Difference between Criticizing and Discriminating/Insults

Difference between Criticizing and Discriminating/Insults

While I was walking to the SAAS Tower in UiTM Shah Alam Campus, I was thinking of a topic to discuss about. While I was passing the Cempaka Kenanga Residential College and the buildings which house the Faculty of Applied Science, the idea hit me: what’s my opinion on criticism and discrimination/insults. As among the few to jump onto the blogging bandwagon, I publish my opinions – however critical or controversial it may be – on my online blogs, thereby making it accessible to about every and any Tom, Dick and Harry. I believe that I must make myself clear when it comes to my interpretation and style of writing: the difference between criticizing and discrimination/insults.

The primal and fundamental difference which I can see is criticisms focus less on the characteristics of the person, which cannot be changed naturally, and discrimination/insult are negative sentiments focused on the person or group of persons. Example, saying X is blind because of his “small” eyes as he’s a Chinese/Japanese is an outright insult/discrimination. Whereas saying X is stubborn because he refuses to wear glasses or any other aids can fall under the ambit of criticism. Another example is to say UiTM graduates or students are all “products of subsidies” and “can’t stand on their own feet” is an insult and, to a degree, discriminatory. On the other hand, to say that the same group of students lack the exposure to a multicultural environment is a criticism or a comment.

In my articles which I have written and will continue to write, I will try my best to give criticisms instead of insults/defamatory. You will find that I will criticize the Malays of West Malaysia more than any other group. I criticize them not because they are Malays but because of the common mindset. If I find similar “common mindset” in a different group, not necessarily races, I will do the same. As a defense, it is worth mentioning that I enjoy great relationships with a number of West Malaysian Malays.

Moving on, I personally condemn all person, regardless of their rank or position, who continuously discriminate and promote hate. In fact, I would spit on these people because they act as if they are “the best”. Based on experience I would like to improvise on a common saying: pride always comes before fall. These people, if given authority, will always see corruption everywhere but within – a line I quote from Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (it was referring to Minister Frollo). This “holier than thou” will never achieve anything good; the “success” which it guarantees is the “success of hate, discrimination and failure”. To play with such discriminatory sentiments is worse than playing with fire. The first time, people will tolerate. The doer will do it again, the people will tolerate, but at a lower level. Just remember, enough will be enough. How will the people react? See history. The principles repeat themselves over and over again. Why? We just don’t get it.

Coming back, criticisms can be worked on and overcome. Discrimination/insults are always directed because the person is who she or he is. An example, if people say that I’m too liberal, I accept that as a criticism. Conversely if people say I shouldn’t write because I’m not a Malay or not a Muslim or not Chinese or not Buddhist, that is plain insult and discriminating. In the former example, I can tune down the degree of my articles. Instead of being an Ultra-Conservative on Sarawak affairs, I can write in a more moderate manner.

Another thing which must be taken into consideration is on “recovering”. When you criticize reasonably, people will respect you if your criticism is accepted and proven right but if it isn’t, you have room to “learn”. Hostile environments can and would, theoretically, be avoided. If you insult or discriminate, people will hate you regardless of the outcome and if you’re wrong, we’ll call you names. Consider this when you have to “pick a bone” and “giving your two cents”.This article is an opinion article, hence not citation as I would normally do. If there’s something you’d like to add, feel free to do so.

(Written on February 23rd, 2007)

Professionalism - McD and AirAsia

I stop short of calling this a case study. However I must denote that my comments on comparing these two famous corporations are based on my experience on February 15th & 16th, for McDonald’s and AirAsia respectively.

The McDonald’s Restaurant located at Section 3 Shah Alam has impressed me with an excellent show of professionalism while AirAsia’s cabin crew on board
AK5258 was “amazing”.

On February 15th, I went to McDonald’s for my dinner. I ordered my usual Set No. 4, Large with vanilla coke which cost me RM8.10 or so. When paying, I gave RM50.10 but when the crew member serving me asked, I said I gave an RM10. So he gave me the change for the later and I promptly went to grab a seat and enjoy my meal. After my meal, I headed back to Section 2 and half-way through I realised my mistake. This was about 40 minutes after I paid. I rushed to McD and approached the counter. I explained the situation to him and told his superiors. They tried to calm me down and after verifying my story, the returned the remaining RM40. During the ordeal, I was kept calm by the staff and I got a free refill! Hehehe… Nonetheless, they retained a very loyal (and grateful) customer. I wrote a letter to the manager, commending on the excellent show of professionalism and expressing my gratitude. My regrets are that I was panicking and I never knew the name of the supervisor - who turned out to be the manager! I will continue to give my patronage to McD Section 3. I knew I selected a winner! Keep up the good job guys!

