Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Imperial College Malaysian Night 2010

1. It was a last minute decision to have finally gone to a Malaysian Night for years already. The last time I went, Iedil was still around, entertaining us with his spontaneous acts on stage in the UCL Malaysian Night, never failed to make an old man smile.

2. I really think the Imperial College Malaysian boys and girls did a great job. Very talented people. I was sceptical at first but along the way, they finally made this old man smile.

3. The title was Born to be Vile and the only song that I thought could be associated with it was "Born to be Wild" by Steppin Wolf... and I was right, that song did come out during the interval, and it made this old man smile.

4. All in all, it was a good performance. Singaporean diss was a classic, but received some boos from a section of Singaporean friends. 3.5 stars out of 5. That's good from a grumpy old man me.

5. However, I did notice the number of Chinese Malaysians performing is far greater than other Malaysians. I could only count 3 Malays and 3 Indians (one was really funny imitating Karam Singh Walia). My thought on this is fair because I assume it is due to Imperial College having more Chinese Malaysians than other Malaysians for their Undergraduate Programmes.

6. I might be wrong. Any Imperial College students want to object please do.

7. However, sadly, all good things must have a flaw... and this flaw I'm about to tell you spoilt everything that night (apart from Aaron Ramsey's horrific injury).

8. It was during an interval, a local British lady was asking her Malaysian Chinese friend a simple question. "Why are they all Chinese?" Like me, she was just curious of the number of Malaysian Chinese overpowering other Malaysians like Malays, Indians, Kadazans, Muruts and Ibans.

9. Her Malaysian friend simply said spontaneously, "Because they can speak English".

10. I was shocked; I looked at him, and quickly turned away. I still cannot understand there are still Malaysians out there even in the UK, even during this harmonious Malaysian Night, could be belittling other races.

11. I didn't want to make a scene that night by confronting that boy who clearly has issues with Non-Chinese. It would be a big scene since I am a Non-Chinese and my words can be very hurtful to the core for the racists.

12. I wanted to clarify to the British lady who was misinformed. However I think she is not that naive to know other Malaysians can speak English as well, like the Indian girl who was playing the daughter of the detective and the Malay Datin Kelentong.

22 comments:

Nimalan said...

You have way more restraint than most people

Madeku367 said...

have to lah bro. kena cool. he's not worth telling off its not he's gonna listen.

Anonymous said...

The simple explanation to your query is - Malays view this sort of activity as sin. Impossible you the 'intellect' tak tahu. Sudah gaharu cendana pula.

Typical trolling (carik pasal) post from you. You are not as subtle as you think you are my racist friend.

Madeku367 said...

and this anonymous guy wasn't even there, doesn't even understand this post (or English), took it personally and now he's pissed.

Haha! What lah! Are you the guy I mentioned in this post?

Your explanation about Malays not being able to perform arts and music is too shallow and 'intellect'.

No, I'm not a racist. If you can find any racist statement I made in my blog, I give you 100pounds. :)

Madeku367 said...

did u not realise i mentioned how great were the students at the beginning of the entry and only mentioned my personal encounter with a racist only at the end?

are u blind to see the good things but the bad things?

personal attacks again? u r such a great person.

btw this is not an alternative media news but my personal view/experience a.k.a blog.

chill...

ps: so it is u, mr anonymous.. nice to meet u, fellow blogger

Madeku367 said...

by the way ur so-called link "1malaysia.gov.my" doesn't work.

try 1malaysia.com.my.

amir said...

Abdul Noni

To be honest, he can say whatever he wants about the show (not that he said anything bad about it at all). He paid to get in, as such he was a paying customer. I know the students probably worked hard for the show, but it was not as if they did show out of the kindness of their hearts. They did it for the money, for themselves directly or indirectly (for the club which they are members of). So don't take the moral high ground.

Can you not comment how bad your experience was at a cinema if an idiot in front of you was talking on the phone while the movie was showing? Same case here.

Madeku367 said...

I dont think Abdul Noni is even a real guy, mate.

Btw, yeah that 'idiot talking out loud in the cinema' example goes well with this one.

But just don't take it too personally (or rather trying too hard to prove you are not racist) IF that idiot happened to be black/white/yellow/ungu/rama2.

Nimalan said...

Okay, I'm going to have to come to Jeghui's defence here against anon (Wow this is a first). Mr.Jeg is not racist by feeling insulted by the random dude;s comment. He has every right to feel insulted. The guy basically insinuated that Malays cannot speak English well which was an indirect hit at Jeg. It was classifying a person proficiency in English based solely on his race and that was going too far.

As for why there were no Malays involved; I dunno if there were none in the year, or they viewed it as a sin, or they didnt bother. What I do know is that it has become a worrying trend among a substantial portion (not all) of Malay Malaysian students who tend to hang out only with their race and no one else; refusing to get involved with uni life or even Msian Soc life; just living within their own kampungs; a problem highlighted even by the High Commission office

Madeku367 said...

Yea it is worrying. Malaysian Night is supposed to bring together Malaysians of all races so it was shocking to hear from a fellow Malaysian say something like that.

About Malays sticking with their own race in London is something quite worrying as well. But this should apply to other races as well.

Bila nak main bola dgn Hsien Loong and gang lagi ni? So busy meh, you all?

Nimalan said...

It could to an extent be said that it applies to other races. But then again, if the non-Malays are the ones who are majority actively participating in MSoc events; then you cant really blame then. At the end of the day, regardless of one's race, we should all mix together as Malaysians and go out there to meet more internationals from diff. backgrounds.

I think they still play every Sat. I haven't gone for ages though

Madeku367 said...

yeah the reason why we are here is to mix around with non-malaysians as well. if not, baik duduk malaysia.

