Will we EVER learn??

What a way to start a Monday! I was going thru my usuall list of blogs in the morning when I came across an interesting article by a friend of mine. Idealistm isn't dead in Malaysia, wrote galadriel. Although the whole article is not the idea for this post, one particular part of it really struck me.

Part of her article is republished below :

Of course local Indians are terribly divisive. Taking after the class distinctions of many centuries. After all Apartheid was conceived in India right?
Here in Malaysia, when we are filling forms, in the race column, most of my brethren would put Indian. But there are those who would take pains to set everyone straight about their ancestry.

Here are some of the refrains that make me wish to “Avra Kedavra” these assholes.

“Ah, we Ceylonese always consider ourselves one up over the rest of the Tamils. We are very strict about our religious rituals you see.” (Same bunch also secretly route funds to the LTTE)

“I’m a South Indian Brahmin. We are Iyers. We are pure vegetarians so we can’t eat at most places”

“Maybe you don’t know this, but the Aryans who came down to the southern parts of India only set roots in Kerala. That’s why we Malayalees are fair.”

“We are Tamils, but we are not like the rest; We are Chettiars (oh…this goes on with other permutations like Mudaliars, Kaunders, Thevars)."

Bloody fools…wake up…now you see why local Indians can’t prosper as a community? In the eyes of many Malaysians (though they may be too polite to say it out loud) you are all just KELINGS.

Now what do you think about this perception? Now then dont let that brain run riot just because you see the word keling there! Heck I get the blood pumping each time I see or hear it too. But then , I think gala is absolutely right here.

I always tell ppl around me especially Indians, 'how do you expect ppl of other race to respect us Indians when we dont respect each other in the first place!' We run riot when someone from another race mocks us or call us names but we do the same to each other with no guilt!

This is the bloody bane of this society. How can we expect change or improvement in the society when we are not united in the first place as we are so vastly divided by our own caste or ancestory groups. I used to think that the mentality must've changed over years of development and multiracial interaction, that the current generation will be able to distance itself from this plague. However now I feel as if things got even worst that it was way back.

There was a recent gathering at Putrajaya organised by some NGOs to submit a memorandum to the PM for him to look into the plight of the Indian soceity. The intent itself is a noble thing but whats the point of doing it when we cannot even identify ourselfs as ONE INDIAN. Who is this memorandum meant for??? The Tamils?? The Malayalees?? The Telugus?? The various Kaunders?? WHO???

Come on ppl! Have we come to a stage that we are asking for handouts? I think we have! The country is turning 50 in a few days times. The world is already in the 21st Century. Bugger we are even going to have a Malaysian astronaut for crying out loud. But where are we?? We are still asking each other...What caste you and what ancetory group you are! Get a life! Is this how we are to progress in this country.

A news article recently highlighted the fact that Foreigners (legal or illegal) in this country numbers more than Indian in total. There are right about 1.8 million Indians vs 1.9million foreigners in Malaysia. And we cant even get the 1.8million ppl to voice out our concerns as ONE VOICE. Why?? Go figure!

This society is going to the dogs for sure. If 50 years in integration did not yield any result another 500 hundred years aint gonna make a hoodwink of a difference.

What makes of me in this matter? As for me, I know what I am doing! One man can never change anything but at least I making a stand on my own. I am the 'man in the mirror'. May GOD save us all.