in my moments of clarity and sobriety, i've been thinking of people (and of course i, myself included) and
things we've done and still doing that are foolish and causes undue and untold consequences...take war, for example...2 parties foolishly never try to compromise (or one party, at least, like america, become the judge and jury, believing that it can cure the world of 'terrorists' while they act like terrorists themselves by creating war here and there) and achieve peace by negotiation...war has grave consequences...death, poverty, suffering, and things that drive people to do more excessive behaviours that causes more misery...i'm taking a stand in believing war is not the answer, but then again, what do i know of the world, in my own naive perspective...
here is one issue i think people need to mull over and try to give proper, thoughtful response, instead of bull-heading and pointing fingers...take the case of manohara odelia pinot...i admit, i know nothing of her, of her family or her friends and circumstances...but being a realist, i inquire, is what her mother allegedly said true?...why she, herself keep quiet about it?....is she as blameless as claimed?....saying that her daughter were being abused by her ex-husband, the kelantanese royalty, and publishing it willy-nilly to the media, incite and fanning the rage of indonesian public that has already been blaming malaysians on many other things....indonesians have already claimed that malaysians steal their culture and whatnot, now we are abusing their citizens (including indonesian maids working in malaysia)...
and i've tried to find news or any blogs regarding malaysians' response to all these allegations...surprisingly, malaysians are more circumspect in our responses...not that i'm saying we are angels and act all patient and understanding...i'm claiming that most of malaysian medias are not actively propagating the issue and blowing things out of proportion, furthering the hatred and rage against the other country...these things are one of the things that can lead to bloodshed and war...did i ever say that malaysian royalties or malaysians blameless?...
no we're not...we're not perfect, we do wrong things and make mistakes but will fanning this unholy rage helps in settling this matter?...to me it made manohara and her mother appear foolish and greedy (why does she marry a royalty in the first place when she already has a boyfriend?her previous lifestyle before marriage is also suspect...we're talking about royalty here...it's a whole totally different lifestyle from manohara's previous clubbing and having fun scenes like the pictures uploaded everywhere in the net...royalty and being a royal, even with all the castles and money, is bound to have its own restrictions and boundaries and protocols)...
anyway, most malaysians are advised not to travel to indonesia nowadays, for being afraid of our safety....i really want to visit jakarta and bali with my girlfriends but my baba, i'm pretty sure will be dead set against it....is this what indonesian government and public want?...to further restrict the economic flow from its neighbouring contry?....with the burden of world bank debt, isn't a bit of help from the tourists, even from the hated malaysians aid in alleviating it?
i don't hate indonesia or indonesians...my father's ancestors are from indonesia...i am admittedly half-indonesian, look like one, however undiluted my blood is...my paternal grandmother still speaks her local indonesian dialect with her family...our family has a lot of indonesian maids...most of my uncles and aunties and my grandmother treat them well...i've seen it, i'm not being partial or anything...admittedly, my first paternal uncle and aunty are harsh with their maids...they give bad impressions on malaysians in general, but the again, they don't abuse their maids....
i love indonesian cultures, arts, music, food, shopping and country...but in comparison, sadly, i've seen how indonesia is like...yes, i've never been to other parts of indonesia other than bandung and i've never seen the whole of malaysia's nooks and crannies (even though i've travelled extensively throughout malaysian peninsular all of my life), but what i've seen breaks my heart...i've seen children begging on the road while i was in the taxi on the way to my hotel...i know malaysia has our share of poverty, yet, i've yet to see ragged children running to cars while the cars are stopping to beg alms in the city....and yet, i've seen claims that malaysia 'steal' a lot of things from indonesia...
did we steal ur freedom?....did we steal ur richness?...looking back to our shared history, i remember indonesia gained their independence earlier, way earlier than malaysia while malaysia was still struggling to break free from the british...is it not supposed to give indonesia a greater advantage in regaining the richness they lost from colonialism relative to malaysia?....malaysia have our share of grief...we lost singapore (admittedly to a rather foolish prime minister) and we had may 13 1969...we had our moments of grief, but we move on, trying hard to make our country better economically and in all other aspects...but coming back to the previously asked questions, in which part did we steal from indonesia?
that issue of manohara and her mother, is this one way to worsens the fragile relationship between indonesia and malaysia?...i'm praying hard that this wouldn't lead to war...here, i'm praying that both of us, indonesia and malaysia to be more circumspect and think deeply before we part with harsh words and accusations...i love my country...it may not be as popular as other south east asian countries like singapore, indonesia, thailand or the phillipines (i have people asking 'ah where is malaysia, exactly?'), but we are a peaceful country, with plenty of chances for education and better life...malaysia is one of the south east asian countries that doesn't borrow from the world bank in the 1998 economic downturn (thanks mainly to our shrewd dr. mahathir) and while we may not be a developed country (yet), like singapore, we are moving in the right direction and i'm proud that malaysia is one of the '
newly industrialised countries'...
having said this, i hope the public will think carefully and investigate before we say things that can only make things worse...depending the media as a way of getting information is not sufficiently accurate...while it is true of the saying 'where there is smoke, there is fire', it is also true that we don't want to willy-nilly jump into conclusions and look like a fool in the end...the media has its own propaganda...we need to look at a story from every sides...
anyway, i'm stressing here that i'm not claiming what manohara's mom said is true or not, but we as a public, shouldn't bicker like immature children about it....let the 'injured' and the 'accused' parties sort things out in privacy without external pressure...after all, who are we to throw stones?...all these fightings in youtube comment sections and fiery writings in blogs (such like i'm doing now), need to stop...stop pointing fingers...it never help...this is my last word on this issue of indonesia and malaysia relationship...i would not drag this further but lastly, please people, just think....
p/s: i may not be articulate but i'd hate to re-read and alter any part of these long-winded post ;)
