NASI LEMAK（椰浆饭）的哀愁

 

 

(English translation is vetted by my dear friend Chua Ai Ling)

一包每个大马人都爱吃的椰浆饭，往往是马来西亚人最普通和简便的早餐选择。1/4个鸡蛋、一点SAMBAL辣椒、一小块鱼肉配一小碗椰浆饭，这可说代表了每个大马人简单美好的生活之反映。

今早望着这一包椰浆饭，我却感到千斤重。不为它的卡路里，而是突然想到，对它同样那么喜爱的每一位大马人，如今是分裂还是团结？
经历了上个星期（和之前的酝酿期）的“黄潮”，让人有点惊讶的是愿意走上街头的人，竟有那么那么那么多。不但参与者惊讶，相信连政治领袖们也感受到那股压力——要不然不会一天到晚施压、解释、卖好、威胁，18般武艺一次过耍完。
很多人趁这个机会，向当局施压——我们受不了这个政府。我们受不了这个节节败退的经济状况，我们不要再听任何花言巧语的“解释”和各种说辞，我们不想看到我们爱的国家，在国际上成为笑柄！
今早，在网上看了几个访问视频，那些走上街头游行的人们，记者问他们爱不爱这个国家？不分种族，每一个人都大大声地说：我爱马来西亚。有一位UNCLE说：“i love Malaysia, very very love-ah! ”他的太太（我猜是）在一旁腼腆地笑，他的眼泪则仿佛就要掉下来了。又有一大群年轻人，大声对着记者欢呼：Kami cinta Malaysia.
如果不是爱，那是什么？这一大群人（几十万人），在那一天，何不留在家里跟家人一起看电视？何不陪女朋友去商场逛街看电影？何不跟老友去MAMAK档喝茶聊天？为什么要顶着太阳，忍受风雨，走在街头，提出诉求，完了还要给国家领导们冷嘲热讽！问题是，面对这整个让人彻底失望的局势，相对善良的马来西亚人民除了睡在街上表达不满，他们不知道还能做些什么，真的很无奈！
更无奈的是，出现了一群“反净选盟”的人。所谓“反”，就是不赞成，那意味着，他们不要干净选举吗？他们不要发言权吗？我不了解这些人。而且他们还决定在马来西亚日（16/9）搞个什么不欢迎其他种族参加的大聚会，又贴那种煽动性的马来人砍华人头的海报！有人问我，你看了不愤怒吗？我告诉他，谁不愤怒？但我更多的是伤心。独立了58年，如果是一个人，58岁都中年了，应该成熟了，竟还有人在玩种族课题？老天。为什么不要大家一起前进，当一个先进国？拼经济、拼人文、拼文化、塑造一个美好国家不是更有意思吗？每天乱讲话搞种族主义，什么时候才不那么幼稚？
庆幸的是，这几天观察下来，从很多面子书上的留言和部落格，倒是看到很多马来人，发出中庸的、甚至自我检讨的声音；也有华人开始反思，在面对其他种族的时候，是否有时做得太过分，不顾人家的感受？我觉得这种情形真的是难能可贵，这是通过了过去一次又一次的错误、碰撞，加上时代的开放和进步带来的觉醒；虽然当政者可能很怕，因为他们的政治筹码（种族课题）随着这种觉醒可能正在流失。也，虽然，还有那些喜玩种族主义的人，在煽动。
我们应该做的是什么？目前除了站稳立场，不要为那些破坏和谐的话所影响；我想，也许我们也应该更主动地表达善意，以及保持清醒的头脑吧。
这一包饭，是在我家附近一个马来村的菜市场向马来小贩买的。过后走去买鸡肉，却惊觉自己原来糊里糊涂地带不够钱。马来小贩微笑说，没关系，这个你拿去，明天才还我钱。民间，我们相处如此融洽；这本就是人类之间应有的美好行为。从独立前的抗日、抗英，到争取独立，这些年来的和谐，得来不易。不要让政治手腕和一些唯恐天下不乱及推波助澜的人，摧毁了它。
不要让这包饭，成了马来西亚人的哀愁。
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ENGLISH VERSION:

A NASI LEMAK’s melancholy
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Nasi lemak always makes the list of typical and popular option for Malaysians breakfasts. This remarkable national dish or some said iconic dish is usually simple, delicious and convenient. The basic Nasi Lemak consists of rice cooked with coconut juice, served with anchovies or small piece of fried fish, peanuts, boiled egg, sambal and so on. Most importantly, it represents simple and yet beautiful lifestyle of us, Malaysian.

