Think Big Dream High-E12 – Conviction

My Faith

I came from the village. As someone from the village, I thought a lot about my religion and my countrymen. There are followers of this blog who suggested that I gave my views on matters relating to religion and communities. At first, I do not pay much attention to their views. It is a known fact that I am a Malay and a Muslim. As for my friend, he is a Chinese and his religion is Buddhist. Another friend of mine is an Iban and his religion is Christian. There is nothing much to discuss since this is a fact and a reality. We cannot change the fact. As a pious Muslim, I will of course uphold Islam first than the community. For me Islam as a religion is absolute and supreme. Only the Islamic faith can guarantee my happiness in this world and hereinafter. This is a sure thing as promised by Allah SWT.

Now in the media, a lot has been said about communities. Issues relating to the Interlok novel too invite a lengthy debate from all walks of life. So much so due to the intensity of the debate, the contents of the novel has been asked to change. The reason being to avoid surfacing any sensitive issues on race. Personally, I felt that we have sacrificed our intellectual capacity at the expense of criticism from a particular community. Akin to saying, are we Malays, Chinese, Iban, Khadazan or Indians first or are we Malaysians first? This has been the main topic of discussion more so for the politicians. That is why sometimes due to political reasons, we have to change the reality and facts to a pretense or untruth and made to look like the truth from political perspective.

The Brand

Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Mahathir Mohammad, the former Prime Minister is a popular figure within and outside the country. Is his popularity due to him being a Malay or a Malaysian? In fact people identified Dr Mahathir personally as a Malaysian brand as compared to Malaysia as a country itself. When we are outside the country, people often ask us where do we come from or what community do we represent. We then mentioned that we are a Malaysian or a Malay. Sad to say they cannot placed us in their minds. But when we ask them whether they know Dr Mahathir, then it rings a bell. Why is that so? They recognized Dr Mahathir as a product and a popular brand. When they recognized Dr Mahathir then they know we are Malaysians. Why does this happened? This happen because Dr Mahathir is an outstanding personality. He excelled in many fields and areas; career wise, leadership, communication, character wise, family life, as a negotiator, orator, powerful and strong in English and Malay language, as a strategist, risk taker, knowledgeable person and many more. His popularity is not only acknowledged by us but also the whole world. This include the Arabian people, Japanese and even the Jews. Dr Mahathir is Dr Mahathir. Not because he is a Malay or a Malaysian. People know Dr Mahathir because he is Dr Mahathir and someone who is successful in his political career. Dr Mahathir’s popularity matches that of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew is not popular just because he is a Chinese. He is popularly known as the leader that developed Singapore into a modern city state and highly acclaimed by the rest of the world.

My Origin

Eventhough I came from the village, I am not of pure Malay origin. My grandfather originated from Shanghai in China. According to my ancestral information, my grandfather travelled far and wide and reaches Singapore by boat, took the train until the end of the railway line to reach Tumpat in Kelantan. He then took a ride in a boat travelled upstream until he reaches my village. My great grandfather was a pious Muslim and an opinion leader in our village. He adopted my grandfather and converted him to Islam. Maybe due to his good looks, my great grandfather married him off to my grandmother. Their offspring i.e. my mother and uncle therefore looked like Chinese. Same goes with me. During my primary school days, my friends used to jeered and call me names; tokpek which means apek. I cried almost everyday. On my father’s side, his origin is Bugis. My father was a self defence silat Tok Guru. This could be due to his strong Bugis blood descendants well known for their marshall arts skills. Now that is my origin. To call myself a pure Chinese or pure Malay, is not appropriate. As for Bugis I’m also not pure Bugis. So what am I then?. What is clear is that I’m a Malaysian. Dr Mahathir according to his life story is in a similar situation as I am; he is not of pure Malay, neither is he pure Indian. He is a true Malaysian.
Actually a lot of people are in the same predicament as myself. Most of their elders or grandparents are descendants from Javanese, Minangkabaus, Mat Salleh, Japanese, Bajau, Russian, Iban, Koreans, Thais, Arabs, Kadazans, Pakistan, Bugis or even Congos. If we studied carefully, most of our previous PMs were not pure Malays. Tunku Abdul Rahman possibly had Siamese blood in him, Tun Razak had Bugis blood, Tun Hussin Onn had Turkish blood, Tun Mahathir has Indian blood, Tun Abdullah has Arabic blood, Dato’ Seri Najib has Bugis blood, Tan Seri Mahyuddin and Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have Javanese blood.

