Since Biro Tatanegara has been a hot issue of the late, thanks to an ADUN friend who brought out that matter at the Selangor State level, I will try to write of my personal experience and be as impartial as possible. To date, I’ve already gone to TWO BTNs as part of the pre-departure course under PNB and MARA. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about it.
I will talk about the food things first. Did I just say food? That was not a blatant typo but the food at BTNs is just AMAZING! I do not know if it has got to do with the hectic of jungle trekking or the marching practices but the food is simply fantastic. They may be simple Malaysian dishes like ‘ikan kembung goreng’ or ‘sayur campur’ but somehow even the steamed rice has some magic in it.
The ‘Pakcik Komandos’, I must say, are the unsung heroes in BTN programmes. They may look like they can eat you alive, but they are the nicest people around. They are very helpful, polite and really funny too. Their spontaneous jokes might have some repeated ones (just like other stand-up comedies anyway) but they can really make me laugh my flatulence off.
The programme itself, when done together for the whole group, is actually really good. It promotes unity, indoctrinating participants of the history of Malaysia, nationalism and patriotism (I do not know if they are of any different). During my second BTN in Negeri Sembilan, Namawee was the star of the show.
Note: Namawee, you can rap all you want mate, but rapping out of our National Anthem is somewhat disgraceful. Use Rasa Sayang or Anak Ayam if you may. They worked for Too Phat.
The difference between the two BTNs I attended is actually the age group. The first BTN was attended by pre-U students while the second one was mostly comprised of post-grad students. The level of maturity by the participants between the two was obvious but still I could find a ‘gila kuasa’ Penghulu making an idiot of himself. (I will not elaborate more).
The second BTN gave us some real life stories in which I found really helpful in terms of finding the truth out of it. This includes the Negarakuku as said above, Kampong Baru incident, corruption statistics (with the then ACA being the most corrupt) and others. Then we were separated into smaller groups of 10 to 15 I think. Now comes the bad part.
It was really weird when the groups were distributed, the Non-Malays (including Sabah Sarawak Bumiputras) are grouped together as one or two groups. I was quite angry not to be part of the Non-Malay group so that I could mingle with them more. (And of course, the fit girl I fancied went to the group as well :P). Later, I realised why the distribution was like so.
From my two visits to BTN, both facilitators that I got were downright RACISTS! The first BTN in Balik Pulau, there were two Chinese girls in my group but that didn’t stop the fascist facilitator from bashing the Chinese and Indians as ‘bangsa pendatang’ and making racist comments. Since I had enough of him, I planned on questioning his motives but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the group and so, I asked him one plain question right after the scheduled brainwashing class.
He was commenting on the way how DAP-Cina would administer the federal government. DAP was labelled as a Communist Party that would only anger the Malays because of their principles. And so, I asked him, “Kita sekarang ni, di Balik Pulau. Kenapa saya lihat kawasan di Balik Pulau ni seakan tidak maju? Dan rata-rata penduduknya Orang Melayu. Kenapa UMNO biarkan Gerakan ‘tindas’ orang Melayu dan orang Kampung di Balik Pulau dari segi pembangunan?”
Do you know what he answered?
“Kita sedang pantau mereka. UMNO sedang pantau mereka…”
What is that supposed to mean? Pantau? Is that the best you can do? Just now you were talking your wrinkly-racist-balls out like the world is yours and now, you are telling me the best you can do to these Chinese Penang government is to monitor their progress? Just because they are part of BN?
Why cudn’t you say the same to them just like you said about DAP?
I think he’s got himself the taste of his own medicine. He wanted to be Ultra-UMNO, Ultra-Malay but deep in his heart, he knows that he, being a big-headed veteran, we are all Malaysians after all and he shouldn’t play the racist card as he will end up answering tough questions like that with stupid answers like so.
I did nothing but shook my head with a bit of a smirk on my face. BTN is such a good way to promote unity and to remind us of the sacrifices our fore-fathers had made in order for us to enjoy peace and harmony in Malaysia. However, because of this kind of fascists roaming around freely trying to ‘convert’ the participants into anti-Non-Malays Group has somewhat tainted the BTN image. They shouldn’t be allowed to even step foot on the Malaysian soil at all!
Then, there was one question that the group had to answer, the one big fat question that all participants will be talking about after the course. I knew right from the start that the answer was going to be:
“C: Give the project to the Government-friendly consortium although it has poor knowledge and expertise about the project.”
It is because I know A and B had the keyword “Opposition” and “Foreign Company” respectively, and after all we only had the so-called ‘healthy’ one-way discussion with The Fascist so I urged the group to just pick C so that we could have an early lunch!
Away from my own experience, I was told by my friend that her Muslim friend was asked one question that goes “If you have to choose one, would you pick the country first or your religion first?”
Being a boss for some time in a Multinational Company, she answered, “Islam first”.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I will pick religion over country.”
“Why? Without our country, there will be no Islam!”
“No, I will choose Islam over country at all cost. I am a Muslimah”
Muslimah indeed, not your Dina Zaman-like ‘Muslimah’.
And then the Fascist started sobbing and crying. When I heard that I was like?
“What? This is new! Now they are rejecting Islam over BN? Ya Allah! Crying some more?”
So yeah, I’m not saying that all facilitators are like that. I would say most of them are like that. Depends on which group you are in. I bet the facilitator in the Non-Malay group would be more 1Malaysia.
It’s sad… because I want to see more of the Komandos and the great people among the participants. Hey, I made many friends from BTN (and many annoying ones too). The fact of the matter is, BTN is great when racial cards are not played. I am not sure if we are provided booklets to hate the Opposition nowadays as reported by some, (there wasn’t any during my time) but if he BN people think BTN is their greatest weapon, they are just plain wrong.
