"it is an argument. not a negotiation"
this happened a while ago.
i was seated next to this lady during a dinner. very intelligent, sharp and articulate, with the breadth of knowledge of a sage. so we had this conversation that naturally progressed to what i was doing. i told her i was a government scholar. and her face changed. was rather suprised by the gesture, yet i knew why she reacted that way... me being a malay and a scholar brought along some negative connotations. that i may have taken away the opportunity of many chinese and indians more deserving of the scholarship.
perhaps.
ever so often i hear of champion moralists with an agenda, arguing relentlessly on the state of the world/country/etc. zealots have a way of convincing people of their dramatized one-way-mirror bullshit. i wonder: is there any bigger bullshit than an argument?
but even meritocracy has its flaws you know? so does democracy and capitalism, but everyone knows that. so before anyone wants to talk about how fucked up the government is or how unfair our education system is to the non-malays, bring something fresh to the table. or i could care less about it.
one thing i would not do is apologize. no offense, but sans my parents, i do not believe i owe anyone anything.
i was seated next to this lady during a dinner. very intelligent, sharp and articulate, with the breadth of knowledge of a sage. so we had this conversation that naturally progressed to what i was doing. i told her i was a government scholar. and her face changed. was rather suprised by the gesture, yet i knew why she reacted that way... me being a malay and a scholar brought along some negative connotations. that i may have taken away the opportunity of many chinese and indians more deserving of the scholarship.
perhaps.
ever so often i hear of champion moralists with an agenda, arguing relentlessly on the state of the world/country/etc. zealots have a way of convincing people of their dramatized one-way-mirror bullshit. i wonder: is there any bigger bullshit than an argument?
but even meritocracy has its flaws you know? so does democracy and capitalism, but everyone knows that. so before anyone wants to talk about how fucked up the government is or how unfair our education system is to the non-malays, bring something fresh to the table. or i could care less about it.
one thing i would not do is apologize. no offense, but sans my parents, i do not believe i owe anyone anything.
posted by (nothingness) at 04:15
3 Comments:
Yeah it's such a shame that all this
so called 'affirmative action' is actually detracting from the fact that some people who apparently 'benefit' from it actually deserve it. In an egalitarian society it wouldn't matter would it whether you are malay, chinese, indian, black, white, red, green, whatever because everyone would get the same opportunity. Too bad we're so far away from that at the moment, we are doomed to be enmeshed in the reprecussions of negative connotations and meaningless rhetoric for generations to come.
P.S. I couldn't qualify for a government scholarship because of the *course* I wanted to do. Now I lari to an Aussie uni where I got to pay through my nose just because I dowan to be doctor/accountant/engineer. Where got fair one? LOL =)
imagine you natasha, a goverment backed journalist!?!
but then again, maybe that'll be beneficial for em. hahaha.
okay this is beginning to sound political. i don't like politics. but many overseas students are put in a position that is very much uncomfortable because unlike in malaysia where chances are you'd stick with likeminded goons, here we actually have to confront the issues.
perhaps, her only mistake, based on your description of her, is her changed expression.
after all, she was most likely born into a society of stereotypes which often give excuses for people to play the race cards.
Post a Comment
<< Home