Our background

If anybody asked, are we Malays or Chinese or Iban first?, our answer should be we are Malaysians first. Similarly with YAB Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, Tan Seri Mahyuddin Yasin, Dato’ Seri Hadi Awang, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar, are known the world over because of their success in their respective fields and they are Malaysians. People know them as Malaysians and not as Malays, Chinese or Indians.

Does it really matter who we are ? or which race we come from? These questions will only crop up when we achieved success and popularity. Then our background will be scrutinized in detail. If a Malaysian lass became a successful fashion designer in Hollywood, obviously people will enquire about her background and origin. If a Malaysian golfer succeeded in beating Tiger Woods, then people will enquire about his background and origin. If a Malaysian girl became a tahfiz Al Quran, AlHadith kitab and obtained a PHD at a young age of 23, then people will enquire her background and origin. If a Malaysian became a nuclear specialist and awarded the Nobel Prize just like Mohammad El Baradei the nuclear specialist from Egypt, obviously people will enquire about his background and origin. This means as Malaysians and parents at the same, if we want to achieve popularity, we need to make sure our countrymen produced children the likes of Ibnu Sina (Islamic Doctor), Rafael Nadal (world ranking tennis player), Mohamad Yunus (created Gramen Bank to help the poor and won the Nobel Prize for his effort), Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and Alhamdulillah we have Dr Mahathir. The bottom line and morale of the story; we need to produce more bright human beings like Dr Mahathir and the rest from among our countrymen. Only by being excellent, intelligent and couple with wisdom bring forth and uphold the superiority of a particular community. By personally being popular, will ensure the relevancy of the Malay community many more years to come.

Who we are

We are respected and looked upon not because we are Malays, Chinese, or Kadazans. We are respected because of our knowledge, our intelligence and more so our uniqueness as compared to the others. This is the result of our creation and innovation, our wealth and assets, our religious outlook and good behavior, our iman and takwa, by being the First Nobel Prize winner among our countrymen, by discovering the cure for cancer and HIV, by discovering new technologies until we are at par with Bill Gates, by our popularity and kindness as a technologist and philanthropists. Make ourselves be in the forefront, be successful in whatever field and by itself our countrymen will be remembered and recognized the world over. The probability of being no 1 in the world in any field is 1 in 7 billion or 0.000000014%. Indeed our chances are slim. It is a difficult thing to do and that is the challenge. If our ambition is to succeed only at the country level, then the world will not take heed of us, will not take heed of our religion. We need to be world class regardless of how difficult it is. This is the spirit and conviction i.e. if we love our countrymen.

When Obama was elected President of the United States of America, then only people know that he is a black American, eventhough this is obvious physically. If Obama in his Presidential campaign relied solely on the fact that he is a black American, he will not be elected based on this strategy. He was chosen because of his unique change agenda which became his campaign manifesto. Apart from the fact that he is smart, charismatic, a good orator who manage to push his change agenda into the hearts of the American people. That was the reason why he was chosen. When elected, Obama became more popular as the first black American President. The Kenyans claimed that he originated from Kenya, Africa. The Indonesians claimed that his step father was an Indonesian. All this claims came after he won the Presidential election and not before.

Totally inclusive programme

Sensitivity and racial disintegration are the politicians game plan. What is more important is our own success and achievements as a member of the community. If the government’s Economic Transformation Policy (ETP) succeeded in increasing the living standards of all communities in a fair and just manner, I am confident, that the racial problems will be minimal. That is why the ETP is an important programme to be implemented. It cannot make the rich become richer leaving the poor to only enjoy the gravy of the country’s successful development plan whilst the contents have been taken away by those with more merits.

If the program is not totally inclusive, the sensitivity and racial disintegration issues will still be relevant and continued to be politicized. Till such time situation changes, novel the likes of Interlok with a beautiful story line will have to be harmonized before it can be adopted as a school text.

We need a strong conviction. We must have faith, confidence, determination, and a strong belief. We have no other alternative. Our alternative is to achieve success and excellence through our own effort. The alternative that will enable us and our countrymen to be placed on a pedestal. The alternative that will make us and our countrymen as reference material by anybody in this world. This is the only alternative that will make us competitive and relevant in an environment that practices the meritocracy system.We need to think big dream high and have strong heart.