Cross-Cultural Conversations

Observations by a Malaysian studying in Australia

Malaysia Tak Boleh!

 

Keputusan yang dicapai oleh kontinjen Malaysia di Sukan Olimpik Athens amat memalukan muka saya. Memang sudah dijangka dari awal lagi, kita tidak akan dapat beroleh kemenangan yang hebat, tetapi saya, yang degil dan penuh dengan perasaan positif, masih menaruh harapan agar Malaysia akan dapat meraih pingat, walaupun satu, walaupun gangsa.

 

Terbukti, perasaan positif saya tak kena tempat, kerana atlit kita bukan sahaja gagal meraih apa-apa pingat, malah mereka gagal dengan penuh aib. Daripada sedikit apa yang saya baca di akhbar (edisi Internet), atlit kita tidak menunjukkan cita-cita dan semangat yang tinggi untuk berjaya.

 

Ini suatu tabiat rakyat Malaysia yang amat susah untuk dikikis. Orang kita tidak begitu kompetitif. Silap, sebenarnya orang kita tidak kompetitif langsung. Walhal peserta dari negara lain datang ke sukan Olimpik (atau mana-mana acara sukan) untuk memenangi pingat emas, atlit Malaysia datang hanya untuk menimba pengalaman.

 

Sudah bertahun-tahun atlit kita ‘menimba pengalaman’ tetapi ternyata mereka belum belajar dari pengalaman, ataupun mereka tidak dapat pun pengalaman yang cuba ditimba.

 

Mungkin juga, rakyat kita, berbeza dengan rakyat negara lain, tidak begitu mementingkan kemenangan. Pingat emas tidak begitu penting bagi kita. Tidak, yang penting ialah kebolehan kita membina roti canai terbesar di dunia, ataupun barisan lemang terpanjang di Asia Tenggara.

 

Ya, sebagai masyarakat yang amat mementingkan makanan dan perkara yang tidak penting, seperti gelaran Datuk dan Datin, adegan cium di panggung wayang, dan Malaysia Book of Records, tidak hairanlah rakyat kita lazimnya tidak begitu mengambil berat sekiranya Malaysia tidak dapat meraih apa apa pingat, sekiranya Malaysia kalah dalam segala acara sukan.

 

Apa yang lebih membimbangkan bukannya kekalahan berturut-turut atlit kita (ini memang sudah menjadi kelaziman), tetapi atlit kita sekarang tidak merasa bersalah ataupun malu di atas kegagalan mereka.

posted by: Tembaga2 at 06:42 | link | comments |

Olympic Malaise-ians

 

The Athens Olympic has come to an end, and with it, any hope of a Malaysian contingent we can finally be proud of. I have to admit that living overseas, I do not have full knowledge regarding our athletes, but from newspaper reports, it seems that they never had any real ambition of giving a stellar performance.

Apparently, only one, Josiah Ng, had enough pride to feel ashamed at not winning a medal, and he was our best performing athlete, ranking sixth in the keirin event. The rest did not even bother to apologize to a country that expected so much from its Olympians.

 

On the contrary, they were very quick to find excuses for their pathetic failure. One even had the audacity to blame the hot weather for his lacklustre performance. Where does he think he come from? Antarctica?

 

Lame excuses are not the exclusive preserve of our uninspiring athletes. Sports officials went about repeating the same things we hear every time our athletes fail to win any medals, that “this sporting event should be seen as an opportunity for our athletes to measure themselves against competitors from other countries”, an avenue for them “to get a ‘feel’ for competitive environments” and worst of all, that losing “is not the end of the world”. Such misplaced tolerance for mediocrity deserves no place in our national psyche if we have any desire to be among the best in the world. Obviously not all of us do.

 

The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, despite decades of economic sanctions and political uncertainty, still managed to gain a respectable figure of four silvers and a bronze. The tiny Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago won a bronze.Why, even the impoverished African nation of Eritrea earned its way into the Olympic medal tally table. Malaysia did not even come close.

 

Our athletes are a reflection of our society, of our culture, of our national psyche. At the Olympics, as with any other sporting event, our athletes were a disgrace.

posted by: Tembaga2 at 06:41 | link | comments |

Words of Wisdom - by The Unwise

"Sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words can never hurt me"

What hurts, is when that special someone refuses to utter a single word to you.

"Ignorance is bliss"

To be ignored, is not so (You can tell I have very little talent in quote-making)

But then again,

"That which does not kill you, only serves to make you stronger"

Which never hurts.

