United we stand. Divided we fall.

If people are given the opportunity to make a ringgit the easy way, and having made that ringgit, they get to keep the ringgit and spend their ill-gotten gains at their leisure and pleasure without fear of punishment, more often than not, it is in the nature of people to do so. Anyone, Malay Chinese, Indian, Sabahan, Kadazan, Dayaks...even the Americans and the Jews, will prefer to take the easy way out and live well on their ill-gotten gains.

Today in Malaysia, the Malays, more than anyone else, are being given the opportunity to be corrupt. From our Mr. King to Mr. Sultan down South, the prime minister, his ministers, government servants, and every Malay who are inclined to make easy money, know that they can do so without too much worry that they will not be able to enjoy the fruits of their devious labor. For many Malays, it has become a way of life - endemic, entrenched, and done in the name of race, and of course in the name of Allah....never to profit oneself!

In China, because the opportunity to be corrupt is most available to the Chinese, the Chinese are the most corrupt in China. The same goes for Indians in India, the Americans in the United States, and of course, in Sabah and Sarawak, it is their native sons who are the most corrupt, not the Semenanjung Malays who are there to earn a living or to try and make an easy ringgit or two.

I am not excusing the Malays for being the most corrupt in Malaysia, but the fact remains that the Malays are everywhere - in government, in enforcement, in the service industry, in commerce, and they are all, invariably, Muslims, and of course, all the Royals are exclusively Malays. The Judicial, legislative, and executive arms of government are dominated by the Malays. Hence, the Malays have more opportunities to be corrupt. And as I have said earlier, it is in the nature of people to take the easy way out of doing things, if they can get away with doing so.

So is fighting corruption a losing battle?

If the king the prime minister and his ministers, the sultans and anyone else who is anybody, is corrupt - what can we do about it?

Maybe we can start by accepting that corruption is OUR problem. We all take responsibility to do something about it and stop pointing fingers at any one race, at any one religion as being responsible for Malaysia being so corrupt.

Speaking for me personally...the snide remarks being made to me and many other Malays about the Malays being so corruptible, is not something I care to hear anymore. It is getting beyond bothersome.

Think! If the Chinese think that it is the Malays that you want to fight because they are the most corrupt, then I think you will have a problem. If the Indians think that it is the Muslim who are the problem because they destroy their temples, then the Indians will also have a problem. There are just too many Malays for you guys to fight. The Chinese are better off if their fight is focused on the Malays who are corrupt and the Indians will have an easier time fighting those Muslims who are destroying their temples. The Chinese and the Indians will have fewer Malays and Muslims to fight against. We Malays are not all corrupt. Nor are the Muslims all against the temples being built by the Hindus. And maybe together, we can all fight corruption and those who are pulling down the temples more effectively!

I no longer look at people on the basis of race, color, religion, gender or any other criteria save for one defining reality: and that is: We are all humans.

And as humans, we make mistakes. We make wrong choices. We are different from one another in many ways, and we owe it to ourselves to treat each other in the way we would like ourselves to be treated by another human being.

Living in Australia has made all that possible for me. Everything is not perfect in Australia. It is not perfect anywhere else too, but if you choose to call Australia home, you will be given the respect and right to live your life as you think fit, just as long as you also respect the right of others to live life as they think fit. Respect begets respect.

But here is the burden that we Malaysians living away from our Tanah Air have to endure.

A few days back, Lawrence took me out for dinner in Springvale. How do I describe Springvale? Well...we had dinner at a restaurant called Warong Mummy. Right across the road was another restaurant called Nasi Kandar Penang. Just like home...and gout or no gout, I had rice with lamb Masak Merah, Salted Eggs, and a lychee drink. Amazing food that is cheaper than a Big Mac meal from Mcdonald's....how not to like ma!

And like most Malaysians living abroad, our conversation and thoughts went back to our Tanah Air. As good as life is in Melbourne, we both would have preferred to be back in OUR country, among OUR people, and be with the families that we left behind many years ago when we made our move to OZ....and our thoughts were heartfelt and said with much yearning for the life we left behind.

Maybe, for Malaysians like us, our love and thoughts of Malaysia are frozen in time...for the Malaysia that we remember is the one we left behind then.

But we also know the Malaysia of today, and that is the Malaysia that is keeping us here in Melbourne. Lawrence and I are Malaysians, and we will remain Malaysians because living in Melbourne allows us to be Malaysians. No race or religion to 'guide' us in how we should conduct ourselves.

Our concern is for our families, friends, and other Malaysians in Malaysia who now have to live within another toxic reality shaped by race, religion, and politics. That Malaysia is now in the process of being constructed by corrupt politicians to serve their own selfish vested interests. To succeed, they must rule over Malaysians divided by race, religion, and politics. They are winning that race to divide and rule over all Malaysians.

This is OUR problem. Not just a Malay problem. If you think it is a Malay problem and only the Malays can resolve the problem, then you have made yourself part of the problem - not part of the solution. That is why I say that I am getting irritated by the constant put down by the non-Malays of the Malays. When you keep putting down the Malays, you teach your children to do the same things....when will it all end? Or more to the point, how will it all then end? Back to the killing fields of another May 13th?

Enough said.

P.S. Someone just messaged me to ask how will the Chinese know which Malay to fight because they are corrupt, and which Malay to work with because he is not corrupt. That is easy...just throw a stone into a crowd of Malays and whose head the stone struck, will be the corrupt Malay. Kapish?