Of Burger, Thosai, butts and...

Bersopan dan beradab amalan kita

Picture taken just outside Rais's ministry near Dataran Merdeka. Actually I was looking for the Occupy Dataran people after a cuppa of coffee. Instead the banner sets me thinking...
Where are we heading? The banner says "Bersopan dan beradab amalan kita" but are we really? We taught the Nepalese security guards to place their hands over their heart to say "Welcome" and we teach our frontliners to serve "with a golden smile". Not only that, we pride ourselves with the tagline "Malaysia, truly Asian.." but deep down we are getting into the gutters.
Look at how some of our ex-servicemen doing butt exercise in front of Ambiga's house. Is that "Bersopan dan beradab"? Just consider these points :-

1. These ex-servicemen did their butt exercise wearing normal attire. Is that how we do exercise? No sweat shirts or jogging tracks?;
   
   
2. Some of these ex-servicemen wears kopiah and yet continue with the embarassing exercise;
3. The leader of the group refuse Ambiga's offer of 100 plus saying "Kita orang Melayu dan Islam tak minum nie. Kita minum air suam". What has 100 plus got to do with Melayu and Islam? Is there a new edict saying that 100 plus is non-halal?;
4. Most probably these ex-servicemen are NCO (non-commissioned officers). That tells a lot of their approach;
5. The leader claims that they are fighting in the jungles before. I will love to see their track records. In most probablity, they are the ones who are lounging in the cities with their green uniform;
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Take another case. This time about some petty traders setting up burger stall in front of, who else, but Ambiga's house. Now consider these points :-

1. Is it bersopan dan beradab to set up a burger stall which definitely means serving beef and chicken burger in front of a Hindu practitioner's house?;
2. Is it alright to just set up a stall wherever and whenever you like just because the police says so?;
3. Is this a greenlight for others to follow similar footsteps because there is no action from DBKL?;
4. Why no action here when only this morning I saw DBKL officers lugging nasi lemak and its dishes into DBKL's enforcement lorry near Pasar Seni?. 2 sets of standards?;

Let's broaden our horizon. What's becoming of gentle Malaysians when we have our own citizens heckling 1MPM6 Najib in UK recently? I mean here is 1MPM6 Najib starting his speech in London and we have our own citizens heckling him during his speech. Why then? Why not wait outside the function room to voice your displeasure? Are we losing that "Beradab dan bersopan" attitude? If so, something is wrong with our education system...
Are we living in a world of tits for tats? We have burger stall here and we are having a thosai stall there? And the better thing is it will be free thosai and free thosai making class. Will this be a new development in Malaysia? Will there be Chee Cheong Fun stalls later? What about Nasi lemak? 
In short, where is our "beradab dan bersopan" culture? Have we lost that loving feeling and everything is now only "WE" against "THEM"? Are we heading towards partitions and compartmentalise living? Are we that far apart? Are we heading towards a separation point of no return?
When Terengganu falls to PAS, UMNO supporters vowed that they will never drive their cars on the roads. Alas, that promise lasted only a month before these UMNO grassroot leaders drive on the tar-surface roads in Terengganu. The point is - both sides needs each other to stabilise.
As much as the government feels that they did the right thing, they need the opposition to do check and balance to keep them on the right track. How do we do that? Do we sacrifice our "beradab dan bersopan" to shout vulgarities? Do we need to throw our dignity to show our butts? Do we need disrespect other people's religion by setting up stalls offering beef burgers in front of a Hindu's house? We are Malaysians and we can do better than that. The trouble is we are too far apart that we are drawing lines to separate "them" from "us".
It is not too late to reconcile and begin from the starting point. All it needs is someone in Putrajaya to swallow his ego and admits that there is something wrong with his administration. At the same time, it needs a big heart from the other side to accept that something positive should be done. Are we not the "beradab dan bersopan"? If we are, then it is time to bury the hatchet and start where we left off...the minor problem here is I see Mahathir talking more like a PM when he is not!

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...