UK had always been my first choice in continuing my medical study in. I had many country choices during my college time and in IMU. Lot of my friends wanted to go to Ireland and of course a lot more who wouldn’t care to mind which countries they would be placed to. I deliberately crossed Ireland simply because they’re too many Malays there. I’m not a racist, plus, I am myself aforementioned Malay.
In my view, there are two main reasons of why Malaysian government sponsors its students to go abroad: one, they have better education system than ours. two, one which many Malay students tend to leave out, to learn other cultures. The simplest way to learn foreign cultures is to mingle with the locals. Many thought to join the local students during group discussion can be considered as the act of mingling. I deeply doubt if discussion about “The effects of Propranolol on the beta 2 sympathetic receptors” has anything to do with learning new cultures. It is verily agreeable to claim that Malaysians (especially the Malays) students do not extend their conversations with the home students beyond the class discussions except during gatherings.
If a little more effort is put on approaching the local students, our students should not have a problem in getting their non-Malaysians to talk. In fact, the local students are very approachable and friendly in nature. True, while some of them are easy to get close with, others may treat you in an icy cold manner. Sometimes, they can be very cocky and snobbish. No doubt. It’s a rather common sighting here in Nottingham. I don’t view those as a problem, instead, I see it as a challenge.
Back in IMU, I was closer with the Mauritians students than to the Malays. I also have friends among the Malays of course but it was with the Mauritians I hung out more with, talk about my study with, share jokes with, etc. I did all that not by isolating myself from the Malays but rather by opening myself to all kind of backgrounds. I did it by wandering alone away from the Malays. Say, if I wanna play futsal with the Uzbeks, I asked 1 or 2 Malay chaps to join me. That doesn’t necessarily mean I didn’t play if none of my Malay friends could turn up. There were many times, I was the only local students playing futsal with students from Pakistan, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mauritius and Iran.
Be it in Malaysia or in other places at all, it’s very unlikely for me to befriend the non-Malay if I’m always surrounded by Malays eg, walk with the Malays, eat with the Malays, study with Malays, hangout with the Malay, etc. There no penetration channel through which the non-Malays can enter. Yeah, it’s possible, if you do all those, you still get non-Malay friends but are they the friends who you learn new culture from?
By culture, I mean not their festivals or traditional dress but rather how they think. Human thought are generated richly by their background (one of its component is none other than culture). The Chinese and Indians surely don’t think like the Malays do. They don’t share the similar types of joke. They don’t even laugh in the same manner for crying out loud.
From my experiences with the non-Malays (I studied in Chinese schools and entered private University in which Malays were among the minority students), I learned different behaviors and put it in practice. In many instances, I could predict how the Malays and Chinese would react given certain set of circumstances. For example, a Malay guy usually waits for his friend if they were to be late for a class. Say 10 minutes late. They go down together. Friends for life. As for Chinese, they usually don’t wait for each other if one of them is late. The late guy would ask his friend to go first or the friend just leaves him. Another almost similar example is during dinner. If the food is served first to a Chinese girl, she would eat first but of course after asking her other friends. As for the Malays, they would wait until all the food is served before one can lift up the spoon or wash his hands.
Above examples are of course the primitive instances of varied differences in cultures but my point I presume, is delivered. It is a good life if you can have a lot of Malay friends who care for you and always be with you whenever you need them but don’t you think life would be richer if the ones who can care and be there for you are dispersed among different skin colors?
I consider myself as a Malaysian not as a Malay. My best friends could be Malays, my roommate could be an Indian and my girlfriend could be a Chinese. A lot of students find it hard to like other races other than their own. How can you expect to like something or someone if you don’t know them? The process of knowing other people take shape in the form of socializing. When you’re with a Chinese or an Indian, try to talk about their interest instead just about study.
We heard many times from our uncles or aunties, the Chinese and Indian are different from us. We can’t fully understand them, god forbid must you marry one of them. We need to protect our own race. If you don’t protect your own people, then who else will? While they are quite true even at this point in time, that doesn’t mean it will remain relevant 30 years down the road. One day (I pray), in Malaysia, we shall see a shift in perception. You’re children will no longer valued from their backgrounds but rather from their knowledge and wealth. I look forward to seeing one day, we become a nation like Singapore and the United Kingdom where race is not a big problem.
