A fragile nation obsessed with symbols

While there are wars going on in some parts of the world, famine in our neighbouring countries, extreme poverty within Malaysia and all bordering countries, we Malaysians have found it appropriate to place Wee Meng Chee on the front pages of our newspapers and threaten him with prosecution under the Sedition Act. What is even sadder is that this is a 24 year old boy, oh, sorry, MAN.(he is not a boy anymore according to Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri)
*cue Britney Spear's "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman"

He merely sang Negaraku with his own interpretations and telling the rest of the world who tuned into his YouTube video, of his fears and his reservations about the way the country was being run and where it was headed.
Is he not entitled to?Apparently he IS entitled to but there are "proper channels" to voice his displeasure? Erm, like what?Shout it out on top of Mt. Kinabalu where nobody can hear?

Is he being persecuted not because he sang Negaraku and so called insulted it but because it insulted Islam and Muslims? Would it have made a difference if he called Buddha fat and Jesus a hippie and hence all their followers suckers? Would the Persatuan Pelajar-Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung(or something like that) demand a public apology and insist he had to do it on another video posted on YouTube?

First I digress- Why is a Persatuan Pelajar-Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung allowed to be set up? Isnt it discriminatory and may cause racial tensions (ala the reason why a Chinese Association was not allowed to be set up in a University because it was limited to Chinese and may hence caused "racial tensions")? Why is there a need for an Association to so call represent Pelajar-Pelajar Melayu? In fact, do they actually represent all the pelajar-pelajar Melayu? I dare say most of my friends in KMYS (where 90% are Muslims) probably never even heard of this Association speaking on their behalf and demanding public apologies from others. And who the heck are they to demand anything?

So what I can surmise from this whole episode is that its not about the Negaraku. If it were, it just goes to show how fragile a nation we are. That a Chinese MAN could by singing Negaraku the "wrong" way on a YouTube video, insult the whole nation and jatuh muka Malaysia. I bet the Australians(yes, it made it to the Aussie press) are thinking how stupid we are. I bet all Malaysians outside of Malaysia are cringing in shame when asked "why Malaysians are making a big deal out of a song".

I wonder if the Singapore Government feels that Singaporeans are insulting their national anthem when 50% of them(more or less) have no idea what it means as it is sung in Malay. Many of them have no idea when their National Day is either. Should those who do not understand (but sing it with gusto) be prosecuted?What about those who say "National day-ah, I dont know when leh." Prosecute them too?

I have mentioned in previous posts before about Malaysia and our incessant obsession with everything symbolic. Flags, songs, campaigns, material things. Its not about the people, its not about us as Malaysians understanding the history and the struggles of becoming a nation. What if say, Wee Meng Chee is a MAN who knows and understands the history of Malaysia so well he could beat Badawi in a quiz about the country, but he sang the Negaraku "wrongly", is he any less a Malaysian?

You know who and what I think its not Malaysian?

Those who brandish the keris and call out for Chinese blood, where Chinese/Indian festivals are not considered a Public Holiday, but all other Muslim celebrations are- Awal Muharram, Hari Raya Qurban, Nuzul Al-Quran, etc etc, where our ex Ms. Malaysia is not even brought up in Malaysia and speaks with a damn Aussie accent,where we have to tick "Chinese, Malay, Indian or lain-lain" when we fill out forms, where certain properties are marked "Bumiputra bidders only" eventhough its not a Malay Reserve land (and this Reserve land is another one as well), allowing Muslims to park any damn where they please when its Friday prayers but saman the rest of us when we park illegally, calling for Muslim women to be allowed to go home early when they fast during Ramadan but not for Christians who also fast....
Those are but a few, the list is long.
THAT I considered being UNMALAYSIAN. Simply because its race based. Being Malaysia is not about being of a particular race, but being a NATION bonded by similarities of being born and bred here and nurtured in our very own Malaysian cultures and environment.

Where if we have a foreigner come up to us and say "Your country is very hot" we shout with gusto "WHY CANNOT MEH? YOUR COUNTRY DAMN COLD LA NOW? YOUR SUMMER NOT HOT MEH? or if he says our food is disgusting, we remark "Well EXCUSE ME, I happen to think its fabulous!"

We as a nation are fragmented from within, so many of us are being discriminated in the INSIDE, but we fight "forces" from the outside with fervour, hoping to blind the rest of us from the injustices breeding within.

I can see. I can hear. And I sure as hell know what it is to be Malaysian. A song will not insult me. My Government sidelining me? THAT is the biggest insult.