De-Malaying Myself

Let me guess, your parents are probably malay professionals whom scholars would call the New Malay initiated by Dr. M. Your parents were either moderate or hardcore Reformasi supporters during Anwar Ibrahim's dramatic drawback from politics. After a decade of political correctness contemplation, your parents are probably Dr. M's fans by now. Funny isn't it, how politics takes its toll.

We are either the children of the wannabe reformists or offsprings of loyal government servants who are reaping pension benefits from the government. No matter, we are the new generation of wannabe idealists who will be forever tainted with the clashing of cultures; the neo-colonial mindset or the born-again Muslim society. And of course the fusion of both that reeks of hypocrisy and deceit.

Most of my childhood years were spent in schools that boasts multiculturalism where we were taught to learn about yourself then about one another. The self-identifying aspect of the schooling system in good schools in Sabah were successful of grooming a new kind of Malaysian. We were no more Malays, Chinese, Kadazandusun, or Indians in school but could quickly switch back to our customs the second we step into our homes. Simply said, our opinion on good looks differs greatly from the pan-asian adoration phenomenon in Semenanjung.

Life in KL is different though. No no no, I won't deny it, the new generation of Malaysians from all over Malaysia brought together my KL's economic lasso are showing hints of disunity, much to the amazement of the Klang Valley folks.

KL have always been a couldron of racims since independance, caused by our politicians' economic manuevering. And it is proven once again, when HINDRAF took the centre stage of undermining racial integrity, that KL is once again a hotspot for racial intolerance.

A few days before Hari Raya Korban, most of you might have received the sms that starts with Allahuakabar followed by instructions to go and get you parang ready... for Hari Raya Korban. It was a cruel joke, I have to admit and I was laughing my hearts out when I figured out it was a seasonal prank sms. But for the first 5 seconds of reading the sms before the joke is out, my heart was thumping with fear and in that 5 seconds I thought to myself.. I better stick to my own kind if I know what's good for me. After the laughter wore off, I felt sick to the stomach, truth is, I actually felt a deep hatred conjured by the phrase Allahuakbar and Parang. For an ex-sabahan student who'd grew up in a multicultural community, I was actually slightly racist myself! Just 3 years in KL and I was slowly but surely brainwashed by my malay mates way of thinking!

So this is the beginning of De-Malaying Myself. De-Malaying Myself is not about erasing the malay culture out of me but to identify the traits that had made me assimilate myself with racial confrontations. Yes I geddit... there are more racist chinese and indians compared to the dimunitive minority of malay hooliganism but the malays have always been the pioneer of social development and has the influence to urge other races to follow their league. Like how we urge the government to strip off the Kings' immunity because of their constant greed and misbehavior. If we did it once, we're sure to do it again. But this time, Malaysians of other races are no more audience of this evolution as they are a part of it. All of us have to De-Malay, De-Chinese, De-Indian or De-Lainlain in our own pace. We can all start by regularly conversing it at least two languages.

In a few years, we can even share jokes.

Cool innit?