From: as5h+@andrew.cmu.edu (Azleena Salleh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Fwd: Good Things in Malaysia
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:43:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.cdt7Eta00UhBA1rzBn
Organization: Sophomore, Social & Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


 
 Shakor R Badaruddin@cb.e writes:
> The propensity of vehemance on this net tends to 
>portray Malaysia to be like Lebanon. That is too bad. There is a great
>deal of hope still in Malaysia. There is no glass ceiling for anyone. The
>doors for your future is not shut like in so many other countries. But
>the complaints on this net at times tended to hover on the fringes of
>unobjectivity. This has led people from other countries to call Malaysia
>a country with apartheid like policies. That sucks really. Is it really
>that bad. Are a certain race not allowed to vote, made to live in derelict
>squatters, have different scales of pay for the same job, not allowed to
>eat at certain places, can''t swim on certain beaches, not allowed to
>inter marry, not allowed to be ministers etc etc. I will leave it to
>you to answer them by yourself.

An American friend of mine told me that Malaysia is far from being
legitimate in our policies ... only to have his friend retort and say
the same thing about the US!  It's true, no government is free from some
discrimination,
only ours is often thought by outsiders to be likened with apartheid and
ostracism.  Alhamdulillah, that's far from the truth, but as in even the
most 'developed' countries, inter-racial integration has a long way to
go.  According to certain analysts, even in many European
countries there is increasing hostility towards immigrants with
different cultures and practices.  

Xenophobia and discrimination is a universal phenomena, but Malaysia's
leaders have tread on quicksand by seeming to combine these elemnets
into government policies.  The difference between our government and the
South African government is in the fundamental vision behind their
policies.  South African whites do not desire integration, whereas our
government does.  I personally believe (and you can read those books
Azran Osman-Rani has recommended) that the preferential policies
practised by the government are temporary and necessary to  aid the
groups that were economically disadvantaged during the British
occupation... A period of time during which our country was segregated
by having different races monopolise different job sectors.  

About our government's attempts at integration... on a personal level, I
have always been very wary of the government's attempts at integrating
our society.  I used to respond to 'Muhibah' posters and TV ads with
skepticism.  After all, it seemed like a joke to have 'peace and
harmony' stuffed down our throats!  And remember all those 'lagu
patriotik' we had to memorize and sing at school assemblies?  (It
wouldn't have been so bad if they were made to a more catchy beat than
the march, don't you think ...) I didn't think I would ever say this,
but there is still a need for these  lagu-lagu patriotik, the Muhibah
campaigns ... because we need the optimism, and the idealism. Americans
have their sports and their constant military show of might as excuses
to rally together under their flag, but Malaysians still need to find
common groundfor unity. Fortunately yes, we still have our food! Malaysia
must be the best example of harmony thru culinary obsession in the whole
world... :-)  

 Shakor R Badaruddin@cb.e writes:
>Yah, Good things in Malaysia.
>You know where in the world you be able to go out and get one jug of cane
>juice (air tebu) from a road-side stall at mid-night and some yong-tau-foo.
>Or go get sop kambing from the mamak stall. You can walk the streets of KL
>late at night to buy your mee hailam but not get mugged. Can you beat that.

You bet! And not to mention, istening to takbir Raya and lagu-lagu Sudir
on Pagi Raya is enough to make the toughest of us get all 'sayu' and
homesick. No Malam Tujuh Likur, no pelitas... and I even miss the imam's
ultra-slow terawikh back home, and breaking my back on the kitchen floor
making kuih on malam Raya.  What I would give for the one-month Easter
hols you UK students out there get!  Tak aci, betul...    

>Have a good day. Its snowing tonight, its cuckoo weather really.
> 
>Shakor Badaruddin.

Have faith! The sun's coming out...

-azleena salleh
Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh
as5h@andrew.cmu.edu
aurora@cmu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean