked how come and the answer was "kita bapak bukan sini worang, India mari juga."

It was a common knowledge among us estate dwellers that they were illegitimate children. Their legal "fathers" were drunkards.

There were three grocery cum roti canai shops, owned by Indians from India. There were at least 10 Indian workers, all from India. Every year balik negeri.

Every now and then, we heard of fights between one of the drunkards and one of the grocery shop people.

Those drunkards got their 'todi' from the shops - hutang. I did not understand then when I heard my parents talking about the fight - 'bini dia gi bayar hutang'.

I was twelve then. My friends had four or five other siblings.

There was a Malay lady who worked as the cook at the manager's bungalow. She had 3 sons. All didn't go to school. I found out one day that they didn't go to school because they didn’t have birth certificate.

In these cases, can one blame the government for not taking care of one's welfare? Where is one’s own sense of self righteousness? Illegal immigrants flooded our country and yet some citizens cried out because they couldn’t get jobs to feed their family. On the other hand, one will be so proud to see the number of worship places all over the country. If one society can get a mechanism to collect money to build temples, why didn't the same mechanism be deployed to look after the welfare of the poor members. I mean, isn't it odd to see so many temples being build and yet the followers compang camping nak makan pun susah. Would orang miskin be so keen to build houses of worship? Illegally ! Then making it an international issue when the authority tear it down and claim you are being marginalised?

If one malas belajar, then buat hal disiplin sampai kena buang sekolah, is it ethical to claim to have been marginalised? The indons pawn their lives in rickety boats to cross Selat Melaka and these people mengeluh tak dapat kerja sampai compang camping hidup miskin. Some India's Indians with master's degree came here and worked as pump attandents. How many jobless graduates we have and who is it that claimed they have been marginalised.

It is blatantly irresponsible to claim one don't get educated when parents can be charged in court for failure to send children to school. And yet later on you claim you have been marginalised! ... sheezzzz!!! I myself walked 6km to school [bukan tak de bas tapi tak de duit tambang] and got out of my destitution while my 'marginalised' friends frolicked under the sun. I have every right to be emotional on this for I had to work very hard [still do].

Looking at the number of illegal immigrants in the country now, I read about the drive to legalized “stateless” Indians in Malaysia as someone’s hidden agenda.

"... about 3,000 application forms in less than two hours. ... It is unexpected to see so many people without birth certificates and identity cards here,” said Dr Mohd Khir ... their husbands had no identity cards. "

I have heard/read about people selling one of their kidneys or eyes. I also heard a Malaysian IC or passport fetching a good price.

If one brought all the misfortunes upon oneself thru lack of effort and self discipline while others made it out of the estates does one really have a cause to claim to have been marginalized?

Cracked Salad Bowl

I had to go to a bank in Mentakab, 60 km away to settle a surat saman regarding my credit. I received a *warning* letter from a lawyer’s office regarding my supposedly unpaid credit. Turned out I have settled the credit one month ago and I was advised to ignore the warning letter. Sheeezzzz !!! 60 km travel for nothing.

On the way back, I wanted to stop at the B*T* shoes shop. It was starting to rain and there was no parking space. I had to drive around Mentakab town very many times and finally I decided to park at one parking space between two canopies erected on the parking lot. Chinese New Year is just a few days away so these canopies were for selling CNY goodies much like Pasar Ramadan.

One of it was a barbeque stall. The Chinese and Indian boys who were barbequing [I’m sure it was pork meat] looked at one another with puzzled looks. One of them, an Indian, in a very concerned way tried to tell me off. “Kak! Nanti kita punya ni banyak minyak boleh kena kereta akak … kotor”.

I was tired and hungry. My knee was killing me and I needed to get a pair of shoes. “Tak pe lah … sekejap aje!” and I walked off. They looked exasperated. An older Chinese man at the next stall said something in Chinese.

By the time I reached the shop it was closed! What a disappointment. I was very angry for it was only past five. How could they close shop that early in Mentakab … a town bigger than Jerantut with Chinese New Year coming in a few days and anyway it was right in front of a supermarket and Pizza Hut and McDonald which were opened until 10pm.

So, muttering disgust under my breath, I walked back to the car in the rain which was getting heavier. When I reached the car, I noticed the boys looked relieved. I was puzzled! Then I noticed they had stopped barbequing. When I got into the car, they jumped to resume the cooking.

As I drove the 60 km back, I got to ponder about the incidence. I come to appreciate the boys’ effort to inform me of the ‘sticky’ situation. I think they were trying to tell me that they were doing pork … haraam for a Muslim though I could argue that they shouldn’t have done it at an open public place. I don’t know if their stall was legal. It was at a very open place, just across a shopping centre: impossible to have missed the eyes of the municipal people. I wonder ???

