Y&A Sabrina Tan Writes on PATRIOTISM:)

From cpiasia.net:

What Patriotism Means to Me
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Written by Sabrina Tan
Tuesday, 02 September 2008 08:06
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MERDEKA ESSAY: What Patriotism Means to Me

By Sabrina Tan,
a Malaysian resident in New Zealand

August 31, 2008

It’s August 31st. The same Merdeka rhetoric that comes by every year, passes each person’s life in the same manner as the year before.

But here’s a thought on what patriotism really means:


- it’s about feeling immensely proud (perhaps shedding a tear or two) when you see your country’s flag being risen in a huge ceremony, like in the Olympic’s medal ceremony
- it’s about being able to say where you are from with pride
- it’s about acknowledging the good and the bad of the country, without being defensive and without being in denial
- it’s about wanting change for the country, for the good of the people
- it’s about accepting the diversity and embracing the uniqueness that each culture brings us
- it’s about working together to achieve a common goal for the country
- it’s about being able to have open discussions with the people around you, finding ideas, making history
- it’s about respecting everybody’s right and freedom to live and function in the respective country
- it’s about ensuring that you are making the country a better place for your next generation

I wish everyone a good Merdeka and may there be change that we can believe in ( quote Obama presidential campaign slogan).

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NOTE FROM THE EDITOR, CPI:

Sabrina Tan and John Lee, YouthSpeak Coordiator, are among a group of Bloggers who are regularly sharing their "young and articulate" thoughts with me, and I have often tried to impress on them -- playing the role of Mentor, but I often told them it's often role reversed -- that Malaysia needs our young ones studying abroad to come home and help build "A Better Malaysia". But there are barriers preventing them from coming back which our nation's leaders truly need to address. Following is another Post that Sabrina had written relatng a personal encounter that reflects one of many dilemmas facing NegaraKu. -- YL Chong

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Monday, August 29, 2005


Barriers to Forging Lasting Malaysian Friendships

By SABRINA TAN



She used to be a good friend. However, now I can’t say the same anymore.
Why? It’s just because we were both Malaysians, but of a different race.

She asked me out for lunch one day, and we agreed to catch up at one of the cafes.
I was happy to be in her company.
She has always been a nice person, though she has her strange ways of managing her life, but she’s nice nonetheless.

We were talking about Malaysia, and how it’s sad that we both can’t really relate to Malaysia anymore.

She is under a government scholarship to further her postgraduate studies in the humanities.

She used to stay in the best room in the hostel. However. after a year or two later, the local university that funded her education decided to stop her living expenses here in New Zealand. She complained. She is also a Permanent Resident herself. She could enjoy NZ benefits, i.e. student allowance (for which she doesn’t need to pay back at all), student loan, etc. Yet she complained.

I remained silent.

Malaysia Continues to Lose Some of The Best Talents

We were talking about how the brain-drain situation in Malaysia is getting worse.

I was hesitant, yet I braved myself to speak.

“ It’s very sad, it’s so sad to see Malaysia’s brightest minds are all over the world except Malaysia. The person who is researching into getting water for Singapore is a Malaysian. The head of Parasitology in Cambridge is Malaysian. The best doctors in the world are Malaysians. Yet, they are no where near Malaysia.”

“ Yea, there just isn’t a comfortable place for Malaysians anymore…”

Pause…

“I find that the thing that causes the brain drain is because the government awards merit to people who don’t deserve it. The benefits that some groups of people get, they don’t deserve it.”

She was silent. She was stunned.

“What do you mean, the undeserving, Sabrina?”

“ Well, I am not saying that it’s not right that you get these benefits or anything. If anything, we were to be blamed because we agreed to it when we signed the constitution decades ago. Our forefathers agreed to it. Fine, perhaps there was a reason why they agreed to it. However, it just seems that the people that are benefiting from these benefits are not deserving.”

She was silent again. I continued.

“ Look at the farmers, the fishermen, the rubber tappers. They also belonged to the supposedly ‘deserving’ group, yet why do they get poorer and poorer, yet the rich get richer? I am merely saying that yes, these benefits should be given, but to the people who truly deserved it.”

She remained silent throughout the whole conversation. After we gave each other hugs, we have never seen nor heard from each other ever since.


That was four months ago.


To be honest, I felt guilty that I said it out loud. Yet at the same time, I felt that I was just saying what I truly feel.
The angst in me increases in size whenever I hear friends from the ‘deserving’ group complaining.
Complaining the government is not giving them enough money.
Complaining that the mentality of their fellow countrymen doesn’t change.

Yet where do I fit in when I hear this?

They say that the government is not treating them fairly. To me, I don’t even know what is fair anymore.
My friends who did brilliantly in high school got scholarships for Engineering in GERMANY. It’s a hard life there. They feel like an outcast, severe racism, do not speak the language. Yet they are thankful that they at least got the scholarship.

What about the ‘deserving’ group?
They get to go to Western countries. Some even are coming here to New Zealand.
And what to they do in the end? They get married. Yes, the girls get married while doing their demanding course of Medicine or Dentistry.
One wouldn’t be surprised to hear that few years down the road, they quit their degree to have babies.

The Malaysian Dilemma?

Can the ‘deserving’ group and the ‘commoners’ ever be good friends?
Perhaps, someday this phenomenon might change.
Perhaps, there would be an understanding between us.
Perhaps, there would be divine intervention that would change everything for us.


Written by Sabrina Tan
August 2005