Of race and ethnicity......

I chanced upon an old news article dated June 10th 2007 which was published on Sabah's Daily Express. I know not so much about constitutionality of Malaysia or sociological interpretation of race and ethnicity. But I found the definition of “Malay” by the Malacca's Chief Minister, Mohd Ali Rustam, very interesting.

According to the news article ( Please read HERE), Mohd Ali Rustam said :

• “a person who is a Muslim, converses in Malay and follows the Malay traditions is considered a Malay. "It is easy to become a Malay, "
• "Even if that person is Chinese or Indian or Kadazan if they are Muslim or have converted, converse in Malay and follow the Malay tradition, then they are Malays.”
• "The Kadazans if they are a Muslim, we considered them as Malays, and if they have not embraced Islam, they are Bumiputeras. It is easy to become a Malay."

Interesting indeed. Honestly, I am a bit confuse here, if I converted to Christianity, speak English, and regularly eat pork chop, ham, bacon, and sandwich for breakfast, does that qualified me to be an Englishman ? If an Englishman or Italian migrated to Malaysia, converted to Islam, and speak Bahasa Malaysia, does that make him a Malay ?

After 50 years of Independence ( or Merdeka ), why are all these pariahs still resorting to split Malaysians along the line of religions and languages ? Why can't we just call ourselves Malaysians and move forward ?

If a parrot can imitate a dog's bark, at the end of the day, do we call the parrot a dog, a parrot, or a paradox ?

The above does reminds me of the following jokes :

A young couple left the church and arrived at the hotel where they were spending the first night of their honeymoon. They opened the champagne and began undressing. When the bridegroom removed his socks, his new wife asked, "Ewwww---what's wrong with your feet? "Your toes look all mangled and weird. Why are your feet so gross?"
"I had Tolio as a child, " he answered.
"You mean polio?" she asked.
"No, tolio. The disease only affected my toes."
The bride was satisfied with this explanation, and they continued undressing. When the groom took off is pants, his bride once again wrinkled up her nose.
"What's wrong with your knees?" she asked. "They're all lumpy and deformed!"
"As a child, I also had kneasles, "he explained.
"You mean measles?" she asked.
"No, kneasles. It was a strange illness that only affected my knees."
The new bride had to be satisfied with this answer. As the undressing continued, her husband at last removed his underwear.
"Don't tell me," she said. "Let me guess.....Small Cox?"

That's all for today, lunch break is over, back to work........