Let's talk about TV

I love watching TV...who doesn't? It distracts you from the trials and tribulations (and usually turmoil) of your real life and gives you an opportunity to switch off and unwind without actually going anywhere physically.
But since I came back to Malaysia, watching TV has become increasingly annoying...wondering why?
I just couldn't understand these local programs (that includes a certain music channel by the way which is owned by a Malaysian company)...not because of the language barrier - because there are a wide variety of English shows, but because of the presenters/actors/hosts etc...

Has anyone ever noticed that all these people are not real?
Stop, wait - they are real people...but how much of the population do these people represent?

I have been away, and in the place where I was, you will find people on TV - REAL people...short people, tall people, Indians, Africans, Jamaicans, Chinese, people who aren't the best looking people, people who are simply stunning...the list goes on...

And this realisation spilled over to the adverts I saw on the local TV too...

Who are those people in the the adverts? And for God's sake why are there no people of colour in the advertisements? Do these companies only want porcelain-white coloured people to purchase their products? And thinking back, I don't think I have come across an Indian on an advert...or reading the news, or presenting anything...

What's going on?

When is this blatant racism going to stop?

And don't get me started on the adverts for whitening products....

In fact, whilst abroad, I saw a program (a chat show)where the subject was whitening products..better still, the host said that she had gotten the idea after a trip to MALAYSIA where she had seen these adverts on the local TV...

HOW EMBARRASSING

Now the whole world can know about the racism here!

So what's the moral here...?
If you want to be on tele, you have to bleach your face, or have at least one parent who is white...and if you're Indian/African/Jamaican or have a hint of a tan - don't bother, just stick to the home videos.

Isn't that just sad?

The problem with...

...Malaysian graduates (local unis):
1. mono-lingual
2. memorise to get through...parrot learning
3. taught just to pass exams...err...so what happens when you go out to work?
4. no problem solving skills
5. charisma?
MORAL: read as much as possible...watch the news...not just in Malay...question lecturers...encourage inquisitiveness

...Malaysian drivers:
1. 'Its all about me' attitude
2. zero courtesy
3. 90% (my own educated guess) paid for their licenses...
4. never indicate
5. never give way...and worse still horn at me and curse when I stop to give way!
MORAL: go home and stop driving you selfish ba$tards!

...Malaysian men:
1. want a woman to cook, clean, look good, and work...and have kids
2. want a woman who works but is not in a better position than them
3. meet you in a club when you're wearing a tight short number...but once you're officially dating them, tell you not to go clubbing and not to wear such revealing clothes
4. don't like you being too independent/opinionated/driven/intelligent
5. restrict your friends...or even tell you to cut some off
MORAL: don't complain when we dump you for your crappy mentality and resistance to change - and for God's sake go and learn how to cook!

...Malaysian food/drink:
1. full of coconut milk
2. full of belcan
3. use condensed milk in tea/coffee
4. everything is fried - even the fruits!
5. fat in everything - and in vast quantities!
MORAL: don't complain about fast food when the problem is the local food...just look at fried noodles, nasi lemak, cendol...

Malaysian-Indian-movie-men...

So I was walking along some road in PJ state today - with my dad might I add, when some loser guy makes this sound at me. It was a cross between a fake European-esq air kiss and a curry-mee noddle slurp...yuck!

So, much to my dad's horror, I turned around and informed the guy that making such sounds was in no way an appropriate means of attaining a young lady's attention (let alone affection). I then continued to ask him if he had ever gotten a girl that way...He just stared and blinked back. I figured that either he didn't understand me, or he wanted to curse at me but held back on account of my dad being there.

It's not the first time a guy has made that awful sound at me - and I know for sure that I am not the only lady out there who has been noodle-slurped at. I really don't know how these guys get girls at all - but that is definitely not the way to go about it!

I figured out that these guys - sadly Indian, are getting their 'inspiration' from the Indian movies - correction - Tamil movies.

Before I go on, I must state that I do not condone the watching of lame, unimaginative Tamil movies, where people chop limbs off of others in fights, and men drink, smoke and work and women stay at home and cook...where the men come back at 3am drunk and the women meekly ask "have you eaten?". Hell no. That is not what I watch.

In the Tamil movies, guys make ridiculous noises at the girls - and almost always make stupid - and usually insulting comments at girls when they walk past them.

And next thing you know, the loser guys here are mimicking this pathetic 'tactic' and us girls are getting the bad end of it all.

In the Tamil movies, the 'cool' guys smoke and chop people up in fights.
Hang on a minute...that's exactly what the (self proclaimed) 'cool' Tamil guys in Malaysia do too...

In Tamil movies the 'cool' guy is never an investment banker, or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company...but a cab driver, or a jobless troublemaker...
Yes...I do believe that is yet another thing that is evident in the Tamil community here...

See a pattern folks?

I know I speak for hundreds of young Tamil girls in Malaysia when I say that I hate it when guys make comments at me/to me when I walk past them - and I can guarantee that it will not yield any attention from myself or any other self-respecting young woman. In fact lately, it has been getting quite the opposite...I have resulted in questioning these guys about the success rate of their tactics merely to baffle, annoy and perhaps...maybe...provoke a little thought in their Tamil-movie-infested brains...

