So today was the last day of the 'Kelas Integrasi' module, and the teacher asked (actually, begged was more like it) the class to share about what we personally learned throughout what was a — let me be honest — dreadful five days. Dreadfully boring, that is. Neither of us did so much as flinch. And so, as per usual, she went on a 15 minute (I kid you not) rant. The only difference this time round was that she said something that struck me. Wait, make that some things..
She opened her rant with a 'revelation' to the class about how our nenek moyang used to live peacefully together, regardless of race. She said that Malay parents, rubber tappers specifically, used to leave their kids to their Indian neighbours to be taken care of, as they went to tap rubber. Likewise, Chinese families left their children to their Malay neighbours as they went off to cari makan. Which made me think, do Malaysians still do that? And as I spent some time thinking — not daydreaming, big difference — I wondered how many of my Malay 'friends' are actually my friends? How many would actually invite me to their wedding? Not many, I realized.
Then, she said something that really caught my attention. She gave her opinion on why we refused to speak up, specifying by race. For the Malays, she said that they were 'berlagak' in the way that since the majority of the class and all the teachers are Malay, they develop a 'tidak apa' attitude towards the activities and discussions, hence, not paying attention. Next she said the Indians were too scared/shy to share their opinion because they were just a minority in the class. And it's true; out of the close-to-50 students only two of them were Indian.
For us Chinese, she said we were, in a way, shy. That we were uncomfortable to share our opinion with the teachers simply because they were Malay. I would have shot up to my feet at this 'cause it made us sound incredibly racist. But then again, she was kinda right. She continued, saying that if the teachers were all Chinese, wouldn't you guys be talking so much more? Something I nodded my head in agreement to. And it's not so much about the language barrier, but more to cultural differences.
Now take that concept, and apply it to Malaysia's current situation.
Oh and I want to make it clear that she was not in any way being racist. Even the manner in which she ranted was.. as polite as it gets.
And now here I am, writing this sentence, thinking about what the future holds for Malaysia.
What's He up to?
Hm. I guess NS classes aren't all that bad.
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