Friday, September 28, 2007

Are We Racist?

Following on my recent visit to Balajoe's Blog, i was inspired to write this true story.

It was 2003, i was in the uk pursuing my degree in engineering. my flatmates were malaysian-chinese, a china-chinese and an arab. we had lots of fun back then. i was known as a party animal, literally. we cooked, watch horrow movies, studied, laughed basically we did everything humanly possible with our student life. although it sounds lively, deep down, i missed my gf(now ex) more than anything else. i like to be alone and always cry myself to sleep (damn stupid!)

one comment that really struck me, "Apesal ko tak hang out dgn kiteorg (a malay bunch)?". i was irritated but i still manage to smile and walked away, leaving the question mark on their forehead. i know when you're abroad, you tend to stick to your group to not feel indifferent. but for me, i want to learn more about others, i have a 'cramped' of knowledge about my race.

so why did i ditch my race?
  • jonathan lim - when grandpa passed away, he was the one to comfort me. the manly pillow talk too. hahaha.
  • david lee - i didnt have a room for a month, he let me sleep in his room.
  • chee siang - when i skip class (or prayer) so much, he would "berleter" just like my mom.
  • ah kit (china) - when im depressed, he'd try to comfort me eventhough he doesn't really know what he's saying (in english)
  • ahmad (arab)- taking me to parties whenever he sees me stressed.
  • huaiyang - would always try to occupy me by playing C&C generals, NFS Underground.
  • heng ngee & daniel - mad about football & guitar, would do anything to get me to join.
  • suet ling - for being a good listener.

i came back home and completed 3rd year here. with a bachelors degree in my hand, i look back, what have i done for them?

thank you guys. you were awesome.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Edwin - Inspiring story as well. Keep it up.

SalamMedia said...

i can never top your story balajoe.

Missy eLLe said...

u r the only one who didn't mix well with the malays overseas. in the course of 3 years in melbourne, tho i do mix with my malay group, most of my hanging out friends were bruneians, chinese, japanese, singaporeas. hongkies and chinese and singh malaysians. the coolest bunch ever!

i miss em too..

SalamMedia said...

i dont think i was being specific when i wrote 'i wanted to learn more about others'. i should include; races, accent, culture, food, language and place of origin.

i believe by doing so, i can think globally, on macro-level. alang2 katak dah keluar tempurung, masuk la dlm sungai, kemudian ke laut (mcm bole je).

primary school - american-ised
secondary - malay-nised
uni - chinese-nised and british-nised.

but still, "hujan emas negeri org, hujan batu negeri sendiri" applies.

i do mix with the malay but limited to football and club activities.

i am a proud java.