Negarakuuuuu ~

Negaraku  Tanah tumpahnya darahku Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan Raja kita Selamat bertakhta Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan Raja kita Selamat bertakhta ~ This week in the class, Dr. Carmen told us a lots about Malaysia's history. It's quite fresh to me because last time when secondary school, I was very hate history subject and I fall asleep when I took the text book hahahaha, but this time I was paying attention maybe is because she told us the story in a more interesting way. Last time I have heard about the May 13 incident but I was not very clear about it, but now I quite clear already. In the tutorial class, we were asked to form a group of 4 and make our own national anthem after we knew about how our original national anthem come from. After I discuss with Shirley, Vivian and Colney, here is the national anthem that made by us. *DJ, drop the beat !! "Negaraku   它的名字是 Malaysia   Ada Cina,   Melayu dan India  Now We teach you  How to say thank you Terima Kasih , Xie Xie and Nandri   Malaysians, Jaganlah racist la~ " Something like this hahahahha. We want to make it contain many language and also the words  Malaysia is also mentioned. The song also mentioned the 3 biggest ethnics groups in Malaysia, we also want the Malaysians always be thankful and don't be racist among themselves. The lyric is quite funny because the 'kicks' cannot come.  And that's all from me for this week. :D

Another Country

I went to Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) to watch a play which produced by W!LD RICE Production, the title is Another Country. It's the first time I watch a professional theatrical drama performance because I miss my chance to watch the Naruto Live stage performance  last month, sad~  :'( . Another Country is directed by Jo Kukathas & Ivan Heng, curated by Leow Puay Tin & Alfin Sa'at. It's telling the history of Malaysia and Singapore from the 19th century until recent years by using many short stories.

There are two parts of this performance, which are the Singapore part and the Malaysian part. The Singaporean's actors are doing the Malaysia's part which they let the audiences to draw for the sequences of the stories that they will perform, while the Malaysian's actor are doing the Singapore's part which they following the chronological order. I think that all the performers  or actors are very professional, they're very rich with face expressions.  

Most of the stories I not really know what they are trying to tell because my history is not that good , but there are one of the Singapore part which catch my attention is the story of a woman is finding her cat. There are a old Chinese man who only speak Hokkien and a old Indian lady who only speak Tamil noth are looking for their own cat. Although they both speak different language but they use their body language to make one other to understand it. I'm a Hokkien and I also took Tamil until level 2 so i quite understand what they both are talking about. Hahahahahah . 

What surprise me most in this performance is when the Malaysia team they took off their pants. I thought this is an Islamic country and they will be more careful about the Aurat issue, because there are also Malay's performers. That's why Dr.Carmen told us in the class that they sure 'Koyak' is the perform at the Malaysia largest performing theater.

I think the performance is worth to watch for me because it's new thing to me and I learned a lots from there. That's all from me for this week ~ :D

Do you identify yourself as a Malaysian? Why? Does it matter?

I haven't been to the first class of this subject because my grandfather just passed away not long ago and i have some stuff to settle, but I heard about this assignments from friends, especially thanks to Gary who tell me the title. I'm not very clear about how this assignment going to be but I will just do it.

To me, being a Malaysian is not about whether or not you've been born or given citizenship. Being a Malaysian is about being rooted to the multiracial culture that exists in this country until today, and I can say that without a doubt, I am a Malaysian by blood and spirit. Why? For all of these years of my life, I've breathed through the essence of Malaysia: the hustle and bustle of the morning markets and night markets, running through the gardens away from the chasing geese, and even sharing precious memories celebrating all kinds of celebrations with my friends of different ethnicity and background most of them who I've made from cosplaying. Yet despite our obvious contras in lifestyle and such, we still try our best to accept each other.

Celebrating any type of celebrations like Hari Raya, Deepavali, etc is so much fun! Every year, my friends would invite me to their open house and stuff me with so much food, even a cow wouldn't be able to finish. During Raya, I even went to collect money with my Malay friends! I would say that countless others did the same as they grew up. This is what Malaysians are. We get together and celebrate each others celebration, even my Malay friends will visit to my house during Chinese New Year.

Identifying oneself as a Malaysian is very important because to me, you won't know where you're going unless you know where you came. Being a Malaysian is about "togetherness" despite our differences in skin colour, background, culture and etc.