Am I embarrassed to be Malaysian?
Nope, I can never be embarrassed to be Malaysian, this is my home country. I’m not just from Malaysia–I’m from Klang.
I can however, be embarrassed about my government and the policies it seeks to implement. Like how our idea of a space program, is buying a seat on a Russian mission to the ISS, and then having the audacity to call the Orthopedic surgeon we sent to space–an Astronaut. Space tourist more like it.
Or the fact that our national car company has sunk to such depths that it now makes a living re-badging car models from other companies, and the models it does design itself, score so low on Safety Test scores, you’d probably be safer in car crash wearing a bicycle helmet. To be precise, the Proton FLX is the lowest scoring car in the ASEAN NCAP standings–lowest.
Has Proton no shame? Really, taking a Honda Accord and putting a Proton logo on it is not going to score your respect, it’ll score you laughs. Why don’t you build your own fucking car and make it safe.
Or maybe we’re just embarrassed by our children, who year after year continue a slow and steady slide down international assessments of Science and Maths test scores, a gradual decline our very own Education Minister seems completely oblivious to.
How can we ever become a technology power house? How can we ever pursue excellence in Science in Maths, when our children are falling so far behind their international peers we no longer belong in the same league as them,
What message are we sending our children when our idea of success as a nation is one of blatant copying,what role models do we have for them other than space tourist or re-badging car companies?
But this is Malaysia after all–what do we have to be proud off, what role models can we set for our children that don’t involve copying? I’d love to hear from you, as I’m out of ideas at the moment–leave a comment and you’ll be guaranteed a reply from me.