THE CLASH OF THE CIVILIZATION – MALAYSIAN-STYLE!
…BETWEEN THOSE WHO WERE EDUCATED IN THE ‘SEKOLAH KEBANGSAAN’ AND THE VERNACULAR MANDARIN AND TAMIL SCHOOLS.
By Mansor Puteh
THIS IS WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN MALAYSIA TODAY, A CLASH OF THE CIVILIZATION BETWEEN TWO CONTENDING GROUPS, BETWEEN THOSE WHO WERE EDUCATED IN THE ‘SEKOLAH KEBANGSAAN’ OR NATIONAL SCHOOLS AND THOSE IN THE VERNACULAR MANDARIN AND TAMIL ONES.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE PEOPLE IN THE TWO GROUPS HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THINGS WITH ONE GROUP LOOKING AHEAD AND THE OTHER GROUP LOOKING BACKWARD AND ARE IN A SELF-DENIAL MODE ALL THE TIME, FEELING FEARFUL AND GUILT-LADEN BECAUSE OF THE FAULT THEIR PARENTS HAD MADE.
WHILE THOSE WITH NATIONAL SCHOOL BACKGROUND ARE TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO, THOSE IN THE OTHER GROUP WHO HAVE TOTALLY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES AND NARROW-MINDED VIEWS OF THINGS THAT CAUSE THEM TO WANT TO MAKE UNUSUAL AND OUTRAGEOUS UN-MALAYSIAN AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL DEMANDS AND SPEAK IN TOUNGUES.
Someone said there would be a ‘clash of civilization’ in the world which would be divided into different parts between the Muslim world and the west.
Fortunately, this has not happened as the ‘clashes’ that the world has seen are the same types which we had seen before which do not seem to end.
But in Malaysia, a clash of the civilization has happened in a small Malaysian or unMalaysian way.
It is due mostly to the way the people were educated with the majority having the national school experience while the Chinese and Tamil minority having the vernacular backgrounds.
It is quite obvious that the clash of the civilization in Malaysia and the related events and other unnecessary media happenings and creations are mostly due to the differences between the educational and academic backgrounds of those who are drawn into the quagmire.
On one hand we have those with the national school or ‘sekolah kebangsaan’ background and on the other, we have those who have the vernacular mandarin or Tamil school background.
Most of the community and political leaders have vernacular backgrounds; so their thinking is different.
They ask questions which are petty. Their concerns are mostly for their own community.
They thrive as long as there are vernacular schools and the vernacular newspapers.
And as long as they are able to convince their own community to stick with themselves, despite the fact that most of them are not well educated – their community members and also themselves.
How could the community and political leaders of the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia to have such people whose academic backgrounds are not so impressive.
Yes, they are able to speak well in English and also in Melayu. But the buck stops with them when they cannot digress what they are saying or doing most of the time.
Yes, the community and political leaders of the Chinese and Indians are people who are not so well educated.
They have vernacular school background, so they are able to speak in Mandarin and Tamil well. But they did not pursue their education at universities that teach in these languages.
It is therefore ironic that they would flock to the national schools and to the universities where the main medium of instruction is Melayu.
They claim that their vernacular schools are more superior to the national schools, yet, they did not wish to pursue their education in their mother tongue, when they were able to do so.
They cry if they cannot get a place to study in the public universities.
Yet, earlier on, they cry if they are advised to study in the national schools at the primary level.
Now, they are singing a totally different story with regard to their secondary and tertiary education.
So most of the Chinese and Indian leaders are those who are not well educated; most of them only have a basic degree from the local universities.
They speak good Melayu and also English. But they use them to challenge and counter the Melayu leaders.
It is also very interesting to note that those Chinese and Tamils and other Indians who studied in the national schools do not think, speak or write like their brethren who have the vernacular school backgrounds.
In fact, they also do not look like them. They look more Malaysian while the others look like aliens.
And their continued preference for things Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and India, makes it even worse for them.
