still the coolest people on earth!

The euphoria is still in the air, and Malaysians continue to be the coolest people on earth, one week after 9th May 2018, as our nation seeks to rebuild, reconfigure, rebrand.

I decided that today I would delete all the old junk that has been floating around in our servers. The firm is 19 years old this year, and I've deleted stuff from 2002 today that I didn't realise we've been storing. In the midst of this, I found an old file, with answers to a questionnaire that I had filled up and saved on 20th August 2007. It made me smile because today I feel we're all a few steps closer to becoming a Bangsa Malaysia. Here are the questions and answers.

(Note: 
The questions are not mine. I do not know who drafted the questionnaire, or who I submitted the answers to. I know it was something online. I don't know who compiled the answers or what they did with it. The only things I know are that the answers are mine and that it was saved in our server on 20th August 2007. I have not edited this in anyway since 20th August 2007.)

 In the words of Malaysian rock queen, Ella, "I hope you enjoys!"

BANGSA MALAYSIA MERDEKA QUESTIONAIRE

1. What does ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ mean to you?

Sadly, to me, it means the Malaysia I can remember in my childhood in the seventies, when “muhibbah” didn’t have to be defined nor urged on.

Ideally it means that race should no longer be an issue. It should mean that being a Malaysian is enough. That I’m not discriminated against in my own country by my own people. That I’m given the same treatment in my country, that I would be given anywhere else internationally. That the column stating “race” in all official forms be deleted.

That politics based on racial lines be eradicated/banned. That the Sedition Act be amended to make it seditious for anyone to talk of any race other than the Malaysian race.

That race be taken out of sports, and education entirely, and that these things be judged purely on merit.

That the quota system becomes an urban legend.

That the NEP is acknowledged as the dinosaur it is, and buried – no perhaps kept in museums to remind us of where we went wrong.

2. If ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ means ‘One Nation One People’ to you, do you think we have achieved this in the last fifty years? If not, what do you suppose have been the obstacles in the last fifty years to our realizing ‘Bangsa Malaysia’?

I think that in the last 30 years or so, we have taken several giant steps backwards – we are further away today from reaching a Bangsa Malaysia than we were in 1957.

The obstacles have been mainly, UMNO, MCA and MIC. I suppose due credit should be given to PAS for pushing UMNO to become holier than PAS.

The ongoing myth that is being continuously perpetuated that my muslim counterparts are not as good as me, not as bright as me, and certainly not as hard working as me.

The education system.

The way Malaysian sports have been handled in the last 25 years.

The way the quota system has crept in insidiously everywhere. I mean surely, when you’re judging a football player, the most important thing is how he plays the game, not the colour of his skin.

When we hear of children being hurt, we are all equally outraged, regardless of the child’s race. Why does this commonality stop at children? Why is it that growing up equates to being racially discriminated?

3. If you think we have as a nation failed in the last fifty years to realize ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ as a national identity, what, in your view, are the obstacles, if any, that confronts us a nation in pursuing ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ as a national agenda?
   
   
   

Racial politics. Racial polarization. The NEP. An opposition without any bite. Elected officials who are too busy toeing party line to worry about my needs. Lack of check and balance. No separation of powers. The judiciary system. The fact that increasingly justice is not seen to be done.

4. I love Malaysia because …. (in less than 50 words)

Of the food. All of the glorious food. The corner mamak. The all night hawker centres. The nasi lemak early in the morning. The nasi dagang, the char koay teow, the banana leaf rice. And the people who eat them together. Because it’s the only home I know.