Malaysians, United We Stand!

Hi all!
I didn't attend the gathering at Stadium Kelana Jaya yesterday not only because I didn't want to skip gym, but also because I thought hey whatever you do, the GE13 result WILL NOT change. True enough, the news this morning said SPR has stated that the result won't change with such rallies held. But following the updates, photos and videos on social media and from friends who attended it since last night till this morning, I realised that it may change things. Those people moved me to tears, those people have proven to everyone not only in Malaysia, but to the world that we are all ready to change and to do that, we stay united as a nation, no matter what skin colours we carry! It will change people's perceptions, it will, if not much, a little.

Over dinner Deardo and I shared our experiences after all these racism havoc started by some brainless blogger, leaders and the media. At work, one of Deardo's close Malay colleagues went to him and shook his hand saying:"Kita masih kawan kan? Tak de Tsunami Cina kan?" (We are still friends aren't we? No Chinese Tsunami right?), in which Deardo shook his hand back saying of course! Then he told Deardo this:"Tak pe kalau ada apa-apa, you datang rumah I" (It's ok, if there is anything (assuming riot or anything like that), you are welcome to come stay at my house). 
On FB, I posted a status to express my disappointment that people put the blame on one particular race on BeEnd's win and my very old Malay classmate replied...

I almost cried when I saw her saying she loves me so openly on FB. I love her very very much too! 
I told Deardo, with tears in my eyes, I don't understand why are they doing this to us? After such hard-fought battle to get the people united, they have to make things awkward between us when we are already best of best friends, without racial obligations! Why do they want to tear us all apart with some accusations that are totally not true? Why?
From what I can see, despite the fact that some Malays do buy in those silly statements, some remain 'cautious' that those are not real facts. We may be different in skin colours, we may come from different parts of the country and we may even support different political parties (my friend Saliha works for the government TV station, so I'm just assuming), but that doesn't mean we don't love each other and that we really cherish our friendships like we can't live without each other.

So dear Malaysians, I have something to say about the entire racism thingy.
1) I can't really say this on behalf of all Chinese, but I can say this on behalf of the Chinese whom I know that we have NEVER EVER wanted to take over Malaysia, We have NEVER EVER thought of taking your special rights!!! 
We learned about the Malays' special right in secondary school but I'm sure most of us never felt that we are treated any differently. Perhaps those who got straight A's and didn't get a place in public universities may have a lot to say, but to most of us who have average results, as long as we can make it into any private universities, I must say we actually prefer it that way.
Personally, I think the special rights that help the Malays so much throughout their life have made them a bit more laid back and friendly. If you ask me, they are one of the most friendly people I know! They wanna be friends with you without thinking of any agendas behind them. Honestly, in this case, we Chinese are much more selfish than them.
So yes, you have your special rights and we don't give a shit about having those rights to us.

2) There were almost 600,000 turnout at the stadium last night. Seriously, do you really think all 600,000 of them are Chinese??? Oh come on, some of us have better things to do (that will make money, especially) and some of us are still loyal BeEnd's supporters! A stadium with an amount of people that even a World Cup final crown may not be able to beat,  a highway that turned into car park, with people of all races united just to express their disappointment towards the dirty and unfair election and to show the world that there are no 'racism' in our dictionary... Doesn't that tell you something?

3) Chinese not voting for BeEnd and we became the 'Chinese Tsunami'. Oh thank you for such compliments but no thanks. Chinese not voting for BeEnd because we want to take over the country and eliminate the Malays? Oh thanks again for the compliments for having such high expectations on us.
Up until now, do you all Malaysians still believe in those lies? If voting for oppositions means we voted for Chinese and that Chinese can take over the country, then why did we vote against MCA, which are the real representatives of Chinese? Now we don't even have any MCA members in the cabinet! But I voted for a Malay dude in my area, does that make me a Chinese traitor? Didn't you realise that the opposition has a mixture of all races in it? Didn't you realise if they win, the leader of the country is still a Malay? Didn't you realise that the opposition don't categorise themselves in different parties of different races? Didn't you realise that we, who voted for the oppositions are more united regardless of races? Don't you realise that we are sick and tired of race-based politics?
We, Chinese, Malays, Indians, Iban, Kadazan, etc voted against the government because of the corruptions, the safety and security of the nation and sorry to say because some of those people are just total idiots. We did not vote just for the fun of bringing BeEnd down, nor did we vote to bring Malays down.
So please stop accusing us for things that we have never even thought of doing so!

4) If raising racial issues is totally a strategy to get us all out of the country and you Malays conquer the country by yourself, then think about this... Without Chinese, where do you get Dato' Lee Chong Wei. Without Indians, where do you get the likes of Nicol David? I'm telling you these not to boast about how fantastic we are and how we have contributed to the country. I just want to remind you of the time when all of us Malaysians, and by that I mean all races stood together and cheered like crazy for two Olympics finals when Dato' Lee Chong Wei was playing for gold. Have you thought about not supporting him just because he is Chinese and you are not? No, right? In fact, if I didn't remember wrongly, most of you who went to welcome him home at the airport are not Chinese, because once again, Chinese don't bother about all these welcoming which doesn't give them much benefits!
In Malaysia, we support each other because we are all Malaysians, not because of races. In Malaysia, we are blessed that we have got talents from the Malay, Chinese, Indians and other communities who continuously bring glory to the country. WE ENJOY THIS ENVIRONMENT AND WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT EACH OTHER!!! 

