(B2) What Does It Mean Being A Malaysian?

To me, being a Malaysian, it’s just not getting the blue identity card or the red passport but it’s who we are, i.e. the culture, behaviour and language. I’ve been brought up the Malaysian way, so no doubt I feel an affinity to my country despite the media highlighting racial discrimination. I cannot deny that the news reports regarding race, religion and ethnicity has not affected me, but every country has its issues and what not and I choose to not let it bother me. I will not be influenced of how I view of other races by these news reports. Yes, I do find it unfair for a certain race to criticize other races or certain race has privileges but it is what it is. Racism exists in other parts of the world; it would be a never-ending issue which continues to gain the attention of the media.

I do respect all cultures in my country. In fact, few of my close friends aren’t Chinese. I celebrate their festivals and enjoy eating their food. Ask any Malaysian whether they think if their food is the best in the world and I can guarantee their answer is YES. Besides that, our ‘special’ language, Manglish, is one of the unique identities in my country. We tend to combine different languages in one sentence. Only in Malaysia. In addition to that, my country tends to come together whenever Team Malaysia is involved in sporting event such as football and badminton.

Every country has the pro-government and opposition. There will always be a party which isn’t satisfied with the other. Therefore, as a Malaysian citizen, we are given the choice to vote during the election, to voice your opinion, to change what you don’t like.

The grass is always greener the other side of the world. Many Malaysians have the perception of developed countries such as USA, Australia or United Kingdom is much better, safer and advanced compared to Malaysia. That is because the way media frames these countries. The media portrays these countries as though it is a "perfect" country with capable presidents, happy citizens. Therefore, Malaysians are influenced to think that they are perfect and despise our home. But know this, every country have their internal and external problems, the bad news just does not get to pass to our ears. I have friends who further their studies overseas, they strongly agree that Malaysia is a better country than the others. Furthermore, Malaysia is one of the few countries that does not have natural disaster (exception of the 2004 tsunami). We are ought to be lucky to be Malaysian, really really lucky!

As to be a Malaysian student, we are definitely fortunate. We are very fortunate to the extend of Malaysian students are spoon-fed. In the third world countries, attending school would be a privilege; some countries even banned girls from attending school. This does not happen in Malaysia. In my country, children are given free education from primary to secondary education. Tertiary education is not as expensive compared to our neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong. There are wide choices of tertiary education institution in Malaysia. Besides that, students are given free text books in primary and secondary school. In addition to that, our government provide all students BB1M book voucher (RM250) to purchase books. This book voucher is extremely useful of us universities students. Government and non-government organizations also offer many scholarships and loans to students. In my opinion, being a Malaysian student, we are given many privileges. We ought to be grateful.

Ask me if I'm proud to be a Malaysian, my answer is a definite YES!