IHSAN KHAIRIR

i have been observing the people in Malaysia for the past months i been home, and i must say i am not liking what i see. through a myriad of factors intermingling together, including the economic prosperity enjoyed by the middle class and upper class society, many of them comprising of sons and daughters of govt officers (and i am not always proud to say, I myself is a member of this group) we have created a new class of people, who have appointed themselves and regarded themselves as the “elite” Malay group.. (note the inverted comma)

and these are the youth who walks along the street with a certain kind of swagger and pompous arrogance with their proud shirt with the humongous ‘horse and number/roman numeral’ emblem on their chest.. yes u know which brand of shirt i’m talking about.. ooh not forgetting their fancy rust dyed hair and their huge shades, and cargo pants. and usually they’ll be walking in pairs proudly holding hands, gee i sure hope they are married, bulan puasa pon tak reti nak hormat? hmm…

today i met a group of these people, and they were rudely harassing a makcik at a stall at pasar ramadhan.. yes, granted it was hot, and there were a lot of people around the stall, for sure laa the makcik cannot layan everyone immediately.. but these group of people, who always think they are better than other Malays, by the virtue they can afford more stuff (paid by dad of course) apparently dah x tahan sgt nk kene tunggu lama were throwing rude and unneessary comments to the makcik… stupid arrogant people..

“haih makcik, kalau tak reti nak layan orang cepat2, baik jgn bukak gerai (Hey auntie, if you don’t know how to quickly serve people, better not open a stall)“ said one of the skinny idiot, while holding the hands of his girlfriend, and this unnecessary comment was greeted by laughter from a few more youth, 3 boys and 2 girls, apparently they were all in the same group..

the makcik (old lady), displaying some hurt on her face teruslah melayan si kumpulan Melayu ‘elite’ ini.. and apparently got the order of these idiots wrong..

“makcik, i said two laa, two! T-W-O.. dua! D-U-A… dua! adoi.. dh laa lambat, x reti bahasa inggeris pulak tu rupanya, cakap ‘sorry’ pon td tergagap2.. haih, kan elok if science and math ajar in english, makcik ketinggalan zaman! (Auntie, I said two laa, T-W-O… two! Ahh… so slow… plus you don’t know English… even stuttering to say ‘sorry’… wouldn’t it be better if science and math were taught in english, auntie you’re so left behind!)“ and the group laughed again..

i could see the makcik was very ashamed and offended, and suddenly i was offended, coz that couldve been my aunt, my grandma, my mother! Think about it, what if that happened to somebody in YOUR family…

so naturally, me with my recently discovered hot head and temper, decided to defend the makcik..

(this is an attempt to recreate the conversation as best to my memory as i could, pls be reminded that i was temporarily insane and blinded by rage, hehe)

“hoi, yang korang ni ingat korg mcm bagus nk mampus ni apahal? bley tolong relax tak kalau nak kutuk2 org pon, pahala puasa tu entah campak ke mana (Hey, why are you acting like you’re so darn awesome here? Can you please go easy on the insults, your fasting is pointless, gone to waste)“ i said with a stern voice, and oh yes it turned a few heads.. the group was stunned for a bit, then the idiot-leader had to reply..

“oi brader, ni bukan hal lu so baik u jgn masuk campur, kalau tak… (Hey brother, this is not your problem so don’t be meddlin, or else…)“

“kalau tak apa brader, ko nak tampar aku? tumbuk aku? and aku plak tak kan laa nak biar laa ko kutuk makcik yg x bersalah ni lebih2? (Or else what brother, you wanna slap me? punch me? and you expect me to just let you insult this poor innocent lady incessantly?)“ yup, i was reeeealllly geting to be pissed off..

“eh bro, jgn cabar aku (Eh bro, don’t challenge me)“ said the idiot-leader while his gf was pulling him back asking him to stop, and the rest of the group konon2 nk tunjuk kuat closing in on me..

“1st thing 1st, aku bukan ‘bro’ ko, and 2ndly, tolong simpan jaguh2 kampung ko ni, mintak maap kat makcik ni.. yg ko mcm bagus kutuk2 makcik ni x reti bahas inggeris tu pehal? ko ingt english ko tu bagus sgt? (First things first, I’m not your ‘bro’, and secondly, please do away with this village champ thing, apologize to this lady… why do you think you’re so great that you can insult this lady for her poor English? You think your English is good enough?)“ i was really pissed by now..

