Malaysian

Often in my previous posts,whenever I condemn or blame the wrongdoings of my beloved Malaysians,I will always address the title of their citizenship,MALAYSIAN. In a free country such as Malaysia,we live in a harmonic environment and surroundings. We are living in a peaceful country,if not in a peaceful world. At least,that's the idea.

However, it's such a sad thing when people often being offended when being addressed about their flaws,not because of the way they're being told,but because of the person who's responsible for telling them. This is where it all will start, the racism.

Here's a situation. I disagree that an old Chinese guy to throw rubbish on the floor of a restaurant. Now,it would be normal if I just tell him off that he should not do that. Unfortunately,that's not normal from Malaysians' point of view. They would say a Malay is trying to be a racist for addressing such issue to a Chinese guy,more over an old guy.

Take a second situation. There's an average Malay guy,throws his rubbish on the floor of the same restaurant. If I tell him off that he shouldn't do that,people won't judge. Definitely people would see a normal and acceptable measure from an ordinary guy trying to teach another ordinary guy how to behave and act like a civilized man. The irony is,both the Malay and the Chinese guy are Malaysians,being corrected by me,also a Malaysian for the matter of fact.

Why would such measure being translated differently by Malaysians? Why can't they see the scenario fairly? Isn't it weird how people tend to judge quickly if a man is racist or not just because of what they see and think? For a multiracial country with independence of more than half a century,what have we actually achieved as one nation? This question often stuck in my head unanswered.

Truth is,as long as racism lives in you,you can never blame other people if you don't feel as much as a Malaysian as they are. There are limits when it comes to confront and advising,we all have to admit that. Not to mention respect towards other races' cultures and beliefs. It's the essence of living harmoniously I would say,to show respect to other Malaysians no matter what their backgrounds are,no matter what skin color they have,no matter what religion they believe in.

I am a Malaysian,and I am proud of my country and the people,if not of their attitudes. For as long as I believe we could achieve unity as one big society,there are lots of effort to be put in order to prove to the world that we can live as a one big multiracial family.

I-City

A couple of weeks ago,I went to I-City with my two best friends. It was spontaneous,since all three of us haven't been there,one of the most visited place by couples in Kuala Lumpur/Selangor/Shah Alam. It is located at Seksyen 7 Shah Alam,40mins drive from our place,Bukit Antarabangsa.

Since it was Saturday night,we did expect the traffic to be a bitch that night. When we arrived,it was already crowded,full of people.Some brought their family members,some were just couples having their regular weekend date,some even from out of Malaysia.

However,few things did make us sad and kinda frustrated. First of all,the parking fee was too expensive. RM10 PER ENTRY simply did not make sense at all. And to consider paying such fee,you would expect the parking space to be well maintained,and under good condition. Yet sadly to say,the pictures explained everything that intended to write.

Secondly,the development of I-City itself is still under construction. We wondered why was it opened to public so quickly. Obviously,if to look at the place from one's perspective,it's kinda puzzling and confusing. With the incomplete drainage system,it is actually not safe to bring kids too,especially when we know they could easily fall during night time if not being monitored by their parents.

Despite all the frustrations,I personally think the idea of I-City isn't bad at all. Kinda an interesting place to hang out,with all the beautiful lights and fascinating colorful trees. To be positive,it still attracts people to come and have a good time with their loved ones. It's an alternative within the big city itself. 

-And yes,there are lots of improvement they need to come up with before the three of us will have the intention to visit the place again in future-

Between Development and Attitude to be Developed (Part 2)

It's been my habit to stay awake all night,be it weekday or weekend,whenever I'm in Malaysia,or at home to be exact. Most of the time,I'll hang out with my close friends if not spending my quality time with my mother watching Malay drama or English movies.

Often when I'm out,be it at mamak stall or at fancy restaurants,Burger King,McDonald's,or wherever possible to hang out after 12am,one thing that I'll never miss to do is to observe how the customers  behave,and how well they take care of the cleanliness of the respective place. But sadly to say,these were what I've found from few places I've visited lately. I snapped like thousands of photos,but I couldn't upload them all here. These are some that I would like to share with the readers.

