Friday, August 08, 2008
Proud to be Malaysian?
8-AUG-2008:
Hey, this question sort of cropped up in my other post. If I am completely honest, I will have to answer 'no' to the question. There are certain things that I love about the country. My country. But I can't say aloud that I am a Malaysian, and be proud of it, especially when the ignorant always assume that being a Malaysian means being a Malay. I totally detest that. I guess I'm more proud to be a Chinese than to be a Malaysian. I hope I can say that I'm not being racist here. But I think I am. Everybody is a little bit racist - if you're to be honest with yourself. Of course, I have some great Malay friends but I think they are the exception rather than the norm.
Saimun and I was planning a trip to the US recently when we realized that Dominic does not have a US visa. Both Saimun and I have a 10-year multiple entry visa which will expire in 2 years time. A visit to the US Embassy website revealed that citizens from 27 countries will not require a visa when visiting the US as tourists under the Visa Waiver Programme (VWP). I did not even have to go through the list to even know that Malaysia is not one of the 27 countries. I was even more pissed off to find out that Singapore is one of them.
If I was a Singapore citizen with a Singaporean driving license, I won't even need to take a driving test here. A Singapore driving license is recognized in the UK but not a Malaysian one. I think I can understand why, since a Malaysian driving license can be bought with cash.
When I went to check out the currency exchange rate on Yahoo finance yesterday, the Malaysian currency was not even listed in the shortcut portlet, but Singapore Dollar was. Malaysian Ringgit only appears when you request for the full list.
How can I convince others that I'm proud of my country when I can't even convince myself of the reasons I should be proud of it? How can I convince a British that KLIA is just as big and nice as Changi Airport (if not better) when he insisted that Changi was the best airport he had ever seen (even though he was only there for transit) and had no intention to land on Malaysian land in the near future? How can I call it MY country when I am more discriminated in that muslim bumiputera land than I am in the UK? Apart from family and friends (and the food of course), is there anything else that I miss about Malaysia? Is there anything else worth going back for? Is Malaysia even proud to have me?