We women deserve to be wooed. Where are the gentlemen? The ones who approach us confidently, slightly smiling, and use exciting double-entendres and un-heard of lines, that leave us in a daze and wanting more?

Well, wherever they are - it's not here.

So don't blame us girls who go off and find men outside of Malaysia. They know how to talk to us. And even better still, they know how to listen too.

Adebayor - again

Right, sorry if I seem to be ranting on (and on) about the same thing but I read the following statement on the BBC this evening:

"Adebayor has also been charged with reacting aggressively and failing to leave the field of play immediately."

So just to reiterate, he was charged for the above reasons - so what does that have to do with a red card? Why did he get that red card? Why was that appeal dismissed? The above charges are because of the receipt of the red card aren't they? Doesn't that mean that if he did not get carded he would not have
a. reacted aggressively; and
b. failed to leave the pitch immediately???

Sometimes (more often than not) I really don't get the FA.

Nevertheless, the lad has ample time to contest it (until March 14th) and has the right to a personal trial...although it would be much more appropriate for him to be concentrating on the premiership and champions league titles at the moment...but I won't go there...

Adebayor - I was right

As I mentioned in my initial response to the Arsenal v Chelsea Carling Cup Final, I do not know why Adebayor was dismissed.
As such, it has been reported today in the papers and the wonderful BBC online (one of the best sources for news ever) that the 21-year old striker has filed a claim with the FA for wrongful dismissal.

The Togo international said in a statement to Arsenal news that he had only wanted to calm things down. This sounds about right. From the few Arsenal matches I have seen in person (yes - at Emirates) and the hundreds I have watched on telly, I can tell that he is one of the nicest players. He always gets the crowd going, and is the first to smile and shake his head.

He is an asset to the team and a 3-match ban is pretty hefty a penalty to pay - especially since I saw a certain other player tugging and punching who didn't get such a severe punishment...

Lets see what happens though....

Pissy Malaysian Habits

1. Closing the lift door when you are standing right in front of it
2. Cutting in front if you from the emergency lane in traffic jams
3. Not getting out of the way of ambulances
4. Drink driving - it is NOT cool - YOU COULD KILL SOMEONE
5. Giving out projects/business to relatives and friends
6. Speaking in their own language at work/meetings
7. Not indicating before turns
8. Serving their own race first (in shops/eateries etc) - this is RACISM
9. Pretending to not know English
10. Not giving directions
11. Asking what your religion is on job applications - what does it matter???
12. Not stopping for pedestrians/cars - GIVE WAY
13. Quota systems
14. Having political parties that are segregated by race - what other country does this? Shouldn't political parties be segregated based upon differing political views?
15. Poking their nose in every one's business
16. Staring - if you don't know me - don't stare at me
17. Snatch thefts - at least fight me for it
18. Corruption - I just don't know who to trust
19. Lack of transparency/disclosure - don't you think it's time we had a Freedom of Information Act?
20. Jumping ques

Sadly I can go on for much longer...but have chosen to stop here in case i upset anyone...if I did, my apologies, but this is the TRUTH.

Wait, I have one more that I must add:
21. Only being nice to WHITE tourists/foreigners

Where have all the good people gone?

My experiences in Malaysia have been varied...
Mostly bad though.

I expected people to be friendly - warm, welcoming...but that was a far cry from what I faced.

I remember when I was in school, in a far away place, over 10,000 miles away; when someone new came to class, from another country, not knowing a word of our local language...we were nice. More than nice. We were empathetic.
I think these people here know not the meaning of the word.
We would try to make the new-comer feel safe, understanding that it must be difficult to make such a transition. We would teach them the language, we would invite them to play rounders with us. We were nice.

But it didn't happen here.

Instead I was out casted by my own race for not knowing the local language and having a far more superior command of other languages.
Not a day would pass without a comment - be it in front of me or behind me (usually the preferred mode of insult).

"You think you so great cos you come from XXXXXX ah?"

"You think you so cool cos you speak in slang ah?"


IT'S NOT SLANG IT'S AN ACCENT


And I am a firm believer of living for yourself - and not for others, don't ever let those outsiders get the better of you....
But how long could I keep up the fight? .

Why couldn't they see a person who had left their world as they had known it to be in a different country?
Where was the empathy? Where was the compassion? Where was the human decency in these vile, selfish people?

I held on with the hope of going back home.
But eventually...

I broke.

What was once a young person so full of promise and dreams, metamorphosed into a bitter, pathetic shadow of who they used to be.

It took time. Years.

I found a life again.

The wounds healed.

Mental and physical.

I never want to be in that dark place again.


This country - Malaysia - destroyed me and all that I was.

And I blame it entirely on the people. Their narrow-mindedness, their short-sightedness, their venir outlook, their jealousy, their inability to comprehend or appreciate anything that is beyond their realm of normalcy, their resistance to accept anything or anyone that is different, their self-pity...

People have the power to make you completely miserable.

The country can grow - as fast and as much as it likes.

But if the people are still so SMALL - what is the point?