Happy Birthday to Me!

I never thought so many people would remember my birthday!

After all, the last time I had a cake was nearly 8 years ago. I can’t even remember what it looked liked. How sad…

No cake? No problem. At least that was what some of my best pals thought.

Here’s how the cake looked like.

Yummy, certainly knows my taste huh? (Thanks to Hsyiang Lung and Rachel for the lovely gift).

And here’s a bit of something more local….

 

The ‘curry puff guy’ came calling and the rest became history.

Dang, now the whole world would know that I have a weakness for curry puffs.

Lovely birthday. Thanks to all for the lovely wishes. All the best to you all too!

 

=== END ===

So what if I’m not Chinese?

Being a Malaysian, I take pride in the very fact that we Malaysians have something that the rest of the world does not have: ethnic diversity.

That’s about it I think, just diversity. For crying out loud.

The reason for writing this is to express my lack of understanding, or rather, failure to fully comprehend the meaning of racial unity (as we all see it) in the context of Malaysian racial pluralism. Before I continue, I would like to first express my stand on this issue: I do not condone racism. It is an evil that lurks in the dark corridors of Malaysian politics.

While the Malaysian education system is recognized as an important platform for fostering racial unity, the recent spate of racist outbursts and the spouting of provocative and slanderous statements by certain quarters have triggered a lot of commotion throughout the country prompting certain parties to call for the enforcement of stricter anti-sedition laws. I will be writing about this on account of some of my experiences as well as that of those who are close to me.

As I am an East Malaysian, I find it quite awkward that this spirit of racial unity and sense of mutual respect and tolerance is quite absent in West Malaysia, when one compares this to that of in East Malaysia. Those who grew up in places like Kuching would agree with me on this point. As I see it, the Chinese would mingle among the Chinese, the Malays among the Malays, and the Indians among the Indians. Socializing among the various ethnic groups do happen, but often on a ‘need’ basis, rather than a ‘want’ basis. I admit that part of this is human nature at work, but I think upbringing has a lot to do with it as well.

The purpose of writing this is not to tell of what I have read in the news, but rather, to express my utter disgust at how race relations have developed so far in Malaysia, from my own personal experiences.

Are you Chinese?

It was a long and tiring day after classes in the morning and I decided to spend a little bit of time catching up with friends online when a fellow course mate approached me for some help with her USB flash drive. This young lady, whom I believe to be my junior, timidly asked, “Are you Chinese? I need some help with my work here…”. Her words hit me like a strong jab in the ribs. Of course I’m Chinese, I thought to myself, but what if I’m not? This is definitely not the first time that I have heard this, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last. My question to her is, if I was a Malay, or Indian, or Iban, would you still approach me for help? As I could not ascertain if this had anything to do with her upbringing, I decided to withhold my judgment towards her and put this matter to rest. No point swatting a small fly when you have bigger fish to catch.

On a separate occasion, I was walking back to my hostel during the evening, after an exhaustive day at the faculty when a lady pulled up by the roadside to ask for directions. She began like this (translated from Chinese): “Hi! Are you Chinese? Could you please…”. My friend, who was with me at the time could not contain his discomfort over her statement, despite the fact that he is Chinese.

 

In a Nutshell…

To place the blame on the other ethnic groups for being ‘clannish’ is totally out of the question. It is the prerogative of the Chinese Malaysian community to be more proactive in promoting racial unity instead of playing the blame game.

==END==

You Can’t Have Too Many Friends

I was fiddling around with Facebook for one afternoon when I suddenly came across Anwar Ibrahim’s profile. I just thought it couldn’t hurt to add him as a friend.

 

I clicked on the ‘Add as Friend’ link, and then…

…hurt me it did. I guess you can’t have too many friends on Facebook. Now that’s amusing!

 

==END==

The Easiest Thing To Say…

The easiest thing to say is…’I don’t know’…

I decided that, of all the useless things I can write about in a single day, I would like to say a bit about the sentence ‘I don’t know’. I hear it pretty often from persons with whom I try to engage in a simple conversation, usually by starting a question.

When a person says ‘I don’t know’, he or she may be implying one or more of the following:

1. He/She really doesn’t know the answer to a question that you are asking.
2. He/She is too lazy to think of the answer or think of a less curt reply.
3. He/She is trying to say, “I’m don’t know how to answer your question, so just shut up because I’m not interested to talk to you now…”

 

In Aubrey C. Daniels’ book, ‘Bringing Out the Best in People’, he mentioned of something called ‘extinction burst’.

I won’t go much deeper into explaining the technicalities, but I could give you a simple example of what ‘extinction burst’ is.

Example:

1. You press a button in the elevator and it doesn’t work.
2. Because you notice that it doesn’t work, you decide to press the button a little harder.
3. It still doesn’t work, so you start hammering away at the button, pressing it many times, repeatedly, but to no avail.
4. You lose your temper and kick the elevator door, then you give up.

It’s the simple case with people giving you that curt reply, “I don’t know”.

After a while, you tend to ‘give up’ engaging with such persons. Have you been saying “I don’t know” too many times before? Have people stopped talking to you as a result? Go figure.

==End==

Being helpful hurts…sometimes…

It’s that time of the year when students over here at UTM are struggling to finish their assignments and final year projects. It’s also one of those times when I wish I had more in common with instant messaging software like Live Messenger; I really wish I can walk around carrying a ‘busy’ or ‘no entry’ sign around my neck to urge people to stop bugging me! Arghhh!!!

I believe in the power of ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing. I also believe that helping people would result in getting showered with blessings from high above. But I also believe that when people ‘promote your services’ (oh boy, and you do get the phone ringing that way…) and that your own final year project is starting to feel lonely, it’s time to put on that ‘busy’ sign, again. That is one of the main reasons why I appear offline pretty often on Live Messenger. Instead of blessings, I’m just starting to feel that the time spent helping people would have been better spent trying to untangle the mess and iron out all the kinks in my own final year project.

Gosh!

I have to admit, I’m starting to feel like a celebrity being hounded by hordes of paparazzi. So what can I do to ward off all these distractions?

I could:-

1. Fake my death. (Ouch! I’d be missed by loved ones in the process…)
2. Assume a new identity.
3. Buy an island, then assume the tales and adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
4. Becoming a secret agent, withholding my identity and current location.
5. Wear a disguise. Change disguise as often as required.
6. Speak in a foreign language and pretend that I’ve lost my ability to speak English and Malay.
7. Wear a ‘busy’ sign, and look like a lunatic for the rest of the semester.
8. Rendering myself incommunicado to the outside world.

Getting ‘lost’ in your own island paradise…hmm…

I’m seriously considering the 7th option, but I would risk getting stoned to death or burned at the stake. The 8th option is the preferred. So if you’re trying to call me and find a sweet female voice on the other end saying “I’m sorry, the….[I-can’t-remember-this-part]”,then you’ve caught me at the wrong time. It’s a moment of glory and courage. The sanctity of war, fighting for one’s survival in academia, is justified. It’s time to prepare for battle!

 

==END==