Malaysians Must Surely Be Among The Stupidest People On The Planet!
Thu, November 16, 2006 | 20 Comments That’s exactly what I would be thinking if I were not from Malaysia. How am I to defend my country and my people from such an opinion, particularly when we have this sort of thing going on:
M’sian Astronauts To Spin Top, Toss Batu Seremban In Space.
Oh, God. Truly, it makes me ill.
“The (Malaysian) astronaut will also paint a batik motif and make ‘teh tarik’ (‘pulled’ tea) which would be shared with his fellow astronauts,” said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim.
“The main objective of sending an astronaut into orbit is to carry out scientific experiments under microgravity - a situation alien to the earth. As such the National Aerospace Agency has opened doors to our scientists to show their mettle and capabilities through the National Astronaut Programme,” said Rohani.
She said the outcome of the experiments would be studied on earth with the hope that it would unravel the mysteries in science, education and medicine.
You call that showing our “mettle and capabilities”? In the hope that it will “unravel the mysteries in science, education and medicine”?
Oh, come on! That’s as plainly stupid as the nose on my face!
Is anyone else cringing at the sheer absurdity of it all? Are we supposed to blithely follow along and lustily cheer “Malaysia Boleh!” even if the emperor is really only just wearing plain underwear?
No wonder the world is laughing at us: While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry.
“Malaysia boleh!” is Malaysia’s national catch cry. It translates to “Malaysia can!” and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money.
This all happens in the context of Malaysia’s grossly inflated sense of its place in the world.
That’s not Malaysia “boleh”, that’s Malaysia “bodoh” (stupid).
How are we supposed to expect our future generations to achieve excellence when we’re so deeply mired in mediocrity?
If you don’t believe we Malaysians over-estimate our cleverness just go and find a copy of The Malaysia Book of Records and have a browse through - it’s a chock full of inane “records” that are supposed to reflect our ability to compete in a global arena.
Malaysia already is - according to Wired Magazine - The World’s Record-Breaking Capital.
Many attempts are so outlandish that they’re regularly slotted into the “wacky news” segments on newscasts around the world. To Western eyes, the country seems like a nation of attention-hungry circus freaks. But in Malaysia, the desire to build the largest tea bag or gather the most twins at a single location is a form of national pride.
Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Indeed.
As always, excellence (or the lack thereof) flows from the top down. In Malaysia’s case, it has to be our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Call him Chief Head of Stupid if you will. Or have you forgotten that it was Badawi himself who personally wanted to rebrand the Mat Rempit (illegal street thugs) as Mat Cemerlang (all-round excellent blokes)?
Maybe I should send him another copy of my open letter to the PM.
Do you really believe Badawi when he tells Malaysians that he’s ‘on top of things’ and that he’s merely ‘just warming up’ to his role?
Let’s not all be stupid at the same time now.
Reader Comments (20)
Think I left it back in Kulim though...
Why bother to come at all if you're going to sleep :P
Tells you so much about Malaysian attitude, doesn't it?
And it's a mistake for common people like us to assume that the people in power always put the interests of the common people above themselves - quite the opposite, as recently demonstrated by the Klang Municipal Council and the 'Istana Zakaria' issue.
Corruption in government can only thrive if we adopt apathy and/or blissful ignorance as our mindset. As a church we may constantly pray for the leaders of this government, but that doesn't mean we should close an eye to their wrongdoings.
I think as a church we've become too comfortable with the 'status quo' and with 'playing church'. We're much too preoccupied now with making sure we stay out of persecution's way... of doing the right thing instead of doing what's right. What happened to "if God is for us, who can be against us?"
All of these are merely my opinions, of course.
Ju, THAT'S THEIR GEN(genatic)!!!!Ever stupid BRAINLESS BRAIN!!!!!!!!
I don't know about how everyone else is feeling, but my Malaysian friends and I (in Singapore) are actually very concerned about how Malaysia is doing. *Sigh* Doesn't help when there are continued controversies and ridiculous stuff happening, like some minister making chauvinistic remarks about women dressing up sexily, or the fact that NEP will seem to continue forever.