The first two pictures made me wonder,how impossible it is to throw your thrash/rubbish into the dustbin provided,properly? I mean,it hurts watching the workers cleaning our mess,while we ourselves could help keep the place always clean,for people to come and eat.

The last picture was taken in a toilet at Craven Cafe Bukit Antarabangsa,place where I used to have a chat with my friends,if we're too lazy to drive far from our home. It can be considered as an exclusive place,since most of the customers are rich people,and some of our local artists used to hang out here as well. I guess there's no need to explain how I felt if you take a look at the picture. Surprisingly,there's a bin provided in the toilet,yet people using the restroom still have no common sense at all to throw the cigarette buds in the bin.

I've been reminding myself and my friends,again and again,not to cause public places dirty and to keep in mind that people who's going to clean for us might curse us at our back for causing them trouble with all the mess. As Muslims,it is our responsible to take care of the cleanliness whenever and wherever we are. Such behavior from these pictures will led to bad impressions.

-Attitude matters. The Malaysians need to remember that-

Bad Impression

You tell me,what else can we do to stop Malaysians from doing this all over the city,and all over the country.

 

  

  

 -It is never too late to change,as long as we have the courage to erase bad impressions that other people have towards Malaysians-

Someone Important

Last year,on my way back home,I had the opportunity to snap a picture of a foreigner/tourist reading a book. The scenario was usual,nothing unusual. But,the book he was reading really caught my eyes.

He was reading 'The Malay Dilemma',a book written by our beloved ex-Prime Minister,Tun Mahathir Mohamad. I wasn't sure if he's a foreign student at a local university or something,but this picture explains everything that we need to know regarding our leader. Today,the whole world knows who Tun Mahathir Mohamad is.

-I went home that day,with pride as a Malaysian-

Road To Success

Often,if I have to drive or I need to drive,I always find myself asking this never-ending question:"Why can't the roads or highways that we're using every single day of our lives,being built better than what they have to offer today?"

Try to take a look at the picture below. This picture was taken from the back seat of my car,during night time just across the Wangsa Walk Mall. This is one of the reason why our cars will start to create noises from within whenever you drive on roads all around the country. Not only it isn't smooth,it also looks kinda bad and without quality.

If we are really looking forward to achieve the status of 1st world country by 2020,the least we should do is to fix this problem. And again,attitude's the one that we should change. It seems like it's no big deal,but it is not unnoticeable either. Visiting many countries in the past 5 years did help me a lot to see how serious they are in portraying their image and standard to outsiders. People observe,and they judge. This is something the government,JKR to be specific,should bear in mind.

-It might have been easier for us to not to give a damn,but ignorance kills. Trust me-

Read (Part 2)

In my previous post,I did share something about the importance of reading. Yes,I still and will always encourage people around me to start reading if they haven't start yet,and continue reading if they've started. But this time,I am going to share a picture not of unrelated topic,but from a different angle.

This picture was taken when I was having my lunch on the day I came back from Tioman Island. The girl,a student of a local school was waiting for her brother to send her to school (evening session). While waiting,she took what I believe the entertainment section of the day's newspaper to read. I am not against her will to read,no. On the contrary,I respect her for having the willingness to do that. What I disagree is,the reading material that she chose to read. 

Once,I used to play or have a Tagged.com account. I often made new friends (most of them were girls) while I was active during that time. I did notice however,on their profile,when it comes to "Books",they'll simply put "No",or "Tak minat",or "Tak suke bace",etc. This did bother me,and it still is bothering me until today. The Malays are very famous with having no interest to read at all. And even if they do read,the kind of books/magazines that they choose to read is not helping to improve their knowledge,at all.

It is time to change this attitude. Even the first sentence being taught to our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W was "BACALAH". We should,as Muslims,try our best to follow what has been taught and delivered. And as Malays,I suggest we do postmortem as why are we still behind in everything we do,compared to other races in our very own country.