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Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Malaysia UNtruly Asia

This isn't a new subject I'm soon ranting about, but those sneaky neighbours are getting completely out of hand.
A couple of weeks past I've learned that they have, yet again, snatched and claimed one of Indonesia's priceless heritage as theirs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am talking about the "Rasa Sayangeeee" Song.

That song, is of the Island of Moluccas origin. One of the most easiest ways to distinguish a Moluccan, is by the way they say 'eeee' at the end of every sentence. That is not, I believe, a trait of Melayu people, whose distinguishable sound is : 'pe-laaah', 'aaah', and the scrunched up 'can' . (How I wish I could emulate them to give you a vivid picture. Sadly, but thank God for it, theirs is one of the few accents I haven't been able to imitate.)

The reason why we Indonesians are so pissed, is because this last is the most recent of their never ending attempts to steal other people's culture. Let's not forget the lost Sipadan and Ligitan Islands, whose geographical lines have always existed inside Indonesia's territory, but due to Indonesia's people own stupidity of not looking after what is theirs, it's bloody well gone now. And OK, for this one I can admit the fault is somewhat ours, albeit reluctantly.

But what about the rest of their inhumane and degrading treatment to us?
How, most recently a Karate expert from Indonesia was randomly attacked by a group of Malaysian officers without even given a clear reason why he was attacked, and when he only reasonably tried to fight back, he got pounded even worse.
How, the Indonesian workers who clean their homes and make their houses are rarely paid well, are often treated with hot-tempered hands, subjected to vicious cruelty nothing short of having boiling water thrown carefree at you, discrimination and undeserved scorn.

How, they refuse to call us by our proper name: 'Indonesia' and insultingly say 'Indon'.
How, when I went there a couple of months ago, at the airport I was stopped and got badgered by arrogant dicks who looked their noses down on me only because I happen to wear a headscarf and look like I might be Indonesian.
How, they claim our Batik and Dayak patterns when for God's sake, those two go hand-in-hand with the area it comes from, that when people go to Jawa, they see Batik. When people go to Kalimantan (Borneo), they see Dayak people, Dayak patterns, Dayak shields. But just because you happen to own a part, an insignificant part at that, of our island, you dare to claim what is rightfully ours. And you bloody well know it.
How, they think we're stupid and look at us like we're the dirt who had the nerve to lay grace upon their spic and span bedpan. And because of it, think they exist, live and breathe on a higher level than us and that every Indonesian who go there must be a servant. No, we can't be smart people. No, we can't be intellectuals. Surely, surely we can only be dicks.
And to think they were actually educated by Indonesians before.

So people, those are some of the reasons why Malaysia, is UNtruly Asia. Because all they can do, honestly, is claim bits and pieces of everybody else's culture.

Of course, I realize that I may be generalizing here and stretching the application of this particular entry a bit far, so let this be a disclaimer: this entry applies and applies only to those who act like what has been mentioned in this entry from start to finish. Anybody else who feel it's untrue, well, then it doesn't apply to you.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

i agreed on most, but speaking of "inhumane" acts, Malaysians arent the only one doing it, i think. like the intolerable amount smoke we've sent there from circa '98 until now...or how we unashamedly still watch (and demanding for more) those crappy remakes of stolen stories on TV (candy-candy, meteor garden and whatnot)...or how our musicians stole music and consider it their creation ("imigrant song" and "pangeran cinta"...and so forth)...so what are we, then? the originals? and malaysians, the plagiators, robbers of our cultural heritage? personally i didnt feel like i was being robbed: i still have my batik, my "rasa sayange". they might claim that those are theirs, but they cant ban me--or any other Indonesians--from having them, and loving them. peace-salam-shalom-damai!