Where do I start? And where do I end? Tsk.. tsk..
Well maybe a walk down memory lane will be able to get me on track as where to lead people to while they read this. The memory lane none other than my mom’s personal history and background. My mom came from Penang. “Mamak.” And everyone in Malaysia, who is a Malaysian knows very well who a mamak is. And anak mami. They are Malay+Indians with Indian features, yet Malay culture and muslim by religion. So my mom is a bumi, as she has Malay blood running through her veins. Her family was a poor one, and my grandfather was not the best financial planner in the world either. At that time I guess, most of the people were poor. She often told us about her childhood, the traumas that she went through just because she didn’t have good clothes nor good shoes. She didn’t even have enough school books, and she drank the pipe water everyday at school when thirsty.
My mother went to primary and secondary school. She didn’t really excel with straight A’s, she didn’t even have books to study, but she managed to pass, which was quite amazing looking at all the odds which were against her. She never ever thought of going to university, but she had gotten a mediocre third grade for her LCE. Upon getting her results, she was one of the lucky ones as ITM had just opened up its application for those who had gotten mediocre grades in LCE.
She was accepted, she went and it changed her life. ITM not only fed her with knowledge, it fed her with the basic necessity she needed, good food. She learned how good food goes to the brain, how butter differs from margarine, how a good biryani should taste. Apart from that, ITM paved for her the pathway she would never have dreamt to walk on. After graduating, my mother went for Bank Negara interview and worked there till retirement. She also met my father there.
My mother, a fluent English speaker, mind you. She speaks English like an American. She even taught me how to read, and I started reading at four, finishing a whole Enid Blyton book by the age of five. All five of us are excellent academically, in different fields, and staunch muslims too.
The thing is I don’t really understand the whole commotion about UiTM being a bad university, with bad graduates, who are not at par as those in other universities. Au contraire, Dyana Sofya is an excellent example of a UiTM graduate, after my mom.
Melayu. Aah, such a taboo word. Saying the word Melayu seems to cause allergic reactions up to anaphylaxis in certain people. But still, history was written by historians, and could not be wiped out. So the only way to attempt wiping out history is by saying that it is NOT important. What Lim Kit Siang said during 13 May 1969 will continue to hurt many Malays. “Malai-si?” Why the hatred? Why the vengeance? But of course he has changed, over the years, he understood that he should be less of a racist and more of a humanitarian. And this is why we choose to accept and forgive him. However, I don’t know who and why hatred of the highest order is being instilled towards UMNO. Aren’t they Malaysians too? If you hate their deeds, if they change.. where’s the love? No, it’s not just their deeds.. It is their deep rooted origin.. Their Melayu-ness. If they evolved into something lesser of a melayu, then they are most welcomed.
Islam and hudud. It is an irony that in Malaysia, the muslims are NOT allowed to practice their religion, being the majority. They NOT allowed to ban the selling of liquor to muslims. They are NOT allowed to tell muslims to not murtad. They are NOT allowed to tell muslims that it is not right for men and women to cross dress. They are NOT allowed cane a lady who was caught in a bar when the muslim lady herself submitted to the syariah verdict. They are NOT allowed to slaughter on Hari Raya Korban. The men are NOT allowed to marry more than one wife, and yet should be able to have a mistress (no, no authority should do spot checks at hotels etc on unmarried muslims). And the latest is that muslims are NOT supposed to be allowed to implement the hudud law even if majority muslims are for it. So tell me again.. what Barack Obama said the other day regarding the restrictions towards the minorities?
So when the minorities are the muslims, they get bashed for being the minority (read : Thailand, Rohingya, China) And when the majorities are the muslims, they too get bashed for being the majority (Read : Malaysia). Herm.. so now it is not about being the majority or minority, it is just about being a muslim.
On UMNO. UMNO sold many reserved lands to developers (Read : Non-Malays). But still, because they do it for an amount of corruption money which the developers are willing to pay and absorb all of the amount back to the consumers, they are solely the bad guys. Mind you in Islam, both the giver and the taker are at fault.
I rest my case.
Dr Fatimah Zaharah Rosli
Wanita ISMA Activist
Wanita ISMA Activist
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