Often we hear Malaysians who have gone to overseas to further their studies came back with the conclusion that Malaysians are terribly stuck with 3rd world mentality, despite having 1st world facility. It is not the Malaysians really, rather it is the government who is stuck with such cookie-cutter mentality, though there are some 'loyal' citizens who decided to join in too.
Although the Malaysian government is made up of fellow Malaysians, we have to be able to distinguish between the two by acknowledging the fact that not all Malaysians are involved, or allowed to be involved, in policy making.
Malaysian Government has problems dealing with criticism. Whenever our policy is being criticized by the western (most of the time it is U.S.) someone from the government will make statements that sounds like this: “It is funny how the U.S. talks about democracy when they themselves are disrespectful of other country’s right”. Then they start blabbering about issues like Iraq, nuclear weapon, so on and so forth. Shouldn't they at least ponder upon the criticism presented to them and work on it to improve their policy, rather than dismissing it because it comes from an unworthy source?
Their 3rd world mentality doesn’t stop there. It extrapolates to issues like race and religions. When someone suggests of increasing the scholarship quota to the non-bumiputras, there they go labeling it as “sensitive issues” and effectively dismiss the suggestions. In light of how the government reacts to the UiTM issue as well as the Bar Council conference on “Memeluk Islam”, it strengthens my belief that the government is nothing more than a frog under a coconut shell.
Judging by the comments posted by the people on journals relating to this, most Malaysians support the idea of opening UiTM to non-bumiputras. This shows how much Malaysians have grown up. Race and religions are no longer an issue for us; too bad it is still an issue for the government who then top it up with exaggerations to make it into a bigger racial issue.
I heard how Malaysians brag about our KLCC, KLIA, Putrajaya, Program Angkasawan so on and so forth. But can we blame them for their ingorance? They are the victims of our Prime Minister’s rhetoric speeches on how Malaysia is an idol to other developing countries, how our economics have been very competitive, and many more lies have been thrown to the Rakyat through the national media.
I used to be one of those victims after watching some Malay Drama on TV1 where the location is purposely done in KLCC to portray how developed and modern our country is. But only after reading through many journals and blogs in the internet (such as this) that I finally realize that we Malaysians have been fooled. Malaysia is actually at the bottom end in many aspects especially economy. And I always regard myself to be somewhat intelligent. Imagine those who are not exposed to all these blogs at all.
Having such realization takes time. We Malaysians are not nurtured to think critically. Our education system only accommodates for one-way interaction – teachers talk, students listen, or students get sent out of the class. Can we blame the students for not being able to think critically when all answers are being laid out for them? So who is to blame for this? None other than the government who is responsible for structuring our education system.
We also hear about how Malaysians drive too recklessly on the road. No, I am not going to blame the government for this. The individual itself is at fault of course. I won’t say the government is responsible when we have individuals running the red light or speeding on the zebra crossing. But I shall blame the government for hiring police traffic that can be bribed easily with money. Come on, how often do we hear stories of people successfully escape from paying RM100 parking ticket by feeding RM50 to the police? Too often I reckon. Here in New Zealand, if you get a ticket, you get it. No questions asked.
If we are sick with people labelling us as a nation of 3rd world mentality, remember that more often than not, it links back to our government. I truly believe we Malaysians are all intelligent and smart. But the current situation that we are all in, are suppressing us from rising as a 1st world nation.
Tags:
government, race, religion
Posted at: 04:14 PM | Add Comment