However, I looked at this packet of Nasi Lemak this morning feeling heavy-hearted. Not because of its’calories but I was thinking whether we, the people of Malaysia who shared the same love for Nasi Lemak –are still united or we have already divided?

After a march of “Yellow” days ago, what surprises us is the amount of people who attended the rally. It not only surprised the attendants in the rally but also our political leaders –if not, they won’t, after the rally, pressured, threatened, or even explained to the people /rakyat what they have done or going to react.

The rakyat took opportunity by attending the rally to put pressures on the authorities—we want them to know that we can stand this government no more. We can’t tolerate this retreating economic situation, we don’t want to hear anymore sweet words or explanation or any other excuses, most importantly, we do not want to see the country that we loved became an international laughing stock!

This morning, I watched a few video clips recorded during Bersih rally. When reporter asked, “Do you love this country?” Regardless of race, everyone said loudly without hesitation, “I love Malaysia.” One mid-age man said, “I love Malaysia, very, very love-ah!” His wife was smiling besides him, whereas I can see that he has tears in his eyes. A large crowd of youngsters shouted happily, “Kami cinta Malaysia.”

If it is not “love”, what is it? This huge crowd (hundred thousands of them), might have other more pressure-less or sweat-less alternatives to spend their weekends, e.g. they can either stay at home watching TV shows, or go shopping or watch a funny movie with their girlfriends, or hang-out with friends at mamak stall. Why did they, of all the above, choose to walk on the streets under the hot sun, in the rain, to demand for the people’s rights. However, sadly after all this, the irony of the situation is that some of the most sarcastic comments came from our national leaders! Malaysians who are mostly nice and kindhearted have no other idea what else they can do to show their unsatisfactory of the whole situation which is very disappointing— except to sleep on the streets to show protest. They are really helpless!

To make the situation worst, there are a group of “anti-bersih” people who claimed themselves as they do not support BERSIH. I don’t quite understand these people, are they saying that they do not want a clean election? They also do not want freedom of speach? Moreover, they have planned for a “red-shirt rally”and want to “tumpah darah”of other races, especially Chinese. They even designed a poster of a Malay chopping Chinese’s head. A friend asked me, don’t you feel angry seeing this? I told him, any reasonable man would feel angry, but besides that, I feel really, really sad. Malaysia is 58 years old this year, a 58-year-old man or woman is considered as middle-aged already, he or she should have matured thinking, but to our disappointment, there are still people who are playing race card at this ‘age’. Why don’t we move forward hand in hand, concentrating on building of our nation, building a better tomorrow with a stronger economy, richer culture and kinder people. Isn’t that more meaningful?

Fortunately, there are a huge crowd of netizens and people too, regardless of their races, who are rational and willing to take a hard look at themselves. They even tried to check out whether sometimes they are doing too much ignoring other races’ feelings and this should help get us started a good and bonding relationship. This is valuable. A friendly atmosphere in a multi-racial society is dearer than gold. Majority of Malaysians have awakened to strike off shackles of the past and we learnt our lessons from the past experience. Anyhow, some politicians are scared when they see this as race card is always their bargaining chips in politics yet it is disappearing slowly.

What shall we do now? Stand firm, stay calm, use our brains to think, show our friendliness, don’t be influenced too easily by words that can destroy the harmony of races.

I bought this packet of Nasi Lemak from a morning market in a Malay village/kampung near my house from a Malay hawker. After that I went to buy chicken then only I realized that I didn’t bring enough money! The Malay chicken seller smiled at me and said, “It’s ok, you take this first, pay me back tomorrow.” We were having such a friendly and good relationship among the people in this multi-racial society. This is exactly what is supposed to be as humans. Before our independence day, Malaysian has gone through anti-Japanese war, anti-British occupancy, until “Merdeka”, it is never easy for us to come to today’s freedom and harmony. Don’t ever let some dirty and inhuman political tactics ruin the harmony in the society. “Harmony” in a multi-racial society is something easy to destroy but hard to build.

Don’t let this packet of Nasi Lemak turn into a melancholy for Malaysian.

NASI LEMAK（椰浆饭）的哀愁