Of Jackboots, Nazi and Merdeka.

I've been increasingly trying to isolate myself from the happenings of the world outside to concentrate on my studies (yes, you may call it what you want but i learned ALOT about conveyancing in the space of a month) but somehow i caught wind of the racist remark made by the school principal in Johor. Upon seeing the report (its all over the Net by now i think) i was rendered speechless. Even now so many feelings cloud my ability to type properly.

First of all, how could a person of her standing have made such remark on the first place. I mean, the idea is that your position reflects upon your experience and to largely, your intelligence. To me, a teacher sat on that esteemed and respected place shared only by mothers and fathers. Teachers sat on that place solely for their honoured role of imparting knowledge and wisdom to those who had none, a principal would surely rank higher in that degree of respectability but alas, this whiff of fart might dispel that myth. I still find it hard to believe of all people in the world, a principal would utter a remark that preached intolerance and bigotry in front of schoolchildren. We had our share of shocking, racist remarks made by politicians who after all would say anything to garner votes but for an educator, it is simply unthinkable. Teachers and parents play a big role in shaping how a child see the world, like the saying melentur buluh biar dari rebungnya, that is true. If a child is to be subjected to this negative perception of other races from the very beginning then i would not be surprised if later in life they turn out to be ignorant louts with Nazi-like understanding of race relation (which is to say Non-Aryan or in our case, Non-Malays are untermensch; undesirables, unfit to live). Now where did they learn all this? At school.

Whammo! Who will be blamed? the teacher, the education system. Then again the system itself is not perfect in the sense that it has been creating parrots instead of graduates. That however is an entirely different matter.

Whatever the cause of the principal's outburst it proves that even a person that we expected to be wise and knowledgeable can be a total idiot sometimes. Perhaps she is an early case of senility. But who knows..

However, i might be overreacting, perhaps the leaked report which i imagine is now plastered all over the Net was a hoax intended to instigate hate and distrust. Depending on the angle that you choose to see it can be another attempt to discredit Malays, portray us as ignorant racist fucks or another ploy to distract the masses. Again, who knows...

I'd like to believe that come this 31st we as a nation are matured enough to understand and to respect each other without having to resort to blows, heated words and rash decisions. All those are for children. All that the added number year after year should correspond with increase in wisdom, with age comes wisdom as they say. Let us settle whatever dispute or problems like matured adults, a cozy chat over tea. 53 years old is way too young to be senile and i believe if there is a midlife crisis, we're past that. If we truly believe in the aspiration of 1 Malaysia then we should take the first step towards realizing it, lose the hypocrisy, be genuinely interested in your fellow Malaysians. Its not too late to mend the rifts between us all. All it takes is a smile and a friendly hello.

Happy Merdeka Month Yaw!