This morning I woke up thinking what am i doing here, getting myself frozen, when i could be having a nice plate of nasi lemak and a hot cup of teh tarikh in the market near home in KL?
I know i did run away from Malaysia. It was the only way. As a child I remember having open house for Christmas and mom used to make halal food for our Muslim bretheren. She even hd two different types of christmas cake.One for us, with lots of rum and one halal with no alcohol. We even borrowed cutlery from our malay neightbour. It was fun then. but over the years, fanatism has creeped some where. the same malay neighbour’s kids now with their own kids won’t come to our open house. The people i grew up with, suddenly became strangers. Now they are least bit accomodating. My other non muslim neighbours too hv problems. One ws told she can’t take her dog out for a walk infront of another neighbour’s porch. It is still the public road, but u can’t walk on the road with ur dog. Can u beleive the audacity of someone fighting with another for walking her dog in the main road? She even told my nonmuslim neighbour, if u r not happy, leave Malaysia.
I beleive my family was accomodating to the muslim bretheren’s belief. But it looked and felt like we were forever on the giving side, and finally it became something like we should be happy with our second class citizenship and shouldn’t bother complaining and shouldn’t expect any leeway from the muslim side. This philosophy can be seen in every aspect of Malaysian life. How can i raise my kids the same way i hv been taught tht”I am neither above someone nor below someone” How am i going to answer them when they ask why are we treated this way, when we pay the same tax like everyone each and every year?
My aunt who is a foreigner married to a Malaysian ws once told to convert to islam so she would get a Malaysian citizenship, instead of struglling to renew her social visit pass every six months and being allowed to work.
I hv a friend whose mother has been in Malaysia for the last 47 years and still not given a PR. Her husband passed away few years ago, and she went to the immigration department to change the status. She was living all the while under her husband’s sponsorship and now tht he is no more, she wanted to change the status so her kids can sponsor her. The friendly immigration officer “serve with smile ” tag on him suggested tht since her kids are big and her husband is no more why not go back to her own home country?? Then you see indonesians landing in Malaysia with a PR, all because they are muslims
Islam is everything in Malaysia. For years I hd no problem accepting tht. I hd no problems offering halal food to my neighbours,i hd no problem when my employees disppear for the better part of friday afternoon on the pretext of attending prayers.I hd no problems when the muslims parked every where on friday afternoon and not given a summon. I hd no problem when they started to teach islamic civilization at school. I still accepted all the muslim holidays and even took my annual day off from work to celebrate good friday. I hd no problem with the loud prayer broad cast 5 times a day. But it became a problem when i ws given a summons for parking by the side of a small slip road on good friday near my church. I hv a problem when my church ws told they can’t build a new church. although the land still belongs to church. I hv a problem when i hv to tick my religion in every single application, and and it became a stage tht i hv no rights as a non muslim. I am made to feel obligated to the citizenship tht was given to my great great grandfather. now I don’t hv to live with someone telling me to leave if i am not happy in Malaysia. The rot hs set in.. We are talibanizing Malaysia…once the melting pot of cultures..now waiting to explode