On February 16th (i.e. yesterday), I took AK5258 to Miri from the LCCT / KLIA. A first time returning to my home State with AirAsia. I agree that AirAsia deserved the “the Best Budget Carrier Award”. Not only the fare was “budget”, so were the services. When I got on board, I was scared out of my skin by the cabin crew stationed at the rear door. I sympathise her as she couldn’t smile. Such a pity, I’d say. After we started cruising, the meals were sold. One was blunt deaf! Their common courtesy & etiquette is at an amazing level, I guess, like their budget thinking! Sheesh! As we were descending, the crew collected trash, as they deserve to, and ignored me. My decision was simple. Leave the tray table down. When the crew-who-can’t-smile tried to ask me to “return my tray table o its original position”, I shoved the rubbish to her without waiting for her to say a word. I reasoned thay AirAsia worked hard to get the Best Low-Cost/Budget Carrier Award, but a few rotten apples costed them the Best Cabin Crew Award.

And, while at the airport, I couldn’t help laugh at the flight delay. It was a term of contract based on previous transactions… Hahaha… Hence, I wasn’t surprised or angry - it was expected. AirAsia, truly Asia…

St. Aldericus & October 13th.

St. Aldericus

Feastday: October 10

841 - Archbishop and scholar, born in the region of Gatinais, France. Aldericus became a Benedictine monk at Ferrieres, France, and then a priest in Sens. There he served as chancellor of the diocese, succeeding the archbishop in 828. Aldericus was a known ecclesiastical scholar and a promoter of such studies.

Source: St. Aldericus

October 13th is the Feastday of St. Edward the Confessor.

The Article:

Edward the Confessor was the son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. He was born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when the Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England. Canute remained in England and the year after Ethelred’s death in 1016, married Emma, who had returned to England, and became King of England. Edward remained in Normandy, was brought up a Norman, and in 1042, on the death of his half-brother, Hardicanute, son of Canute and Emma, and largely through the support of the powerful Earl Godwin, he was acclaimed king of England. In 1044, he married Godwin’s daughter Edith. His reign was a peaceful one characterized by his good rule and remission of odious taxes, but also by the struggle, partly caused by his natural inclination to favor the Normans, between Godwin and his Saxon supporters and the Norman barons, including Robert of Jumieges, whom Edward had brought with him when he returned to England and whom he named Archbishop of Canterbury in 1051. In the same year, Edward banished Godwin, who took refuge in Flanders but returned the following year with a fleet ready to lead a rebellion. Armed revolt was avoided when the two men met and settled their differences; among them was the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was resolved when Edward replaced Robert with Stigand, and Robert returned to Normandy. Edward’s difficulties continued after Godwin’s death in 1053 with Godwin’s two sons: Harold who had his eye on the throne since Edward was childless, and Tostig, Earl of Northumbria. Tostig was driven from Northumbria by a revolt in 1065 and banished to Europe by Edward, who named Harold his successor. After this Edward became more interested in religious affairs and built St. Peter’s Abbey at Westminster, the site of the present Abbey, where he is buried. His piety gained him the surname “the Confessor”. He died in London on January 5, and he was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III. His feast day is October 13.

St. Valentine & His Feast

The following is an article I got from Catholic Online on St. Valentine:

St. Valentine

Patron of Love, Young People, Happy Marriages

269 - Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith in effectual, commended him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270. Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole to he memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate now called Porta del Popolo, formerly, Porta Valetini. The greatest part of his relics are now in the church of St. Praxedes. His name is celebrated as that of an illustrious martyr in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, the Roman Missal of Thomasius, in the calendar of F. Fronto and that of Allatius, in Bede, Usuard, Ado, Notker and all other martyrologies on this day. To abolish the heathens lewd superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in honor of their goddess Februata Juno, on the fifteenth of this month, several zealous pastors substituted the names of saints in billets given on this day.

