quaintly - Latest Comments in What It Means To Be Malaysian

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

maRCus — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:51:41 -0000

i can relate to your experience. ive been to japan and korea, and automatically, the Malaysian in you will resound!

you appreciate things more when they're gone or far away.

Nice post/. :-D

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

wen chin — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:25:45 -0000

Su ann, I just want to say that reading your blog makes people happy. =P
keep it up!

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Chen Chow — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:16:46 -0000

Happy Belated Merdeka to you! Great that you put up a huge Malaysia flag at your room! I used to do that too! This just shows that how we, Malaysians, feel a lot about our country, although I won't dare to say that everyone is happy with the going ons in the country.

I guess the way we could share with others is to share about what we think are objective answers. We tell the issues from various angles. For example, I would be telling them on why this policy is in place, say affirmative action. Why we need it? How is the reaction from each group etc? Of course, there might be stereotyping.

Enjoy! And make full use of your life there!!!

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Hanna — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:21:26 -0000

I say the truth is the truth. Good or bad is up to the listener to judge.
But if there is no good or if you had a different history back home, would you have turned out the way you are now?

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

:D — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:23:09 -0000

hey! haha i'm planning to go to US for college too! but in my first days there, i won't have a nice aunt or boyfriend to take me around sightseeing, do malaysian stuff or comfort me in my saddest homesick moments. ;(

about the image you present of malaysia to the world, i feel that you should speak on what you think is the true situation here (how our politics suck etc) but make it clear through like some disclaimer or smth that we're all TOTALLY patriotic and cinta malaysiaku though some aspects of it suck SO much. things don't have to be perfect to be loved. haha malaysia boleh! have fun in nyc and don't forget your blog readers okay!

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

ront — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:36:58 -0000

banana leaf in NYC or Philly?

then again, there must be at least 1 banana leaf restaurant in every city....

i spent my merdeka being sick....wtf

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Jeff from LA — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:37:05 -0000

Su Ann, there's no need to sugarcoat things, because that will just affect your credibility with them. Rather, what you should do is give them both the good and the bad. You can tell them about the bad drivers, etc. but then also share with them all of the wonderful things that you love about your country. Give them the whole picture and I'm sure it will be fine.

I mean I was born in the US and I lived my whole life here, but when I lived in Asia I loved it as well and I still miss it. Your discussions of Malaysia have really incited a desire in me to visit Malaysia even though you talk about the good and the bad of Malaysia (i.e. corruption, everything). So don't worry about sugarcoating anything, share with them your love for your country and they will come to see it as you see it - a wonderful place that produces wonderful people.

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

pinkpau — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:08:49 -0000

WTFFFF i replied all the comments only to have everything DISAPPEAR when i pressed submit!!!!!!!!!!!!! what is this!!!!!!!!!!!!

haih nvm reply again when i come back ok!

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

whimsicaljottings — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:19:16 -0000

DAMMIT, All that FOOD!!!!! I am freezing my @55 off in Sweden now, eating all the borrrrrringgggg Scandinavian food, cold cuts, rolls, fruit for breakfast at the hotel here. They dont know what food is coz theyve not eaten nasi lemak, bak kut teh, wan tan mee, curry, OMG why am I torturing myself, WHY??? It will be years till I get my grubby paws on Malaysian food again. Sob sob sob :( :(

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Milky cavana — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:06:13 -0000

Negaraku...the place my blood was shed..

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

EVo — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:51:53 -0000

Happy merdeka su ann!

Thailand's currently under martial law..

States in msia under PKR gvnence having public hol on 16 sep..

Eye on m'sia will be relocated to malacca soon..

So there u have it just in case u haven't checked today's asian news since ur alllllll the way there :P

How's class 2day?

