A Lesson in Malaysian.... Malaysian-ness?
So as most of you know, I steer clear of political issues in my journal in case my views/opinions offend anyone and honestly, more often than not, I don't think I'm well informed enough to make any kind of statement (especially when it comes to other countries and their respective political systems). Despite "politics" actually being of great interest to me, I rarely ever say anything on the issue.
Unless you try to disguise "bullshit" as "politics", wrap it up in a legal parcel and try to shove it down my throat.
I stayed quiet when our self proclaimed first lady insisted that Japan deserved what happened to it back in 2011 for not utilizing solar energy. I kept my lips sealed when Malacca was declared a "smoke free" city but still had packets of cigs being sold in its local 7-11s. I was too stunned to actually form a coherent answer when the Obedient Wives Club was formed over here but now that elections are near (after being postponed for about a year - that's how we work), I feel like I need to make a comment because this time, the victim was a uni student who was embarrassed and forced to leave a Q & A session at a local university for making a well researched and valid suggestion.
To get you guys on the right track (read this before watching the video): "During a student forum event held at the Northern University of Malaysia (UUM) on December 8th, 2012, law student K.S. Bawani confronted the guest speaker and women’s rights activist Sharifah Zohra Jabeen about her pro-government stance on a number of controversial public policies. But Bawani’s question was abruptly interrupted when Sharifah snatched the microphone and cut her off mid-sentence by frantically repeating “listen, listen, listen” before digressing into a lengthy tirade against the student. In early January 2013, a video recording of the heated exchange was uploaded online by YouTuber TvMyMahasiswa."
Student: *gives a calculated break down of how much money the country invests in student loans (about ten billion a year) and compares it to how much the government earns from graduates (200 billion) and makes a suggestion for making education free like in other countries/asks why our government isn't employing the same methods*
Speaker: *bullshits fantastically and beats the bush into submission without actually answering the question. Among her many valid points are:
1. You do not respect me. You call yourself an educated student and yet you do not know how to talk to an adult.
2. Why should we compare Malaysia to other countries? If you want to compare our country to other countries, you should go live in those countries. No one is stopping you.
3.You're an Anarchist
4. You think you have problems, everyone has problems. People have problems, animals have problems. She actually goes on to list (I'm not kidding guys, literally, one by one, list) which animals (cats, dogs, fish, birds, Cattle and sharks) have what problems (cats have to beg for food from restaurants, dogs have to put up with us getting angry at their barking, cattle has to be raised from birth just so we kill it in the end, etc) because God made them that way.
5. She goes on to say sharks are the most tragic animals of all because they get "slayed" for their fins and then dumped back into the oceans (someone's background in English is showing!)
6. "I agree that everyone has rights. Animals and humans. But while you say you have the right to free speech (she didn't btw) I say I have the right - as does everyone else in this hall - to say that YOU are wrong!"*
Cue everyone clapping (because honestly, we're retarded and would clap to anything as long as its enthusiastically spoke) and the poor student leaving, humiliated and silenced (though the last part may be because they took the mike away from her earlier on so she wouldn't get a word in).
Can someone please come rescue me, get me the fuck out of here?
Unless you try to disguise "bullshit" as "politics", wrap it up in a legal parcel and try to shove it down my throat.
I stayed quiet when our self proclaimed first lady insisted that Japan deserved what happened to it back in 2011 for not utilizing solar energy. I kept my lips sealed when Malacca was declared a "smoke free" city but still had packets of cigs being sold in its local 7-11s. I was too stunned to actually form a coherent answer when the Obedient Wives Club was formed over here but now that elections are near (after being postponed for about a year - that's how we work), I feel like I need to make a comment because this time, the victim was a uni student who was embarrassed and forced to leave a Q & A session at a local university for making a well researched and valid suggestion.
To get you guys on the right track (read this before watching the video): "During a student forum event held at the Northern University of Malaysia (UUM) on December 8th, 2012, law student K.S. Bawani confronted the guest speaker and women’s rights activist Sharifah Zohra Jabeen about her pro-government stance on a number of controversial public policies. But Bawani’s question was abruptly interrupted when Sharifah snatched the microphone and cut her off mid-sentence by frantically repeating “listen, listen, listen” before digressing into a lengthy tirade against the student. In early January 2013, a video recording of the heated exchange was uploaded online by YouTuber TvMyMahasiswa."
Student: *gives a calculated break down of how much money the country invests in student loans (about ten billion a year) and compares it to how much the government earns from graduates (200 billion) and makes a suggestion for making education free like in other countries/asks why our government isn't employing the same methods*
Speaker: *bullshits fantastically and beats the bush into submission without actually answering the question. Among her many valid points are:
1. You do not respect me. You call yourself an educated student and yet you do not know how to talk to an adult.
2. Why should we compare Malaysia to other countries? If you want to compare our country to other countries, you should go live in those countries. No one is stopping you.
3.You're an Anarchist
4. You think you have problems, everyone has problems. People have problems, animals have problems. She actually goes on to list (I'm not kidding guys, literally, one by one, list) which animals (cats, dogs, fish, birds, Cattle and sharks) have what problems (cats have to beg for food from restaurants, dogs have to put up with us getting angry at their barking, cattle has to be raised from birth just so we kill it in the end, etc) because God made them that way.
5. She goes on to say sharks are the most tragic animals of all because they get "slayed" for their fins and then dumped back into the oceans (someone's background in English is showing!)
6. "I agree that everyone has rights. Animals and humans. But while you say you have the right to free speech (she didn't btw) I say I have the right - as does everyone else in this hall - to say that YOU are wrong!"*
Cue everyone clapping (because honestly, we're retarded and would clap to anything as long as its enthusiastically spoke) and the poor student leaving, humiliated and silenced (though the last part may be because they took the mike away from her earlier on so she wouldn't get a word in).
Can someone please come rescue me, get me the fuck out of here?