The Origin of St. Valentine
The origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines there were, remains a mystery. One opinion is that he was a Roman martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. Other historians hold that St. Valentine was a temple priest jailed for defiance during the reign of Claudius. Whoever he was, Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.
The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in a The Nuremberg Chronicle, a great illustrated book printed in 1493. [Additional evidence that Valentine was a real person: archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine.] Alongside a woodcut portrait of him, text states that Valentinus was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth [Claudius II]. Since he was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome [when helping them was considered a crime], Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner — until Valentinus made a strategic error: he tried to convert the Emperor — whereupon this priest was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn’t do it, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate [circa 269].

Saints are not supposed to rest in peace; they’re expected to keep busy: to perform miracles, to intercede. Being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-performance of the supernatural. One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it, “From your Valentine.”

St. Valentine was a Priest, martyred in 269 at Rome and was buried on the Flaminian Way. He is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses. “

Review of CTU553 Class on February 15th, 2007

We concluded our CTU553 class at 5pm. If I knew I wouldn’t have rush just to attend. What’s CTU553? It’s the UiTM code for the ever popular & controversial subject, Ethnic Relations. In my view, I prefer to call it Islamic studies. After class, I knew that I wanted to write an entry here about the class. I came up with one theme: 3 main races in Malaya cannot live in harmony, 40 races & ethnic groups in Sarawak there’s unity.

A group from FSG’s AS220 presented on the background and effects of ethnic relations in Malaysia - which was basically in Malaya. They spent a over 40 minutes discussing Sino-Malayan relations, Arab-Malayan relations, India-Malayan relations and of Islam’s impact on the Malay World. The lecturer stopped them as they were about to discuss the background and history of ethnic relations in Sabah & Sarawak. I must point out several errors of fact before I proceed namely:

1. Sarawak has over 40 races & ethnic groups (Sarawak, 2007). They did not include the 45 different languages and dialects we have;
2. The one of the rivers where my ancestors, the Ibans, settled is the Saribas, not Sarikas.

Moving on to the issue at hand: ethnic relations. To quote the lecturer “recent events have prompt the government to include ethnic relations subject in the education system”. I must admit that the deterioration of ethnic relations is evident and significant here in Malaya. I’m thinking of how to save my “Borneo a**” if racial violence erupts. Racial violence is inevitable here. They talked about interactions with the Chinese, Indians, Europeans and Arabs during the era of the Malacca Sultanate (c. 15th Century AD). They deliberately ignore the situation in Sarawak. As mentioned before, I dare not represent Sabah as I have no idea of things there.

Sarawak has seen racial harmony since before the Brooke Raj (created in 1841). Save a few uprisings, there have never been an interracial war yet. Even in the uprisings, e.g. Sharif Masahor led a band of Malays, Melanaus & Ibans against the Brooke Raj, a collage of warriors were assembled.

Remember the statistics: Malaya has 3 major races, but Sarawak has over races 40. Why don’t they ever learn from us?

The thing in, in my opinion, when Sarawakians mix, we don’t emphasize religion or race like those in the West. We don’t impose our religion on others nor act that our race is superior. I don’t deny that there are a small number of us who take race and religion as criteria, but generally speaking, we don’t care.

The Injustice of Affirmative Action

THE INJUSTICE OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The Downfall for those Who Have Them

Across the globe, affirmative action is becoming a phenomenon, even in the United States. In Malaysia, the case has always been so since 1957. I am not questioning our special rights per se, but merely highlighting the effects on the Malays and the Natives of Sabah and Sarawak. Although my name sounds non-Malay, I enjoy these special rights as well. I am studying in University Teknologi MARA, remember? In my view, the affirmative action has brought more harm than good on the mentality side of our community.

Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, among others, touches the surface of the special rights of the Malays and, after September 16th, 1963, the Natives of Sabah and Sarawak (Federal Constitution). Scores of provisions in the Federal Constitution contains safeguards for this group of races. The main idea was to redistribute wealth among the people of then Malaya. During the British era, the so-called divide et impera policy - divide-and-rule - caused economic & political gaps in Malaya between the local Malays and immigrant Chinese and Indians (Chin Ung Ho, 2000). The special rights was intended to remedy the situation of imbalanced distribution of wealth. As the days progress, the question now is asked: these special rights were granted at what cost?