The government says:" Rakyat malaysia is indeed very blessed by God already." Yep, it's good to show gratitudes. But should we just stop there and not moving on? Everything seems to be nice outwardly yet nothing is solid inside. We're not stupid, we know what's wrong but we can't change them overnight. Man, even 30 years is not enough for better change. Who said learn from the East? Shall we now get back and study the history of Japan? How did ppl move on after WW2 with economy slow down?
If they can, can we?
Talk is cheap.
[/sarcasm]
That article in The Age about Malaysia fiddling got me so riled up that I actually emailed the author...
There are bigger things at hand that the government should focus on, but instead, wasting the tax payers money on painting in space! (if my arm pit could laugh, you'd probably hear them right now!)
People, if you'd sit back and look at Malaysia from a bird's eye view, it really looks like a sweet potato that's losing its flavour...
Look at the education system now. What are they producing? projet it 5 years from now... what would happen to our economy?
Look at our natural reserves, we are consuming more than we should. Is the government doing anything about it? Yes they are... continue to consume... 20 years from now... we'd probably lose our income sellign water to Singapore =P
When there was haze, did they do anything to protect it's people? Was anything done? Yes they did:
1) wear mask
2) stay at home if API hits 500
3) sit and wait for rain
We have oil, timber, brains, scenary. We are rich... but are the riches being used properly to grow the country? Yes. Sending people to toss stones. By the way, this is not record breaking. US has send an ape to space in 1983. The name's Ham. (how ironic!)
There is much to write. Why am I feeling so frustrated about all these? Because I'm a malaysian. Vicky is right... nothing much we can do but to complain.
At where i work, we value customer complaint. "Customer complaints are golden opportunity" because they help us become better. When the customer decides to keep quite, it means they have given up on us. so, "HEAR US!"
Sorry Ju, that I hog up this space, for I share your frustration too... think I better stop here. Peeps, if you want facts about what I said, there's plenty on the net. Just surf for the right stuff!
It's often easy to forget the fact that Jesus died for everyone, irrespective of outward appearances.
Cut us open and we're all the same inside.
---
WanZ: Personally, I believe the NEP is here to stay for good. The name may change but the policy will never be erased.
Have not UMNO reiterated time and again for 'pendatang' like us to not 'question the special rights of the Malays' because it is a 'sensitive issue'?
Read between the lines. Even if the Malays owned 100% of everything, they will still refuse to give up their 'special rights'. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.
---
meekie: it's easy (and natural) to feel pessimistic. I'd be lying if I said I've never felt it, too.
I think the thing is to 'fight the good fight' as Paul said and do our part to make things better for our children as best we can.
---
Sunflower: LOL, I'd love to see what you wrote him!
---
Gabriel: The same thing crossed my mind, too. Why send a man up to do monkey tricks? Just send the monkey!
Like you, I no longer rely on the national newspapers to receive accurate news. Other news agencies do a better job of reporting/exposing the real events taking place here.
And, contrary to what the government tells us, many local blogs do a very good job of telling it like it is.
Blogs aren't subversive. They're the voice of the people. It's our crooked government that's subversive.
Gabriel: The haze, did they do anything? Yes, classify the API as a "secret" under the Official Secrets Act because letting people know the truth would affect tourism negatively!!! It was only last year that this was removed and they allowed the API to be published once again.
And DON'T get me started on the education system... *grumble grumble*
Makes us go "Whaaaaa...?!"
Sigh. Malaysia, oh Malaysia.
its really sakit hati to see so much money being put to "monkey show" to continue to flag the infamous "Malaysia Boleh" cry. i am embarassed, i truly am. i hope the gov will put their acts together....
I fully support your comments. Malaysia has so many natural recources but wasting them all. The education in Malaysia is terrible. Always, the Malaysians say 'Malaysia Boleh' which is terrible because they rarely 'boleh' and they are always 'bodoh' in doing anything. They don't know how to spend their money and woste it all on some kind if stupid parties. No need of astronouts in Malaysia. They suck!!!
bodoh! semua bodoh! relek la bodoh! BODO!!
We must put a stop to this rubbish, we leave to the goverment to clean it up.