We have so many reasons to hate others. Either on an individual basis or a race hating another race. We can find a thousand and one reasons if we want to.
The Malays have plenty of reasons to hate the Chinese and the Indians. So do the Chinese and the Indians, they can find plenty of reasons to do likewise.
But will it end? We may not hate each other to the extent of ending up killing and annihilating (destroying) each other. But the lack of harmony and cooperation among the races may result in unnecessary tension and discord in our society and country. More than that, it will hamper the realisation of our common destiny.
If only we can find a reason or two to like others, life would be different. Amazing things can happen. This country would be an amazing place to be on this planet. It would be the envy of others. Life would be wonderful. Everybody would be glad to be a citizen of this country. Nobody wants to a citizen of another country. Everybody would give everything to be part of this wonderful society. Surely, this is what God wants and expects from us. Isn't it?
Surely there are good reasons for the Malays to appreciate the presence of other races in this country as there are many reasons the Chinese and the Indians to like the Malays.
One starting point could be not to focus on others’ weaknesses, but instead to focus on our own. Every race has it’s own weaknesses, which they tend to overlook. Or pretend the weaknesses just don’t exist. Or as a result of over-focussing on the weaknesses of others, we are blinded not just to our own weaknesses but also to our flaws (more serious weaknesses).
For this reason, everyone should read this book. Every Chinese especially the politicians from both sides of political divide and academicians should read this book. Every Chinese student should read this book.
I am sure that some of them have come across this book before. I bought this book in the early 90s. I read it once and am reading it again for the second time. I find this book very enlightening and illuminating.
By reading this book a non-Chinese can understand the Chinese better. Knowing their history and culture helps us understand their current situation. It will surely develop sympathy for whatever shortcoming they might have. Yes, they have shortcomings too. Some are quite serious.
Unfortunately there is no similar book for the Malays and the Indians. No The Ugly Malay or The Ugly Indian in print, although more advanced races like the Japanese and the Americans have one. (I have yet to get hold of The Ugly American and The Ugly Japanese and hope to do so. So far cannot be found at any major bookstore in this country.)
Hopefully someone will be brave enough to write The Ugly Malay and The Ugly Indian. Even The Ugly Punjabi should be written. It would surely go a long way to enhance understanding among the major races in this country.
By learning and accepting our weaknesses and others’s we can become more humble and more tolerant in our ways. Not only we can focus on mending our ways but we can also start helping others (other races) to succeed using our strentghs. Helping others is also a way to help ourselves.
Only then we can truly cultivate the win-win mentality to replace the current zero-sum game mentality which is inhhibiting our path to achieve true racial harmony in this country and to realise our common destiny.
Our destiny is together. The sooner we realise this the better. Instead of one race battering or condemning the other, we should be helping each other with our strengths.
The Malays have plenty of reasons to hate the Chinese and the Indians. So do the Chinese and the Indians, they can find plenty of reasons to do likewise.
But will it end? We may not hate each other to the extent of ending up killing and annihilating (destroying) each other. But the lack of harmony and cooperation among the races may result in unnecessary tension and discord in our society and country. More than that, it will hamper the realisation of our common destiny.
If only we can find a reason or two to like others, life would be different. Amazing things can happen. This country would be an amazing place to be on this planet. It would be the envy of others. Life would be wonderful. Everybody would be glad to be a citizen of this country. Nobody wants to a citizen of another country. Everybody would give everything to be part of this wonderful society. Surely, this is what God wants and expects from us. Isn't it?
Surely there are good reasons for the Malays to appreciate the presence of other races in this country as there are many reasons the Chinese and the Indians to like the Malays.
One starting point could be not to focus on others’ weaknesses, but instead to focus on our own. Every race has it’s own weaknesses, which they tend to overlook. Or pretend the weaknesses just don’t exist. Or as a result of over-focussing on the weaknesses of others, we are blinded not just to our own weaknesses but also to our flaws (more serious weaknesses).
For this reason, everyone should read this book. Every Chinese especially the politicians from both sides of political divide and academicians should read this book. Every Chinese student should read this book.
I am sure that some of them have come across this book before. I bought this book in the early 90s. I read it once and am reading it again for the second time. I find this book very enlightening and illuminating.
By reading this book a non-Chinese can understand the Chinese better. Knowing their history and culture helps us understand their current situation. It will surely develop sympathy for whatever shortcoming they might have. Yes, they have shortcomings too. Some are quite serious.
Unfortunately there is no similar book for the Malays and the Indians. No The Ugly Malay or The Ugly Indian in print, although more advanced races like the Japanese and the Americans have one. (I have yet to get hold of The Ugly American and The Ugly Japanese and hope to do so. So far cannot be found at any major bookstore in this country.)
Hopefully someone will be brave enough to write The Ugly Malay and The Ugly Indian. Even The Ugly Punjabi should be written. It would surely go a long way to enhance understanding among the major races in this country.
By learning and accepting our weaknesses and others’s we can become more humble and more tolerant in our ways. Not only we can focus on mending our ways but we can also start helping others (other races) to succeed using our strentghs. Helping others is also a way to help ourselves.
Only then we can truly cultivate the win-win mentality to replace the current zero-sum game mentality which is inhhibiting our path to achieve true racial harmony in this country and to realise our common destiny.
Our destiny is together. The sooner we realise this the better. Instead of one race battering or condemning the other, we should be helping each other with our strengths.
This way, God will help us. He will help us to overcome our weaknesses which we ourselves find it hard to remedy. (He may even remove the curse on some of the races.) Each race will become strong. We need every race to be strong, to be the best that they can be. Combine together, the result will be awesome (impressive) - Malaysia would be a truly unique place, never seen before in history.
In short we need to help ourselves (our own people) and help others (other people). By doing this we are helping ourselves in ways that produce amazing results we can never iamgine. Before that we should look at our own weaknesses (and close our eyes to the weaknesses of others) and do something to fix it.
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