Today started like any other Hari Merdeka (Independence Day); sleeping through the morning and being briefly awoken by the roar of the jets heading towards Independence Square. As the day progressed, I came across headlines and words celebrating the day and espousing the virtues of being a Malaysian, and I became perturbed by a question that refused to go away; Why was I not feeling this deep sense of national pride on the day this nation took control of its own destiny?
The feelings I have towards this country is rather strange; I am fiercely proud of WHAT we are but I am sometimes confused by WHO we are. From the website of Tourism Malaysia, our country is "A bubbling, bustling melting pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony". Yes this statement does describe the gloss of this country but it still does not explain what is it that makes me a Malaysian.
When I conduct interviews for prospective new hires for a company, I like to go beyond the standard CV stuff of the person's work experience, education and achievements. I always ask them to describe what their passions are, what values guide them and what they wish to accomplish in the future. Most of the time, I'm able to glean who the person is and whether they would fit in the culture of the organisation. However, if I were to ask this hypothetical person (who magically represents all Malaysians) the same questions, it becomes a bit more difficult. I'm making up this imaginary interview and hoping to get some answers through a process of own psychosis:
"Actually I am not too sure what makes me jump out of bed in the morning. I have too many objectives to accomplish as there are too many demands made from too many parties with their own self interest. They don't seem to be able to get beyond their own personal grievances; one day I'm suppose to protect Malay rights and another day, I'm suppose to promote equality. Sometimes, it's about creating an exciting and vibrant place where global talents will congregate and then withdrawing licences for ballet companies for wearing tights. I don't know, its so confusing that its an effort to just open my eyes."
"My values? Maintaining the status quo and ensuring that everyone is happy. Know your place and be grateful that we have so much already. You ask me if this might lead to bland synchrocity? Possibly but at least we have peace and harmony."
"Well, I want to be a world beater by some time in the future. I'm not too sure what this means and when I want to achieve it but let's just beat Mr. Singapore for a start. Ya, would love to do that because those small farts think they are so grand."
Ouch! Ok I admit I'm being harsh as there REALLY is a lot more than this boring, confused and sometimes hypocritical person. You just need to spend a lot more time to appreciate him/her.
I blame our leaders actually (and I mean both the government and opposition!). There is no clarity on what their vision for the country is and it is vastly open to multiple interpretations. Yes admittedly the Government is trying to do something but it is too confusing and too many parties involved. I don't know what the real differences between ETP, GTP, Malaysia Plan and HIE (ok I made this up but it stands for High Income Economy) are and what role does Pemandu, PMO, EPF, Vision KL, 1MDB and Khazanah (do I need to go on?) have. I am sure it is crystal clear somewhere up there but for us poor mundane Malaysians, we are lost in a fog. In addition, the values of how we are supposed to achieve whatever we are supposed to achieve is vague to say the least. We say one thing but do completely the opposite. We say we have integrity but our politicians are more interested in digging up each others dirty secrets rather than address the large rampaging elephant in the room.
So I suppose if it is the people who makes the country, then it is time for Mr/Ms Malaysia to be represented by leaders who provide a clear direction of where we are going and with the strength of conviction to make it happen. Those leaders should also be placed by Malaysians who believe in saying what they mean and living by what they say. Whatever the purpose and values these may be, at least we can say with certainty, this is what being a Malaysian means and I'm damn proud to be counted as one.
