Once, while wandering around, I met a mother and her son at an empty basketball court. She looked very young, shy and gentle. Her son was probably around 5 years old, wearing miniature sleeveless sports attire, complete with tiny sports shoes, and he carried a basketball as big as his body. With deep concentration, he would fling the ball over his head, backwards, behind him, somehow scoring.
Suddenly, he approached me. Grabbing my hand, he dragged me toward the ball, talking non-stop. I didn’t understand a word.
Am I being challenged? I took a shot, but he shook his head in annoyance. He took the ball from me and did it again his way. This kid was teaching me ‘how it’s done’, and we were communicating with gestures, facial expressions, and noises.
Taking a break, I spoke to his mother. An Indonesian, she had married a local. She said that her son liked playing here. She giggled when I praised her son’s skills.
Around this time, 2 older Chinese children (around age 8-10) came to play basketball too. I felt compelled to mediate the situation, especially when the mother worriedly called her son back.
The older boys didn't want to play with him because.... he was “Malay.... and too young anyway”. Hearing this stung my heart. Too young, yes, I could understand, but apparently, the first thing that came into their minds was that this kid was ‘different’.
The little kid went crying to his mum. The 2 older boys ignored them. The mother was reluctant to defend her son. Was it just shyness?
Even if we can't understand a word each other is saying, sometimes you can communicate with something else. When you don't understand someone else, is it because you can't or because you don't try to?
Hm I am quite surprised that this happened in Malaysia, isn't Malay supposed to be the majority race?
ReplyDeleteAnd perhaps the reason why some don't like to interact with people of another culture is because they are lazy to make an effort or they think that their culture is superior and others should instead learn their culture instead. What do you think?
I agree with Ally that lazy is a reason resulting in lack of communication.People may be self centered and assume that everyone else in the world shares the same value and do not find it necessary to explore other cultures.
ReplyDeleteI feel for the young boy who got chased away from the basketball court. I guess this has always been the way, the stronger and more powerful would most probably get their way. Well, im not looking at this from a racial point of view, just looking at it from a who's stronger point of view.
ReplyDeleteBut back to your question, sometimes even if we try, we can't. Picture this situation... if the culture that you try to understand is actually entirely opposite that of your own culture, do you go out of your way to embrace it? Because in doing so, you would in the first place, have to go against your own culture.
Therefore, i think the best way is to respect other culture. You don't have to follow it, don't have to embrace it. You just have to not out-rightly disdain it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgvbrl4xgys
ReplyDeleteI think this video is a very good advertisement in combating against racism. I Like how the kid explain when being asked about the race.
I think this race thing is actually taught to them by their parents. If let's say parents abolish the culture differences when teaching their kids, I believe the world would be a better place to live in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgvbrL4xGys
ReplyDeleteSorry the previous link was invalid. This new link is the one I'm talking about
Thanks Kenneth, I remember that ad. I miss Yasmin Ahmad...
ReplyDeleteTo Ally, the kid was half-Indonesian (I don't know which island), his father was most likely Malay, but possibly Chinese. I do not know. It didn't really matter to me.
Your response is interesting; would you expect all non-Malays to show deference/respect to the majority race in Malaysia? Would you expect all non-Chinese in Singapore to do the same to the Chinese majority?
To Lixian (or should I use Grace?), I think laziness and apathy do play a part. However, from my experience, pride is a bigger problem. Many people are so proud of their own culture that they look down on anything not like them. Pride prevents them from admitting they are wrong even if the evidence is shoved up their noses. It's always been this way. Not too long ago, the British Colonials were the same.
To Perry, yeah I agree with you. In an earlier draft of this post (800 words) I addressed the issue of dominance too. I think most of would have experienced this ranking order in childhood: older kids are (for some reason) superior to younger kids. True, this was the case. However, I took offence at the racial slight they gave; I didn't include this part in the post, but they were giving dark looks to the mother as well. It... sickens me...
for young kids, i think language barrier is also a problem. That's why i normally saw chinese kids in a gang, malay kids in another gang and also indian kids in another gang in the field. But as time pass by, when the little kids grow up, they start to mix around (only applies to some circumstances).
ReplyDelete