I didn't write this to attempt to brainwash you that you should also vote for the opposition, nor did I write this to object the GE13 results. I wrote this because my heart aches that racial issues became a political tools and that it may create an awkward relationship between all of us, despite the fact that we are supposed to be 1Malaysia (say who?). I wrote this because I want to tell all my non-Chinese friends, I love you all and nothing is going to change that!
To all my friends who feel the pain of losing the GE13, keep calm and we shall see if we can change things in the future. For the time being, we should stay strong and united and SAY NO TO RACISM!!!

*Pictures of the gathering are taken from sharing on social media. 

Keep Calm and Love Malaysia

Today's weather has been pretty gloomy and I think it suits the mood of majority of us in Malaysia.

I'm really exhausted not only because I didn't have a good night sleep, but also trying to digest everything that has been going on either on FB or even discussions at home. Truth is, I'm a realistic person who don't believe much in rallies and petitions, not especially in our country. Yes, I think our General Election was a dirty one, very dirty one, but I don't think we all can do anything about it. So I hope all you Malaysians out there can stay calm and don't do anything stupid that will give people anymore excuses to blame us for. Please, be wise!

Throughout the entire voting day, I encountered some racism comments and statements on FB, particularly.  One of my 'not-so-smart' Malay friends told her Malay friends that a vote to opposition party means a vote to Lim Guan Eng. And then the next morning our 'DEAREST' PM blamed us Chinese for not voting for them. Why? Why at this point do you guys have to mention race differences? Honestly, I can tell you, I voted for a non-Chinese too because I voted based on a viewpoint that we needed a little change, not based on candidates who are Chinese or non-Chinese. Raising racial issues will not help especially when the public are already unhappy with the results! And tell me, how many of you actually want to un-friend your non-Chinese friends? Aren't they sometimes cooler to hang-out with compared to Chinese? Tell me, how many of you want another racial war happening in the country, which may contribute to perhaps an economy slowdown of the country?

The truth is, we have cast our votes based on a simple reason, and that is to have a better nation, and that means peace and harmony even with Malaysians of all races. Nothing related to races or even religions and it's really silly for some people to think so. So personally, friends and leaders of Malaysia, please I beg you, not to raise racial issues anymore for we are truly a multiracial country that we all should be proud of, regardless of which party we are supporting!

Malaysia is my home country and I love it for what it is. To my smarter and wiser non-Chinese friends, I love you for who you are too! Together, let's keep our country in one piece (or two pieces?)! 

To all Malaysians who have made an effort to travel back to Malaysia to cast your vote, thank you! :)

I am an Important 1st Time Voter!!!

I am, and so are you, you and you!!!
In two days time I'll be voting at the General Election for the very first time in my life and I am extremely excited about it. I vividly remember how I regretted so much for missing the opportunity to become part of the very interesting election five years ago.
Compared to five years ago, I'm obviously more political-savvy and have more thoughts about the entire situation so I know affirmatively that I'm voting for some reasons, not only because I want to become part of the history!
So why? You ask me why I'm so eager to vote? Without going through a very long list of reasons that most of you already know, I'll just list down three main things:

1) As journalism grad and an ex-journalist, I know best that media has no freedom and it pissed me off that only ONE party can have their say in the media. Hence all the horrendously done commercials are flying all over TV, radio and newspapers, manipulating the public whom may not be aware that those are not the truth!

2) I simply want a change. Look, truth is, as a boss, when you complain so much about your staff, you fire him/her. As a staff, when you complain so much about your job, you quit. So didn't all of us always complain about our country? How jam is the traffic, how bad is the security, how expensive are the cars and houses, how bad our dear government spent our money on some useless stuffs... Did you realise that you yourself is the cause of all these because you have chosen that ONE party to control all these in the country? Complain, complain, complain!!! Do something about it lar! Why not give another party a chance to proof to you that they can fix all these problems for you? If you are not happy with them, in five years time you can still fire them!

3) I want a better and safer life for myself, and my future generation(s).

Honestly, I'm very tired of all the stuff that has been going on and on in FB! Everything is about the GE 13! All the dirty tactics that I'm not sure whether they are true or not, all the stupid homemade music videos and brainless campaigns... Honestly, so far, I know we can do nothing even if Bangladeshis and Indonesians are send over to vote for the ONE party. So I can't be bother much.
All me and you all Malaysians can do is to play your part. If the rumour is that there are about 30,000 foreigners coming in to vote, we need more than that to change the result! Got it?
Last advice, don't be clumsy when you cast your vote. Make sure you have a clean ballot,clean fingers, dare yourself to request for a clean ballot if you have a dirty ballot and cross within the box. Most importantly, think properly about how you life has been in Malaysia and how you want your life to be in Malaysia in the future.