UNPACKING: MELAYU
Here's a new segment, if you will. As always, it's a form of therapy for me. You know, the whole "reflecting on thyself" and all that jazz. I'm not here to open debates and start arguments. That's not why I'm here. There are other writers out there who'd be more than happy to accommodate you. These are just MY thoughts on the matter, and thus, shouldn't be taken as gospel/scientific fact/academic reference/argument fodder. I just don't like confrontation, that's all.
1. I'm proud AND guilt-ridden of who I am at the same time
See next point.
2. Uh...yea...The NEP thing
I acknowledge and am very much aware that I'm a product of the NEP...all...the...frickin...time. All of my future achievements in my adult life(heck, even my current and past ones) will undoubtedly come with a catch; "Where would you be without it?", either shot by peers who'd question the validity of my hard-earned success(because I have a "leg up", as they would put it), or my parents/Malay-sympathizers who'd lecture me if I ever bring up the idea of racial equality, and the much-overdue needs-based over race-based policy(this, seems like a frecken no brainer to me, especially to deal with corruption and misappropriation of funds). I am the walking, talking, breathing equivalent of "having your cake and eating it". It's like being the only middle-class white boy in a hip-hop crew from Compton.
3. ...more on the NEP thing
This whole "Malay first" ideology is actually a bad thing, for ALL involved, because the Malays are raised knowing that there'll always be some kind of a safety net for them. Maybe it's just me, but if we're talking about reasons to be proud of one's culture, wouldn't it be better if we were known for being resourceful, adaptable and having a natural competitive edge? The simple fact is, the "Malay first" ideology, with regards to the bigger picture, is actually dulling these qualities rather than honing them.
4. Ultra-melayus and Islamic-radicalism
I am a Muslim, and a Malay, and I am as shitless-scared as the rest of you are of this bunch and what they are capable of. For one thing, it's because I KNOW I'm not a saint, and I'm not living in denial, trying to Arab-icize(is that even a word?) myself. Also, because I love hanging with my "braders" and "machas" as much as I love hanging out with my "members". Life would suck if it was a "Malaysia for Melayus only". You know what? Any form of legislation that's Saudi-based would SERIOUSLY SUCK as well, because most of my friends are women!
5. It's all geography man
When you say "Malay" to me, I think of the whole shabang; as long as you have an ancestral link from anywhere within the SEA region, to me, you're some form of "Malay". It was called the "Malay Archipelago" by the mat sallehs after all(Malaysian/Singaporean/Indonesian/Phillipino are simply politically-bound labels to me). I'd like to go further and suggest that we might even be closely related to the Latinos(same biological features...heck, same frecken stereotypes too).