Worse, they look like tourists in the country who are lost in the crowd of people comprising of the majority Melayu who are growing in numbers and congregating in the cities, towns and other urban centers and residential areas, not to mention the ordinary ‘pasar malam’.
It is too sad that those with the vernacular school background can still insist that they are right in wanting to encourage their young to pursue the same course as they and their parents and also grandparents had.
Haven’t they realized that the main reason for their personal discomfort and instability stem from the fact that they have education backgrounds of the minority, so they think like a minority and behave like aliens to the land?
Don’t they also know that they had also tried to get places in the national schools and public universities and also government scholarships, so their independence is put in question?
The independent schools have not become independent anymore; they have become dependent of the charity of the government.
And those with vernacular school backgrounds have become parasitic in their attitude and most of them are those who drop out of the vernacular schools which have all failed them.
Yet, there are such a small minority of them who are successful who claim that such vernacular schools are superior. They are in self-denial.
Most of the Chinese and Tamils in Malaysia who do not have social mobility and who are stuck in the ghettos of their own communities are those who have vernacular Mandarin and Tamil school backgrounds.
They are stuck with no future or nowhere to go to.
Only those who manage to pursue their education in the national schooling system and later at the public universities are the ones who are insisting that their vernacular schools are good because they are successful.
But alas, they do not dare to admit that they are successful only because they have gone through the national schooling system to be able to benefit from it, and also to be able to speak and write better in Melayu and English.
Their brethren who failed at the vernacular school level are the ones who suffer. They live their life in misery.
Some of them are able to go abroad to work in the many Chinese restaurants, and illegally while the others have to make do with opening up stalls in the night markets and doing small trading.
There are also many of the Chinese with vernacular school backgrounds who are in the world of crime, prostitution and illegal gambling and smuggling of cheap goods from China and the trading in of Beijing women to work in the many massage parlors which are mostly fronts for prostitution rings.
The Chinese and Tamil community, business and political leaders must be open-minded and accept the fact that their brethren who fail in life are those who have vernacular school backgrounds.
Whereas, those who have the national school backgrounds are more successful and less susceptible to negative thoughts and anti-government sentiments.
By Mansor Puteh
THIS IS WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN MALAYSIA TODAY, A CLASH OF THE CIVILIZATION BETWEEN TWO CONTENDING GROUPS, BETWEEN THOSE WHO WERE EDUCATED IN THE ‘SEKOLAH KEBANGSAAN’ OR NATIONAL SCHOOLS AND THOSE IN THE VERNACULAR MANDARIN AND TAMIL ONES.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE PEOPLE IN THE TWO GROUPS HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THINGS WITH ONE GROUP LOOKING AHEAD AND THE OTHER GROUP LOOKING BACKWARD AND ARE IN A SELF-DENIAL MODE ALL THE TIME, FEELING FEARFUL AND GUILT-LADEN BECAUSE OF THE FAULT THEIR PARENTS HAD MADE.
WHILE THOSE WITH NATIONAL SCHOOL BACKGROUND ARE TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO, THOSE IN THE OTHER GROUP WHO HAVE TOTALLY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES AND NARROW-MINDED VIEWS OF THINGS THAT CAUSE THEM TO WANT TO MAKE UNUSUAL AND OUTRAGEOUS UN-MALAYSIAN AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL DEMANDS AND SPEAK IN TOUNGUES.
Someone said there would be a ‘clash of civilization’ in the world which would be divided into different parts between the Muslim world and the west.
Fortunately, this has not happened as the ‘clashes’ that the world has seen are the same types which we had seen before which do not seem to end.
But in Malaysia, a clash of the civilization has happened in a small Malaysian or unMalaysian way.
It is due mostly to the way the people were educated with the majority having the national school experience while the Chinese and Tamil minority having the vernacular backgrounds.
It is quite obvious that the clash of the civilization in Malaysia and the related events and other unnecessary media happenings and creations are mostly due to the differences between the educational and academic backgrounds of those who are drawn into the quagmire.
