Like that mar...what to do?

I lead quite a blessed life when I’m back in Ipoh. Internet also got, Astro also got, Good food DEFINITELY got...so what’s there to complain about?

A lot really, when you start thinking about it.

I’m ashamed to say that I never thought, really thought, about Malaysia much when I was home. Most of us grow up very contented, going from school to tuition to sleep, day in and day out, with hardly a care in the world (other than which mamak to go to later). Now that we’re older, maybe we start thinking more about the things we just took for granted in school. I probably need to explain that I went to a typical government school (not one of the more famous convent schools) When segregating us into the classes from Form 1 onwards, the “kelas terbaik” would be about 20% non-malays and 80% Malays...despite the fact that many of the malay girls achieved average results at best. Our debate and public-speaking teams got little support from the school, while the predominantly Malay hockey team was mentioned at almost every school assembly. Instead of thinking of ways to increase the school’s academic performance, our headmistress was primarily concerned with what colour the tablecloths in the canteen should be. We went through all the standardised tests (PMR and SPM) knowing that our marks in the science subjects like Biology and Physics, would be automatically pulled up by the graph-system. We left school, knowing that despite getting the necessary results...that elusive JPA scholarship would fly over our heads, right into the hands of a Bumiputera. We didn’t ask too many questions...we memorised and regurgitated information to pass tests.
“Why Siti managed to get medicine...she from Arts stream leh!”
“Aiya...like that one la...nevermind lor, your parents got money to send you overseas mar...go marry gwai loh and don’t come back lor!”

Tolerance is a good thing...when it’s for the right cause. But an ‘anything also can’ attitude is a far cry from our Malaysia Boleh slogan. Why do we tolerate a system which is openly discriminatory? Why do we tolerate the dumbing down of a nation of bright young minds? Why do we only think about getting out and not about how we can move forward?

Because it’s like that mar...what to do?

~DS~