A Bad Hair Day

My waist-long thick hair is just too difficult to manage when I go for my hydro-therapy so I went into a hair salon in Jerantut and asked the Chinese girl to cut off six inches of my tresses and have it layered.

The girl asked … pendek ke panjang ?

I answered … panjang … potong sikit jer sampai sini (bringing the end of my waist long locks to somewhere BELOW my shoulder … estimating a six inches cut) … kasi nipis … layer !!!

She responded … OOO !!! … tau! tau! kasi layer laaaa!!!

She looked very young.

I had to take off my glasses.

She started snipping away … and my locks fell down all around me. She was rather brusque… pushing my head up and down left and right a bit too rough I felt. I have more white hair than black. She promoted hair colouring. She showed me brochures of well known brands. I asked her if I could see the actual product in the bottle. She off-handedly said … ‘aiyah. Seme pun same saje”… whatever that means. All the while she was snipping.

Snip … snip … snip …

I asked her how long has she opened the shop … 3 years she said …
“whoa … sangat bagus ya! You sangat muda sudah pandai cari duit” …that supposedly compliment turned out to be a big big mistake.

“awak ingat sangat senang maa .. mahu cali luit? Kita olang Cina oo bukan selupa Melayu. Cina olang mau kelija pun susah. Lagi mau cali wang bayat itu lumah lagi … Melayu suma apa pun flee oo. Tak mau kelija pun tak apa … kelajaan kasi duit maa. . Melayu aa … belanak pun kelajaan kasi duit oo … betut bukan?”

“Uiks! Melayu mana beranak dapat duit?”

“tu .. kelija ofis punye … “

“orang kerja ofis kerajaan, bukan dapat duit bila beranak. You pergi mana pun .. Singapore ke… Thailand ke … England ke … sama saja. Cina ke India ke, Melayu ke kalu kerja ofis kerajaan semua dapat gaji bila beranak. Mereka cuti bersalin 60 hari dan masih dapat gaji, bukan kerajaan bagi duit. Bukan Melayu saja. Cina dan India pun sama.”

Snip … snip … snip

“Lagi aa … melayu mau meniaga pun senang ... kelajaan kasi luit …mau pinjam luit bank pun senang … tak payah cali gelento oo … tak baya pun tak ape … kelajaan kasi luit lagi …”

“Eiihhh!!! Mana ada macam tu? Kalu ada you pun tak boleh buka kedai ni. Orang Melayu seme berniaga lah”

Snip … snip … push … snip… snip…

“Bukannn … olang cina maa … mau cali luit sendili… lagi sekolah pun sudah mau cali sendili … olang cina cali luit mahu kasi makan itu lumah, melayu cali luit sendili mau pakai saja … mau cali kelija pun tak susah … cina aa … sume pun mau cali sendili … bank pun tak mau kasi pinjam … ”

Push … push … snip … push …

“Berapa kalu saya mau kaler rambut?”

“Ooo ... lu lambut aa ... mesti mau pakai dua botol maa ...”

“Ya lah ... berapa?”

“Satu botol lima puluh lebih maa”

“Ok ... kalu saya pakai dua botol, berapa semua sekali?”

“Upah dua puluh maa ... lu ingat senang ka? Lu ingat hali hali ada olang mau kasi kaler lambut ... bla bla bla …”

“Saya tak bawa cukup duit lah untuk kaler rambut hari ni. Besok you tutup kedai pukul berapa?

‘Tak mau cuci lambut ka?”

“Err … besok lah saya cuci sekali … sudah siap?”

I put on my glasses and saw my head which looked like a rat with rabies had gone through it … “aiyah!!! Apasal sangat pendek?”

“Iye lah … tadi cakap mau layer bukan?”

I quietly paid her RM9 and put on my tudung. I pray my hair would re-grow fast.

Once home, I applied a dark red henna hair colourant. It was a colour I was used to … deep reddish brown … only difference is the brand and an extra tube … after colour enhancer … oh well …

After one hour … my head turned bright RED.

Now I know the real meaning of a bad hair day !!!


The headline on Malaysia Online reads:-

RM900j majukan usahawan -- Mara tawar 53 jenis perniagaan melalui program peruncitan
KUALA LUMPUR 1 Feb. - Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) akan memperuntukkan sebanyak RM900 juta pada tahun ini bagi membangunkan usahawan bumiputera dalam bidang peruncitan....


Hmmm …. I looked at my hair and I can see a quarter of an inch of white hair at the roots … it will be a long 20 months to get 6 inches of white hair.