A note by Dina Zaman.

yesterday i had lunch with an old friend whom i have not seen in THREE years. he's a busy man, and i get myself into all sorts of things.

during lunch, he asked me te following questions. our conversation revolved around Nursalam.

"Are they Muslims?"
"Not all but more often than not, yes."
"They can't be Malay. Sure China. Busuk-busuk pun budak Myanmar."
"Eh, budak Rohingya tu budak Islam tau. Stateless you know?"
"Ya... but the majority of the kids yang troubled ni... they can't be Malay. Malays don't do things like this. Malay parents will never allow their kids to be street kids."

I was speechless. What made him, and yes, many people in Malaysia think that the Malays are not capable of child trafficking, prostitution, drug abuse and so forth? I know we have been indoctrinated from young that we are a superior race but er... we too have failings too. Unfortunately.

Of course I squawked at him like this harried mother hen.

The truth is, I get asked this all the time. And while I hate being racial, it IS very embarrassing for me to answer why we Malays who are Muslims and are better than everyone else have serious social problems. One time Big asked me this, "You Muslims say you are better than us. You pray five times a day, you don't drink alcohol, you don't eat pork or have premarital sex, but how come the ones who ask me for coffee money are the Malays? The kids you work with who have problems are mostly Malay?"

I really have no answer. One, not all Malays or CHinese, oh f-it not all Malaysians are guilty of social ills. But more often than not, and maybe because we Malays/Muslims tend to have many children, we have the rabbit DNA in us, I think, er, the problem is amplified and magnified. However, for many Malays, we live in a bubble. We actually believe this is other people's (non-Malays) problems.

The thing is, once all explanations are done, then these people want to help ONLY the Muslim/Malay kids in Nursalam. That also raises my blood pressure. These are children.

And here's another thing about ngo work that drives me around the bend.

The Snoot Factor.

Met Mr Prada a week back. stumped him for money la. Hey he spends RM10,000 on SHIRTS.

"Who'll be there."
"You know Sue. You also know Tini's sisters."
"Yeah yeah but that's an older crowd. Who'll be there."
"A mixture of friends, media, volunteers etc etc etc."
"Oh. Maybe I'll come with my friends.You can also send the letter to my P.A and ask for a proper donation."
"THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU."
"Don't forget you're emceeing at my wedding kay?"

I got a call from the PA. Mr Prada wanted to buy ONLY ONE TICKET and I COULD PASS THE TICKET TO ANYONE.

ONE TICKET ONLY!!!!!/

I howled at his secretary. Eh your boss damn kedekut la. Baik tak payah beli tiket! I BUY THE TICKETS MYSELF. Kedekut punya budak. Beli baju 10 ribu boleh, nak datang event beli tiket se je? Taik betul adik sedara aku ni. Mung cakak kak dia apa Tuhan bagi Tuhan boleh tarik balik! Aku nok kabo mok dia karang. Haji Bakhil betul.

The poor secretary kept quiet.



Haiyo mak hot you. (Cekak pinggang) Ok mak nak mekap. Nak gi kerja ni.



I am speechless to read this! sigh