Anonymous said...

there's only one race in this world. bangsa Nabi Adam. my group of frens, we are attracted to each other because each of us are attracted by the group's intellect ( as in we ride on the same brainwave). if they all happened to be from the same race then so be it. as it is, my group of friends are well-diversified.

Madeku367 said...

true. we are all decendants of Adam and Eve. Scientifically proven. refer ganeology project.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I'm one of the committee members of Imperial Malaysian Society. I was also involved in the production and I would like to thank you, Jeg, for coming and commenting on our night.

As I'm here, I would like to clear your thoughts or doubts on why there are more chinese in our performance than malays, indians and other races. In fact, the majority member of our society are chinese.

Since we were elected as the new committee of MSoc, we have been working to bridge the numbers between races. During Fresher's Fair, we've been going around campus handing out flyers to persuade all Malaysians to join the society, and we have come across quite a number of malay and chinese students (the others were fewer). However, when asked to buy membership, most of the non-chinese were hesitant, some even refused, some even questioned our motives!

To go around this, we did a survey, we asked for the reason of why some non-chinese chose not to join the society. Minority complained time constraint, majority replied there was no need for a Malaysian Society since they already have friends.

We could not persuade them further except letting them know that membership is always available throughout the year of study. We've organized events such as Malaysian Food Fair, Theatre Trips and others to encourage more members to join, but we barely see the number of non-malays change. The gate is opened for them, but if they choose not to enter, then that's the limit of what we can do.

Also, the performance cast members you saw on stage was not all. They were all only 1st years. Crew members are all 2nd years, the rest of the seniors do not participate at all.

I shall end my comment here, and I hope at least this clears something.

Madeku367 said...

thank you thank you for the clarification. I never doubt you guys but it's just sad to still have fellow malaysians as racist as the bloke as I commented earlier. May God guide him.

Abdul Noni bin Mus said...

Sir Jeg,

You are at it again!

"... But this should apply to other races as well"

Nimrod made a perfectly good but rather delicate point. But you go turning it into an "us" vs "them".

Deep down in your hearts of hearts, you are a racist sir. But sleep easy. As everyone is a little bit racist sometimes.

Here's my dedication to you, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-ymA

This shall be my last post here. I will leave you be with your noble (albeit cartoonish) freelancing for UMNO sir (no you are none-too-subtle here either).

Signing off,
AN Mus

Anonymous said...

Dear IMSoc Comm Member,

Thanks for your post. Your reply seem very mature for a student.

But the naivety is still there. Kinda cute actually.

You will never get the "real answers" by going around with a survey form. Malaysians are too polite to give you a straight answer.

You need to understand the dynamics of the various Malay cliques to solve this decades old puzzle.

Out of curiosity, did you canvass the nu-Hizbi folks? How about the jambang boyz aka exposed ankle posse aka my trousers are 2" too short brigade?

It is with these people your answers lie.

Go figure.

Madeku367 said...

Dear Abdul Noni Mus (Anonymous versi Malaya).

Is it a medal that you want? Or you are simply an emo bigot trying to find faults from my blog?

If you think I'm pissed with your comments, think again. Emo ppl dont say themselves emo (refer blog title).

If you are here to stir racial tension among Malaysians (me included), maybe you should befriend/marry/live with bloggers like Parpukari or Wenger Khairy (not that I'm an avid follower of their blogs. I read one paragraph and closed right away, worthless writings, like yours).

If my senses are correct, you are just a confused Malaysian Chinese who took it too personally, being so defensive over this entry, indicating racism occurs in everyone, not just the people you hate (Malays).

I agree that ppl can be racist at some point, but how can you stoop too low by thinking everyone is like you? Please do not try to demonise ppl like your so-called idol been doing so that it will make yourself look good for being racist.

Thanks Abdul Noni for making your comment here your last. Ppl do not need your kind of sort here (cowardy smart arse idiocracy at the highest level). Again please visit those hardcore blogs if you want to feel better.

Madeku367 said...

dear Anonymous,

Do not belittle ppl's opinion (unless they are downright stupid as Abdul Noni Mus's).

I think the IMSoc member has done a very good job by explaining quite fairly.

For your comment about some of us Malaysians (nu-Hizbi folks, jambang boyz aka exposed ankle posse aka my trousers are 2" too short brigade?) I think you are referring some Muslims who follow some of Muhammad's sunnah voluntarily.

So, it is unfair to judge these ppl just because they want to practice their religion. It's their rights to be religious so you cannot expect ppl to be like who you are. That will only make yourself a 'godly creature' if not a prophet.

Let them be religious. Thats basically human rights - to have faith in a religion. If they are uninterested or shy or only practicing within the religious aspect, I don't see those reasons as a problem at all.

So the 'decades old puzzle' is not even a puzzle or a problem. People are free to believe what to believe.

Anonymous said...

Jeg,

I was merely asking the comm member to face up to reality. Some battles are best left to wilt on the war map.

There is nothing judgmental with my statement. So there is no need for you to be defensive. I have no qualms with the jambang brigade. I agree as you claim, they are decent, god fearing people.

In fact you will probably agree with me that their life of religious purity is admirable given the challenges in this land of the kafirs, do you not?

That they choose to abstain from partaking in the society shouldn't come as a surprise. This concept of a halfway house Islam just do not fit with the fabric of their community.

If you are a pious Muslim, it is hard to reconcile oogling bouncing breasts on one night and wearing the ketayap for tazkirah the next.

At one end of the Malay spectrum you have the progressives, and the other end the jambang troop. Both can and do coexists peacefully.

But the latter for the sake of their religious purity will more than likely disassociate themselves from sinful activities.

Why would they when they can just as easily contribute to the I-Soc, where their deeds will be written in that little book on their right shoulder.

Madeku367 said...

haha, I see you don't have a point anymore?