Affirmative action have made the Malays and Natives of Sabah and Sarawak too dependant of the Governments, both State and Federal. The Government is responsible to help the citizens but not to the point that they depend entirely on the government. The enterprising spirits of these various races and ethnic groups have slowly diminished. The people rely heavily on government subsidies and grants. They don’t go out and look for other means and methods to improve their situation. The problem is the Government does not have all the money in the world to help them. There are times when projects are abandoned and communities neglected; in Economics this is called “Opportunity Cost”. Sacrificing most for the best due to limited resources. Take a look at the Federal Budget Chart as supplied by the Ministry of Finance and interpret it. Subsidies, regardless of the name, are still subsidies.

Next, affirmative action costs us our mentality. Just because it is law that we enjoy special privileges, we take it for granted. We think that UiTM and MARA will always be there for us. We assume that the government will always “protect and preserve” our rights. We loose touch with reality. As a student in UiTM, I miss the competitions which I had with my non-Malay friends and classmates, especially the Chinese. Being born and raised in Sarawak, the Indian population is relatively low. The Chinese evidently does not enjoy the special rights; how is it that 25 out of Malaysia’s 40 Richest are Chinese? (Forbes, 2006) Rhetoric is not enough; instead of just cursing and defaming others, why don’t we learn from and try to emulate their success stories. That’s just the richest. We’re yet to start on the smartest, most adaptable etc.

For affirmative action, we lost our competitive edge. Stemming from the above reasons. Our community oppose the Government’s move to take us out of our comfort zone. We blame the government for every unfortunate event. Instead of trying to be competitive and adaptable, we remain stubborn, arrogant and ignorant. We constantly blame others for our own weaknesses. My Muslim colleagues complain of the Jews and how God condemns them to the end of time. Yet they acknowledge the Jews control today’s world. It is typical for them to reminisce and be proud of the days of the Caliphs and Golden Age of the Islamic Civilisation - and that’s where their efforts would stop. I’m not defaming anyone; try going to their forums etc. It will always be “in the time of the Caliphs” or “in the time of the Prophet”, which will always be followed by “we should follow them”. That’s the most that a majority of them ever did. As for us Natives, we would recall the time of our great ancestors, how heroic and brave they were. We merely remember, never try to relive them.

This “short” article took me about 2 hours to write. I tried looking for sources. This is some of my opinion on the matter. There are others which have been formulated and more while will be formulated with the passing of time. Affirmative action has done us more harm subconsciously than good. We don’t utilise the opportunities served to us in gold platter; we take them for granted. 50 years have passed since Malaya and 44 years since Malaysia, how far have we come?

SMPP Test Pad, File & Pen…

The Students’ Representative Council’s Secretariat in the Law Faculty is selling a stationary package consisting of limited edition & exclusive test pad, file & pen. The package costs RM15.00.

Why should you get yourself this exclusive stationary package?

First reason: identity. Students of other Faculties have their own distinct and unique “trademark”, so to speak. The lab-based courses have lab coats. Engineering & Arts & Design have their work jackets. Unless you’re an LL.B. (Hons) student, you wont have your mark of identity. How else would you differentiate yourself from students of other faculties? Besides, I must admit that I’m in love with the design.

Secondly it’s all about practicality. The file can accommodate your lecture notes of the day. The test pad has 100 pages and the pen - which comes in 5 colours - for you to write, scribble and draw. It’s not some far fetched item with functions which you have no idea what.

Then, it’s supporting your community. The Secretariat works for you and with you; we will also need your support. We do not impose any fees whatsoever. Our Secretariat, spearheaded by our own Representative, Kay, uses primarily enterprising methods to finance our activities. We hope to not rely on HEP and most definitely do not ask for fees. Support us to support YOU.

The Stationary set could also be used to commemorate your stay with the Faculty. If you’re an Asasi student or a final year student, there are chances where you wont be joining us. Possibly you’re off to another university. Don’t waste this chance to get yourself a memento of your stay.

Did I mention that you wont find this set anywhere else? It is LIMITED and EXCLUSIVE. You wont find it at any bookstore. You can only order from a Secretariat Member or buy directly form the Secretariat Office at Level 4.

C’mon get one for yourself. In the long run, the RM15.00 will most definitely be worth it!!!

Proverbs 1:22 (RSV)

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” Proverbs 1: 22 (Revised Standard Version)