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

joiz3 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:56:33 -0000

i was looking forward to reading your merdeka post cos i enjoyed yours a lot last year. =) i posted this on my blog "i wish i were mature enough for merdeka to mean more to me than just another public holiday...". i sincerely mean it. i feel that i'm just another 17-year-old hanging around m'sia who probably is being fed way too much of american culture. it's sad to say that the environment i'm in right now is the typical chinese "m'sia sucks. get out of it asap." mentality. i hate to agree to that because i desire for my homeland to mean something to me. i desire for independence day to mean something to me. it doesn't right now. i simply spent the whole day lazing around more than half the time forgetting that it was independence day. i didn't like the comment which i got on that post abt merdeka which i posted - "merdeka really is just another public holiday. there's no more meaning to it" - from a friend of mine who is currently studying in australia who was from my school. disappointing. =( one of the things that i enjoy about your blog is that you are so aware of the ongoings in m'sia.. something that many sec school students today need to learn to do so. in doing so it shows that you really care for this nation - i hope to be able to do so too soon - thanks su ann for your spirit of patriotism. it encourages me. =)

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

king — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:45:09 -0000

M'sia birthday should be 45yrs & not 51st.
hope S'wak & S'bah MP fight for this,because for so long ignored by malayan.
read this;//mt.m2day.org/2008/content/v...

SarawakPatriotic

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

kreazi — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:48:31 -0000

OMG, kangkung belacan is also probably the only green leafy vege i would eat willingly w/o having a knife or gun pointed at me!!! We have almost the same name.. now, same penchant for kangkung? Hahahhhaa

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

ju — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:29:26 -0000

omg.. you totally made me homesick with that post!!! Belacan Kangkung!!! WAAAAaaaaAAaa~~!!!

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Simon Seow — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:02:41 -0000

Hmm.. the CKT don't look so appetizing but it'll do to cure you homesickness. Well, don't put too much pressure on yourself, just be yourself. They don't want to know a Malaysian, they want to know Lim Su Ann.

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Leesa — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:12:21 -0000

Speaking of Malaysian food in NYC, there's this really great place in Chinatown on Canal & Browery. It's called New Malaysia Restaurant and its a bit of a hidden spot but it tastes really authentic! Compared with any other place in NYC, it'll probably also be one of yr cheapest meals. Here's the website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/new...

I used to spend a lot of time in NYC when my boyfriend used to live there. We lived in Soho and ate there a lot cause it was cheap and reminded me of home.

Good luck in NYC. You'll love it in no time.

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:24:53 -0000

Oh btw, I had an urge to point out that professors in N. America do encourage students asking questions and voicing different opinions, but only if it worded as a respectful question, from the point of view of someone who does not understand or who has heard an interesting bit of news and would like a more knowledgable member of staff's opinion. They would not toleerate students asking too many questions during lecture time (one reason being that it often distracts from the main lecture content), especially if the questions are directly challenging and provocative.

General student opinion of other students who ask a lot of questions is generally relief as in, less actual lecturing time, or annoyance, for the same reason. But these attitudes do still vary depending on the professor/student, some professors, even in America, till prefer the 'shut up and listen' type of attitude that is 'practised in Asia'.

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Tai — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:45:07 -0000

.my == Malaysian, for #56.

Maybe because we were such chatterboxes in class, the "keep it quiet" atmosphere didn't affect us?

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

confused @@ — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:29:37 -0000

sorry folks!
comment 55 is for 53 attention

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

confused @@ — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:27:55 -0000

Just who and what are you disagreeing?

“classroom culture in our respective countries” quote pinkpau
so why you pick on usa?

“My second disagreement with you is about the .my school system…”quote Tai

i reread the post thrice, I am pretty sure nobody said anything abt ur sch system?

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

hong (jen) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:14:45 -0000

i think you should of checked about the international texting rate with them before purchasing the SIM card? and to my understanding sending international text and receiving it could be quiet expensive. my boyfriend has a friend who does business overseas... and he spends like 1k USD on the phone bill calling/texting outside the US. -_-

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Tai — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:19:24 -0000

also, i remember how we were generally not encouraged to engaged in discussion. teachers come in, write on the whiteboard and blab to a bunch of faces, give homework and leave.