We may look like kids. But we are not. People grow up, you know?
And so are Malaysians.
I will talk about the food things first. Did I just say food? That was not a blatant typo but the food at BTNs is just AMAZING! I do not know if it has got to do with the hectic of jungle trekking or the marching practices but the food is simply fantastic. They may be simple Malaysian dishes like ‘ikan kembung goreng’ or ‘sayur campur’ but somehow even the steamed rice has some magic in it.
The ‘Pakcik Komandos’, I must say, are the unsung heroes in BTN programmes. They may look like they can eat you alive, but they are the nicest people around. They are very helpful, polite and really funny too. Their spontaneous jokes might have some repeated ones (just like other stand-up comedies anyway) but they can really make me laugh my flatulence off.
The programme itself, when done together for the whole group, is actually really good. It promotes unity, indoctrinating participants of the history of Malaysia, nationalism and patriotism (I do not know if they are of any different). During my second BTN in Negeri Sembilan, Namawee was the star of the show.
Note: Namawee, you can rap all you want mate, but rapping out of our National Anthem is somewhat disgraceful. Use Rasa Sayang or Anak Ayam if you may. They worked for Too Phat.
The difference between the two BTNs I attended is actually the age group. The first BTN was attended by pre-U students while the second one was mostly comprised of post-grad students. The level of maturity by the participants between the two was obvious but still I could find a ‘gila kuasa’ Penghulu making an idiot of himself. (I will not elaborate more).
The second BTN gave us some real life stories in which I found really helpful in terms of finding the truth out of it. This includes the Negarakuku as said above, Kampong Baru incident, corruption statistics (with the then ACA being the most corrupt) and others. Then we were separated into smaller groups of 10 to 15 I think. Now comes the bad part.
It was really weird when the groups were distributed, the Non-Malays (including Sabah Sarawak Bumiputras) are grouped together as one or two groups. I was quite angry not to be part of the Non-Malay group so that I could mingle with them more. (And of course, the fit girl I fancied went to the group as well :P). Later, I realised why the distribution was like so.
From my two visits to BTN, both facilitators that I got were downright RACISTS! The first BTN in Balik Pulau, there were two Chinese girls in my group but that didn’t stop the fascist facilitator from bashing the Chinese and Indians as ‘bangsa pendatang’ and making racist comments. Since I had enough of him, I planned on questioning his motives but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the group and so, I asked him one plain question right after the scheduled brainwashing class.
He was commenting on the way how DAP-Cina would administer the federal government. DAP was labelled as a Communist Party that would only anger the Malays because of their principles. And so, I asked him, “Kita sekarang ni, di Balik Pulau. Kenapa saya lihat kawasan di Balik Pulau ni seakan tidak maju? Dan rata-rata penduduknya Orang Melayu. Kenapa UMNO biarkan Gerakan ‘tindas’ orang Melayu dan orang Kampung di Balik Pulau dari segi pembangunan?”
Do you know what he answered?
“Kita sedang pantau mereka. UMNO sedang pantau mereka…”
What is that supposed to mean? Pantau? Is that the best you can do? Just now you were talking your wrinkly-racist-balls out like the world is yours and now, you are telling me the best you can do to these Chinese Penang government is to monitor their progress? Just because they are part of BN?
Why cudn’t you say the same to them just like you said about DAP?
I think he’s got himself the taste of his own medicine. He wanted to be Ultra-UMNO, Ultra-Malay but deep in his heart, he knows that he, being a big-headed veteran, we are all Malaysians after all and he shouldn’t play the racist card as he will end up answering tough questions like that with stupid answers like so.
I did nothing but shook my head with a bit of a smirk on my face. BTN is such a good way to promote unity and to remind us of the sacrifices our fore-fathers had made in order for us to enjoy peace and harmony in Malaysia. However, because of this kind of fascists roaming around freely trying to ‘convert’ the participants into anti-Non-Malays Group has somewhat tainted the BTN image. They shouldn’t be allowed to even step foot on the Malaysian soil at all!
Then, there was one question that the group had to answer, the one big fat question that all participants will be talking about after the course. I knew right from the start that the answer was going to be:
“C: Give the project to the Government-friendly consortium although it has poor knowledge and expertise about the project.”
It is because I know A and B had the keyword “Opposition” and “Foreign Company” respectively, and after all we only had the so-called ‘healthy’ one-way discussion with The Fascist so I urged the group to just pick C so that we could have an early lunch!
Away from my own experience, I was told by my friend that her Muslim friend was asked one question that goes “If you have to choose one, would you pick the country first or your religion first?”
Being a boss for some time in a Multinational Company, she answered, “Islam first”.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I will pick religion over country.”
“Why? Without our country, there will be no Islam!”
“No, I will choose Islam over country at all cost. I am a Muslimah”
Muslimah indeed, not your Dina Zaman-like ‘Muslimah’.
And then the Fascist started sobbing and crying. When I heard that I was like?
“What? This is new! Now they are rejecting Islam over BN? Ya Allah! Crying some more?”
So yeah, I’m not saying that all facilitators are like that. I would say most of them are like that. Depends on which group you are in. I bet the facilitator in the Non-Malay group would be more 1Malaysia.
It’s sad… because I want to see more of the Komandos and the great people among the participants. Hey, I made many friends from BTN (and many annoying ones too). The fact of the matter is, BTN is great when racial cards are not played. I am not sure if we are provided booklets to hate the Opposition nowadays as reported by some, (there wasn’t any during my time) but if he BN people think BTN is their greatest weapon, they are just plain wrong.
We may look like kids. But we are not. People grow up, you know?
And so are Malaysians.
1 comment:
wtf a arsenal nie.
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