Apaden?

First of all, I've got to admit that Malaysian Media and Culture was my least anticipated subject during this semester. I've even joked to my friends hopefully I can stay awake throughout this class for the next few months.

But I changed my mind right after having my first lecture class.

I was so engaged and impressed by how Dr Carmen taught in the class. Just for your information, I ALWAYS have problems to concentrate during most of the classes. It always starts with the lecturer talking in lengthy speech, showing endless slides congested with information and texts. Then my mind will start to wander around the castles I built a moment ago in the air, in the end I have to struggle during the final exam. Sounds familiar right?

Anyway, I'm not trying to condemn their way of teaching, it's just that the way they teach, eventually kill creativity and deliver zero inspiration. It's like literally throwing a huge piece of cake in your face and asking you to eat it yourself. Wouldn't it be better if they provide all the ingredients, and give you directions to bake one yourself by asking you questions like: Think of what kind of cake you want to bake today? How do you want your cake be different from the others?

During the end of the day, you will receive enough essential information from the lecturer and be able to create new ideas from it.

And yes, I'm glad that Dr Carmen asked a lot of questions for us to ponder on. I also understand that many lecturers they actually like to ask questions too, it's just that Asian students are more timid and conservative when it comes to speaking out loud in the class. I'm one of those who has a lot of things to say but expressing through speaking is something that I'm really bad at. Really really bad. So, I'm actually very touched by how much Dr Carmen values our opinions, so much that we're all required to blog about each lesson and anything related to this unit, which is why you are reading this now.

I guess the reason why she does this is because: a good lecturer doesn't only convey ideas and information, but also inspire and create passion in us. To inspire, first, you really need to know whom you are dealing with, isn't it? Well, this is just the first lesson, more to go. Who knows during the next lecture she will start to speak in lengthy speech and 'inspire' more castles to be built in the air?

Anyway, to answer the question she posed for this week:

Do you identify as a Malaysian? Why? Does it matter?

Well, if owning an identity card and living in this bolehland for 21 years straight on can be solid proves that I am a Malaysian, then I can proudly say that Yeahhh Apaden, I'm Malaysian laahh.

BUT

Let me remind you a few things.

A few years ago, Nordin Mohamad Top who was killed as a terrorist and was believed to have masterminded a few bombings in Indonesia and Australia, also owned the SAME Malaysian identity card and resided in the SAME bolehland for many years.

Do you identify him as a Malaysian?

That Malaysian rapist who got away from getting arrested and received no punishment, and may pose a threat to you or your family members.

Do you identify him as a Malaysian?

That quiet and introverted guy in your class who complains and condemns Malaysia in every of his Facebook posts.

Do you identify him as a Malaysian?

To me, to identify someone as a Malaysian, other than simply owning an identity card, you also must have a heart of hoping and believing this bolehland will be better. It's alright to complain a bit about the politics, or GST, or whosoever that bought expensive cincin or hermes bag. But provided that you have the desire to make a change, or at least start doing something meaningful to the country.

And so, I can conclude by saying I'm Malaysian. Because I do really envision someday, in this bolehland, we all can proudly call ourselves as Malaysian. :D

Does identifying myself as a Malaysian matter?

Not really at the moment, because we are still now categorized by our skin colours, religions and our social state. Sadly speaking, we are still bounded by many uncivilized discriminations. For instance, many independent filmmakers have been excluded from Malaysian film industry just because they freely use other languages commonly spoken in Malaysia rather than just Malay.

Seriously, you speak hainan, hokkien, foochow, hakka, cantonese and not speaking Malay in the film doesn't make it a Malaysian film?

How can creativity blossom in Malaysia when we have all these censorships to judge and discriminate? Creativity should have sufficient of space and freedom to move around so that it can stretch itself into something awesome and beautiful. So, until the day when we can freely enjoy our rights regardless of our skin colours and religions, it doesn't really matter if you identify yourself as a Malaysian. 

Hahaha I apologize for writing a little bit too much here. That's all for this week's blog entry. Please do comment if you disagree or agree to anything I wrote. Have a nice day.

:D