 

 

posted by: Tembaga2 at 23:53 | link | comments |

For The Love Of The Game

 

After a century being away from home, the Olympics has finally returned to Athens, to the delight of the sports-crazy Aussies, and particularly Melburnians, many of whom are of Greek heritage.

 

As The Sunday Age’s Agenda puts it, “Across the nation, people are cramming into pubs to watch the fun on big screens, sink pints of squirt, smoke packs of cigarettes, and generally celebrate the glory of health and fitness.”

 

Given the time difference, it would be a challenge for me to watch the sporting events live at the ungodly hours of between 2 and 4 am, and it is a challenge I would not aspire to overcome.

 

However, I did manage to catch the 400 m freestyle event, repeat, of course. As Ian Thorpe swam the last 100 metres, only a fingertip ahead of Grant Hackett, my heart was beating with suspense and anticipation in much the same way the hearts of octogenarians would pump as they watch a riveting game of mid-afternoon lawn bowls.

 

I may not be an Aussie, but since I’m living here I might as well support the Australian contingent. They are, after all, a very impressive team, with a clear potential to win many medals in the Games. I’ve always admired how Australia, a country with a relatively small population, and adding to that, an increasingly obese society, can produce so many world-class athletes.

 

Even though the officials, the media, and the athletes themselves endlessly talk about the Olympics being a celebration of the human spirit, the coming together of humanity without national boundaries, the glory of the mind and body and many other philosophical feel-goods, for many of us it all boils down to national pride and a sense of belonging to our country.

 

Being Malaysian, there aren’t many opportunities for this sense of pride to be bloated and boasted around. The only area which we seem to dominate is badminton, and even so, our dominance has never been consistent. Then again, we can never be certain who will win and at the end of the day each athlete has just about as much chance to succeed as the next competitor.

 

That said, let the Games begin! And let the Aussies (and hopefully, a few Malaysians) win!

posted by: Tembaga2 at 11:08 | link | comments |

Gone Peanuts!

 

On most other days, for breakfast I will help myself to a bowl of cereal and peaches, with a dollop of vanilla crème yoghurt on top, all of which is then drained in milk for the finishing touch. Nice and healthy, if a bit conservative.

 

On Sundays however, all caution is thrown to the wind as I indulge myself in 4 perfectly toasted bread, 2 of which are judiciously spread with golden margarine and peanut butter, and the other 2, an equally generous blend of that all-important ingredient, peanut butter, with raspberry jam.

 

 All the senses are invoked as the saltiness of the margarine is interspersed with the smooth texture of the peanut butter; they’re further rejuvenated once the fat and alkaline of the wonderful peanut butter are neutralised by the sweet and slightly acidic tang of raspberry jam.

 

As the different flavours ooze into your tastebuds, all those bewildering Eastern concepts of Yin and Yang, Shangri La and Heaven-On-Earth do not seem so incredulous anymore. I have been to the Garden of Eden and the Forbidden Fruit is actually a peanut!

 

The Thais are quite adept at incorporating this delightful kernel into their sumptuous cuisine. Who would’ve thought chopped peanuts would work wonders to a bowl of stir-fry noodles?

 

In Malaysia, the most well-known peanut dish is the satay sauce, the ubiquitous accompaniment to the aromatic satay kebabs. This humble meal is arguably Malaysia’s most famous export after Mahathir Mohamad’s news-making vitriol against the West. It is undoubtedly the most-loved.

 

In Australia, so popular is satay that ready-made satay sauce-in-glass-jars line the aisles of virtually every supermarket – something rarely found in Malaysia – you’d think Satay originated in the suburbs of Sydney.

 

This is of course unsurprising; Malaysians, and it seems, Malaysian products, tend to do better overseas than in their home country.

 

However, quantity is not a measure of quality, and the same applies to our satay. While the original satay sauce in Malaysia is a thick red broth – from the chilli and spices – blended with finely chopped peanuts, the Australian satay sauce is essentially peanut butter packed in a satay-branded jar. The spiciness is missing, the aroma virtually non-existent, and the texture, smooth and creamy, just like peanut butter.

 

Every time the boarding house serves us vegetable kebabs in satay sauce, I cry invisible tears of disappointment as I dip the kebabs in what they say is satay, but what I know is really extra-smooth peanut butter, and endure the agony of digesting a soiled Malaysian dip.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I like peanut butter, but I detest peanut butter disguised as satay sauce.

 

And so it would be, that every time I visit the supermarket and walk the aisle of shame, I cringe, yet again, invisible tears of disappointment as I reluctantly look at those huge jars brazenly displaying bold big words of SATAY SAUCE, with the contents looking no different than your average peanut butter.

 

posted by: Tembaga2 at 10:18 | link | comments |