are you truly Malaysians?

I wrote this entry long time ago (before 31 August 2010) and I only have today to post it..a litle bit late for the issue but I still want others to understand how important for us to feel good about our country, Malaysia

If you were born today, which country would provide you the very best opportunity to live a healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous and upwardly mobile life?

(Quoted from – Newsweek, August 23 & 30 2010 issue.)

Well...based on the question above, what is your choice? United Kingdom? USA? Japan? Malaysia? My choice...would always be Malaysiaku yang tercinta...no matter what happens, no matter how bad our situation is, Malaysia is always the best country for me to live in...Patriotic huh? Yup...can't deny the fact that I am truly Malaysian...hehe...

Actually, where do we rank in this International Rankings for the category “The BEST countries in the world”? (This survey was conducted by Newsweek Magazine)

We are no...37! Not bad eh?

I asked this question to my students – sadly enough, many of them don’t have high opinion of our beloved Malaysia...many guessed that among the 200++ countries in this world, we were ranked at 100++...now, I am wondering, aren’t they proud of this beautiful and harmonious country of Malaysia?

I am for sure, very proud and very happy to say out loud that I am MALAYSIAN! And I really LOVE this country...we are small (in sizes), yet we are unique...we have many cultures and races...we are considered rich in so many things! I am lucky to be Malaysian, because I get good pay as a graduate teacher (Alhamdulillah...very thankful for that), I can afford to pay for my own car, food, and some allowances for my mother...and some for sharing with others (belanja la adik beradik & kawan-kawan)

Malaysia – is the country that is so easy for the Muslims to live and practice their belief...Mosques and Musollas are everywhere even in a supermarket! Go to MidValley (my favourite), I can pray comfortably at Jusco Musolla...all in all, I’d say that we can shop and have fun altogether and yet, we can afford NOT TO NEGLECT our duties and responsibilities as a Muslim (in performing ‘solat’)...as for Halal food, even though nowadays, many issues of Halal food outlets are being discussed, we still have lots of choices as compared to other countries...as for me, now, I am being more careful and choosy..I opt for restaurants that have HALAL signature from Jakim/MAIS/MAIPP etc....and there are plenty of them that we can check in the directory...

As a Malay, I am lucky for I can eat all types of food particularly the Chinese and Indian food anytime I wish because these food are available everywhere 24/7. I don’t have to travel to China or India to eat Bukhara Briyani or the scrumptious dim sum... (the Halal one, of course)...
Hell...as for education, we have better freedom and better opportunities to change our social status as long as we really WORK HARD to achieve success!

comparing the living expenses, hell yeah...Malaysia is way cheaper than our neighbouring country, Singapore! even Phuket is also expensive..a town house costs you RM1400 in Phuket...well, in KL, if we pay that much, we'll get proper house/apartment with decent community..

I am indeed, LUCKY!!!!

And I believe that it is not only easy for the Muslims, but it is also easy for other races that are practising other religions as well...because our country never stops the citizens to practice their belief...

Truthfully, I am sad when many of my students seem to underestimate our beloved Malaysia...it seems that they are not proud to be Malaysians! How could they? And for me, they are not patriotic enough! How sad is the situation? They are proud of the UK, Japan, Korea etc.but not Malaysia...when they give me this type of response; there are only two questions that I could ask them:

1- Have you been to the other countries? (UK, Japan, Korea etc.)
2- What are the contributions of these countries to you and your family?

You know what? 99% of these students responded NO/NEVER to both questions! How pathetic! Never ever been there and yet you are proud of these countries, not your own homeland!!

You might wonder why do I bother about why we should love Malaysia and so on?

The answer is because I am freaking patriotic of my lovely Malaysia!

And I am talking about this issue because I hope that Malaysians should realize how lucky they are, to be a part of the small community of Malaysia!

I am not just giving you empty talk as everything that I have said here are based on my experience living abroad during my study and based on my observation while I was travelling to different continents of the world (and insyallah...I will keep on travelling to enable me to see this “Bumi Allah” and gather more beneficial knowledge that I could use and share with “anak-anak bangsa”)

Singapore maybe more advanced and systematic than us in many aspects, but do they have their own designed, national car? We have PROTON and PERODUA! And it is difficult to get Halal food and proper place to perform solat...as a Muslim; this is definitely NOT my place!

Well...LONG LIVE MALAYSIA...keranamu, kami bangsa berjaya...(hayati lirik lagu Keranamu Malaysia)

As to my students, well, they got free lectures from me because they don’t love Malaysia enough to salute our country and be proud of our achievement!...hehe...