I don’t hate the Malays, my friends are composed of Malays mostly. My best friends are Malays (and the Mauritians). I talk in Malay, I laugh in Malay, I think in Malay. However, I believe we’re created to inherit this world to know and help each other irrespective of our language.
In my view, there are two main reasons of why Malaysian government sponsors its students to go abroad: one, they have better education system than ours. two, one which many Malay students tend to leave out, to learn other cultures. The simplest way to learn foreign cultures is to mingle with the locals. Many thought to join the local students during group discussion can be considered as the act of mingling. I deeply doubt if discussion about “The effects of Propranolol on the beta 2 sympathetic receptors” has anything to do with learning new cultures. It is verily agreeable to claim that Malaysians (especially the Malays) students do not extend their conversations with the home students beyond the class discussions except during gatherings.
If a little more effort is put on approaching the local students, our students should not have a problem in getting their non-Malaysians to talk. In fact, the local students are very approachable and friendly in nature. True, while some of them are easy to get close with, others may treat you in an icy cold manner. Sometimes, they can be very cocky and snobbish. No doubt. It’s a rather common sighting here in Nottingham. I don’t view those as a problem, instead, I see it as a challenge.
Back in IMU, I was closer with the Mauritians students than to the Malays. I also have friends among the Malays of course but it was with the Mauritians I hung out more with, talk about my study with, share jokes with, etc. I did all that not by isolating myself from the Malays but rather by opening myself to all kind of backgrounds. I did it by wandering alone away from the Malays. Say, if I wanna play futsal with the Uzbeks, I asked 1 or 2 Malay chaps to join me. That doesn’t necessarily mean I didn’t play if none of my Malay friends could turn up. There were many times, I was the only local students playing futsal with students from Pakistan, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mauritius and Iran.
Be it in Malaysia or in other places at all, it’s very unlikely for me to befriend the non-Malay if I’m always surrounded by Malays eg, walk with the Malays, eat with the Malays, study with Malays, hangout with the Malay, etc. There no penetration channel through which the non-Malays can enter. Yeah, it’s possible, if you do all those, you still get non-Malay friends but are they the friends who you learn new culture from?
By culture, I mean not their festivals or traditional dress but rather how they think. Human thought are generated richly by their background (one of its component is none other than culture). The Chinese and Indians surely don’t think like the Malays do. They don’t share the similar types of joke. They don’t even laugh in the same manner for crying out loud.
From my experiences with the non-Malays (I studied in Chinese schools and entered private University in which Malays were among the minority students), I learned different behaviors and put it in practice. In many instances, I could predict how the Malays and Chinese would react given certain set of circumstances. For example, a Malay guy usually waits for his friend if they were to be late for a class. Say 10 minutes late. They go down together. Friends for life. As for Chinese, they usually don’t wait for each other if one of them is late. The late guy would ask his friend to go first or the friend just leaves him. Another almost similar example is during dinner. If the food is served first to a Chinese girl, she would eat first but of course after asking her other friends. As for the Malays, they would wait until all the food is served before one can lift up the spoon or wash his hands.
Above examples are of course the primitive instances of varied differences in cultures but my point I presume, is delivered. It is a good life if you can have a lot of Malay friends who care for you and always be with you whenever you need them but don’t you think life would be richer if the ones who can care and be there for you are dispersed among different skin colors?
I consider myself as a Malaysian not as a Malay. My best friends could be Malays, my roommate could be an Indian and my girlfriend could be a Chinese. A lot of students find it hard to like other races other than their own. How can you expect to like something or someone if you don’t know them? The process of knowing other people take shape in the form of socializing. When you’re with a Chinese or an Indian, try to talk about their interest instead just about study.
We heard many times from our uncles or aunties, the Chinese and Indian are different from us. We can’t fully understand them, god forbid must you marry one of them. We need to protect our own race. If you don’t protect your own people, then who else will? While they are quite true even at this point in time, that doesn’t mean it will remain relevant 30 years down the road. One day (I pray), in Malaysia, we shall see a shift in perception. You’re children will no longer valued from their backgrounds but rather from their knowledge and wealth. I look forward to seeing one day, we become a nation like Singapore and the United Kingdom where race is not a big problem.
I don’t hate the Malays, my friends are composed of Malays mostly. My best friends are Malays (and the Mauritians). I talk in Malay, I laugh in Malay, I think in Malay. However, I believe we’re created to inherit this world to know and help each other irrespective of our language.