“eh yg ko berani nk marah2 aku ni pehal? ko ingt bapak aku ni org biasa? (Hey why are so bold to be scoldin me here? you think my dad is one of you common people?)“ the idiot leader replied.. gosh, they all look like they were about 18/19 years old.. arrogant 18/19 year olds who still turn to daddy in moment of need..

at that moment i knew that this was the group i was talking about, the self-appointed ‘elite’ Malays, the family where the mom and dad made good money, but forgot to teach proper manners to their offspring, and their offspring thought they were better than other Malays, esp those they regard as coming from the kampung.. just because daddy could afford to send them to private college doesnt make them better than the others!

“owhhh bapak ko bukan org biasa? habis dia apa? org minyak? org bunian? (Ohhh, your dad is not one of us common people? So what is he? Orang minyak? An elf?)” i personally liked this line best, and judging from the laughter of the crowd behind me, so did they.. haha how did i come up with that in the heat of the moment i wonder myself..

“just because ko ni anak org yg ada kuasa, n tahu sepatah dua english, please please la jgn ingt ko tu lagi bgs dari makcik ni, or the rest of us ok? sedar sikit diri tu, manners gone down the bloody drain! urghhh u make soo mad! people like you just makes me sick! dah aku nyer pahala puasa pon dh ke mana ntah sebab aku dok menengking org2 mcm ko ni.. sila jgn perasan ko ni omputih dgn dressing ko n rambut dye laa, jam mahal laa (Just because you are the offspring of some bigshot, know an English word or two, please please don’t think that you’re better than this lady, or the rest of us ok? Look at yourself, manners gone down the bloody drain! Urghh you make me so mad! People like you just make me sick! Now my fasting is pointless because I’m angrily yelling at people like you… please don’t think you’re so ‘white man’ with your dressing and yor dyed hair and expensive watch)“ by now, there was a sizeable crowd against us..

for some reason, the idiots wre quiet, i guess they were shocked, and ashamed coz they know they did wrong.. and i overheard this from someone behind me..
“kalau kulit putih mcm abg baju hijau ni ok laa gak, ni kulit sama jek sawo matang mcm kitorg, tp perangai lebih2 dari omputih la plak (If you’re white-skinned like this green shirt dude its fine, but you’re just like us brownskins, but you’re more snobbish than a white man)“ and yes, i was the one who he referred to as ‘abg baju hijau (green shirt dude)’.. lol~

with his face red, and heavy breathing with a pissed off face, he walked off slowly as he was pulled by his gf and his group.. while a group was chanting “belah, belah, belah (beat it, beat it, beat it)“ to the group.. and as they left, the group clapped.. and the makcik thanked me for standing up to her, and i got some free kuih from her as a sign of her gratitude.. hehe.. thanx makcik!

but i did it not for the kuih, or for the attention, the praises.. i did it coz i cant stand this group of people, who think they are better than the rest of us! come back down to earth please~ and when i wrote this, i AM NOT targeting all polo shirt wearing hair dyeing tindik sana sini people, and also those who comes from a well-to-do family, i know that 99% of u are polite people who knows the boundaries of joking about, and are humble people with kind hearts.. but this 1%, you ppl are the bane of society, and bring shame upon other Malays.. i’m sorry if i offended anybody, but this entry is written with the purpose of reminding us all to be humble, and not to insult others.. your medical degree, tertiary education, overseas scholarship, all these do not make you better than other people, and all these mean NOTHING if you don’t have manners, or basic respect for others..

do unto others how u wud expect to be done on urself, and respect begets respect..

p/s: sorry again for the negative tone of the entry..
peace out~

…

The above is a repost of a Facebook note written by my friend Ahmad Firdaus Yaakop, better known among friends as Robo. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

I reposted this with permission from him because I sincerely feel that the message should reach a wider audience/readership than just his circle of friends. I hope we all (especially Malaysians) can learn a thing or two from his recollections; that for one thing no matter where you are in the socioeconomic ladder, it doesn’t mean squat if you don’t have manners. Manners can take you further than just plain money and things from your dear ol’ mummydaddy.

*EDIT: (Roughly) translated versions of the Malay speech are underlined for your convenience.

P/S: I wish I was there to witness it all. And probably take a picture of Robo in his heroic moment of glorious righteousness.

P/P/S: I wish I had written this myself. Kudos to you, Robo.