I've been thinking a bit more about that bit. I think one of the factors may be that the teachers have a set syllabus, and they worry about completing their syllabus. There were a few times when we did not finish the syllabus for a particular class, due to whatever reasons. If you have discussions that take up half the class, that time must be made up somewhere else. Hence, we also had a lot of discussions out side of class. And my classmates and I were generally tight (oh boy, we would go through SS2 catching rats at night for our bio dissection class, or go to the lake and go toad hunting. We found out that toads would squirt what looks like pee if they get really frightened, and a lot of fun was had trying to get your toad to squirt on someone else! :)) so discussions took place in class, after class, and outside of class. Some of us also met up for study groups.

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

Tai — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:43:59 -0000

I have to disagree with you on two things.

First off, to all your classmates from .us who believe that the .us education system inculcates in the students an attitude of always questioning. This is *very* *very* wrong. You need to go and read more - quite a few Americans actually believe that the education system here is used to train the students to be sheep so that the populace is easier to control. I offer the following as an anecdote: http://crankylitprof.wordpr...

My second disagreement with you is about the .my school system. I went to Methodist Primary School, the Sekolah Menengah Damansara Jaya, then Sekolah Menengah SEA Park for Form 6. While there were instances of teachers not being teachers - for example, in Standard 2, we were asked to come up with 10 synonyms for 10 words. Being a smart aleck, I pulled out my father's thesaurus and found the longest word for each of the 10. I was graded 0/10, and told off in class that I should not lie and make up words if I wasn't going to do my homework. The one example the teacher pulled out - jail. My synonym was penitentiary. Not a very good teacher. However, there were other teachers in my primary school that more than made up for her (and really, she wasn't that bad, from what I remember, she was pretty good - she just didn't know any of the 10 words I had pulled out, apparently).

However, in my secondary school, I was exposed to quite a few good teachers. Mrs. Tan, my math teacher was very good, and would entertain questions, and check to make sure we really understood her lessons. My classmates and I would go to her after class to get more explanations or for help with homework. Well, my classmates more than me, I was really good with math in those days :) Similarly, my science teachers were very good. Of course, all the good teachers had to be balanced out by a teacher who said I was lying simply because I pulled out M$20 from various hidden places in my school bag (that the prefects couldn't find during a schoolwide search for people bringing more than M$4 to school). I have no idea what I was lying about - she asked me to go find my money, and I did, and I took it to her. WTF was I lying about?

In my Form 6 days, we had some very good teachers, some mediocre teachers and a couple of... oh well. Mrs... oh crap, I have forgotten her name... Au Yang I believe, our Physics teacher, was very good. She encouraged discussions during class. The other chatterbox in the class and I would start up discussions that could last half a class. He and I would find and ask each other weird questions - if the moon only goes around the earth once a day, why do we have high tides twice a day?! If the volume control on a radio is actually a rheostat, does playing a song at low volume use less electricity than at high volume? How much electricity is lost through the volume control? Mrs. Au Yang would scribble equations on the board and work it through with us.

Even the stereotypical write on board and teach from notes chemistry teacher would entertain questions from us, and every once in a while would make sure we really understood difficult parts and talk to us.

Was this all because we were in Form 6, and was expected to be more independent and all that? Part of that may be in play. But I had the same experience during my primary school and secondary school days. Was I just extremely lucky in getting to a good school?

So, I believe part of that "spoonfeed" attitude may be something that the students thought they should do, and it becomes part of their personality, whereas, for some reason, the batch of students I grew up with had very strong personalities (bunch of Mensans and other over achievers).

I should note that years after I left school, when I met with my teachers, they still thought fondly of my year, both at SMDJ and SM SEA Park, saying that we were the best and brightest year. Other years may have had better results than we did at SPM, but were only "book smart". So, was my batch just unusual? I don't think so, I've met some very smart people from other schools/years.

Re: What It Means To Be Malaysian

theincrediblesulk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:11:30 -0000

hie, im still not liberated from the throes of missing you. *pout.