The sad tale of 'one' against the 'other'
Dear Mr Prime Minister,
I am a Malaysian. My race is the human race and peace is my religion and love is what I have for all people. And, I swear I am a Malaysian by heart and by soul. Malaysia has been the only home I have known and the only one I will ever know. But I am treated like the 'other'.
I attended a job interview recently and among others I was asked if it would matter to me that I would be working with people who are mostly the 'other' if you get what I mean. I reminded the panelists that I am a Malaysian but they still eagerly awaited my answer. My answer to them was, 'If I do not recognise the 'other' as anything but 'one' how will I ever become the 'other?'.
I did not get the job and it must be because they probably thought they would not want this 'other' to be in their midst. Indeed sad but is it my misfortune or their misguided judgment?
Dear sir, how can I erase such thoughts from such people? I was born on this soil and I have lived here all my life.
Is it my fault that my ancestors came from not here but elsewhere? I am here now and want to be treated with some dignity and respect and more importantly, I desperately need to have a sense of belonging. I was recently in the land where my mother was born for a brief period of four days and during those days, I did not feel at home for it is not my home.
I did not feel a 'one-ness' with the people from my mother's homeland. Strange, too, that I was treated like the 'other' and I did not mind it one bit. I missed home and every minute I was dying to return to the familiarity of my own home. How can I explain this?
If you ask us to go back to where our ancestors came from, we will be like fish out of water. I have no ties with anywhere else except Malaysia. Dear sir, will you give us the assurance that we will be able to call Malaysian our home till we kick the bucket? There is unknown fear inside us that we will be made to leave, extricated from our own homeland.
This fear and apprehension are turning into anger and frustration. I even fear my own judgment now. Will I start hating the 'other' who treats me like the 'other' and not like 'one'? I have only good memories of my schools friends, my colleagues, my bosses and everybody else who happened to be the 'other' but treated me as 'one' and not the 'other'.
There was no discrimination then but the recent spells of hate and incitement have left me bruised inside. I try to fight my emotions but I am in a dilemma. Some unknown force is telling me that I can never be 'one' despite everything about Malaysia being presented as 'one'.
Dear sir, the hurt is spreading like cancer, destroying the likes of me in many awful ways for we have the young and old from 'one' and the 'other' alike looking for prejudices, excuses and reasons to feed the mind. The mind is like a torpedo. The moment it receives a signal to hit its target, it will do so by whatever means. The missiles are searching for their target so how will you detonate them?
For 'one' to blend with the 'other', the 'one' and the 'other' need to discard all their prejudices towards one another and see themselves as children of the same soil. It sounds like a distant dream but dreams will eventually evolve into reality if there is collective will, conviction and belief.
Dear sir, you may not see and sense this rising discomfort from where you are on the pedestal of fame and popularity. From where you are, the problem is just a tiny dot. If you come closer, you will see the dot spreading across to millions called the minority. But sir, even if you come close enough, some Very Important People might not want you to see the real dot representing the millions and the dot will remain a tiny dot with no significance.
Dear sir, we can recognise the will in you but the conviction and belief must come from both 'one' and the 'other'. It is not a one man's battle, but that of a nation. Every day there are nuances from people everywhere inciting hatred between 'one' and the 'other'.
Dear sir, I must confess that I am now truly depressed feeling this way and I am consciously trying to
fight my thoughts and pretend that I am 'one' with the 'other' but I feel the 'other' is bent on not allowing me to be 'one' with them. Does this mean I am meant to be the 'other' forever and if so, how do I relate to and emulate '1Malaysia' and be 'one' with 'others'?
Please tell me sir, I beg you.
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