On one hand we have those with the national school or ‘sekolah kebangsaan’ background and on the other, we have those who have the vernacular mandarin or Tamil school background.
Most of the community and political leaders have vernacular backgrounds; so their thinking is different.
They ask questions which are petty. Their concerns are mostly for their own community.
They thrive as long as there are vernacular schools and the vernacular newspapers.
And as long as they are able to convince their own community to stick with themselves, despite the fact that most of them are not well educated – their community members and also themselves.
How could the community and political leaders of the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia to have such people whose academic backgrounds are not so impressive.
Yes, they are able to speak well in English and also in Melayu. But the buck stops with them when they cannot digress what they are saying or doing most of the time.
Yes, the community and political leaders of the Chinese and Indians are people who are not so well educated.
They have vernacular school background, so they are able to speak in Mandarin and Tamil well. But they did not pursue their education at universities that teach in these languages.
It is therefore ironic that they would flock to the national schools and to the universities where the main medium of instruction is Melayu.
They claim that their vernacular schools are more superior to the national schools, yet, they did not wish to pursue their education in their mother tongue, when they were able to do so.
They cry if they cannot get a place to study in the public universities.
Yet, earlier on, they cry if they are advised to study in the national schools at the primary level.
Now, they are singing a totally different story with regard to their secondary and tertiary education.
So most of the Chinese and Indian leaders are those who are not well educated; most of them only have a basic degree from the local universities.
They speak good Melayu and also English. But they use them to challenge and counter the Melayu leaders.
It is also very interesting to note that those Chinese and Tamils and other Indians who studied in the national schools do not think, speak or write like their brethren who have the vernacular school backgrounds.
In fact, they also do not look like them. They look more Malaysian while the others look like aliens.
And their continued preference for things Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and India, makes it even worse for them.
Worse, they look like tourists in the country who are lost in the crowd of people comprising of the majority Melayu who are growing in numbers and congregating in the cities, towns and other urban centers and residential areas, not to mention the ordinary ‘pasar malam’.
It is too sad that those with the vernacular school background can still insist that they are right in wanting to encourage their young to pursue the same course as they and their parents and also grandparents had.
Haven’t they realized that the main reason for their personal discomfort and instability stem from the fact that they have education backgrounds of the minority, so they think like a minority and behave like aliens to the land?
Don’t they also know that they had also tried to get places in the national schools and public universities and also government scholarships, so their independence is put in question?
The independent schools have not become independent anymore; they have become dependent of the charity of the government.
And those with vernacular school backgrounds have become parasitic in their attitude and most of them are those who drop out of the vernacular schools which have all failed them.
Yet, there are such a small minority of them who are successful who claim that such vernacular schools are superior. They are in self-denial.
Most of the Chinese and Tamils in Malaysia who do not have social mobility and who are stuck in the ghettos of their own communities are those who have vernacular Mandarin and Tamil school backgrounds.
They are stuck with no future or nowhere to go to.
Only those who manage to pursue their education in the national schooling system and later at the public universities are the ones who are insisting that their vernacular schools are good because they are successful.
But alas, they do not dare to admit that they are successful only because they have gone through the national schooling system to be able to benefit from it, and also to be able to speak and write better in Melayu and English.
Their brethren who failed at the vernacular school level are the ones who suffer. They live their life in misery.
Some of them are able to go abroad to work in the many Chinese restaurants, and illegally while the others have to make do with opening up stalls in the night markets and doing small trading.
There are also many of the Chinese with vernacular school backgrounds who are in the world of crime, prostitution and illegal gambling and smuggling of cheap goods from China and the trading in of Beijing women to work in the many massage parlors which are mostly fronts for prostitution rings.
The Chinese and Tamil community, business and political leaders must be open-minded and accept the fact that their brethren who fail in life are those who have vernacular school backgrounds.
Whereas, those who have the national school backgrounds are more successful and less susceptible to negative thoughts and anti-government sentiments.
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