Rude & Arrogant Locals v Foreign Workers

Lately i've been kindda busy trying to settle the condominium's renovation. Not only that, i've been slow in blogging too. But today i feel like blogging because of some incidents that i've come across which is worthy to be blogged about (then again, i've blog about some not so important events anyway :-D). And i'm gonna make sure i didn't blog halfway this time. That's the problem with my last 2 unpublished blogs.. I was blogging then halfway i decided not to post it.

I went out with a friend yesterday and we were hanging out at the mamak. So we ordered but it seems like the guy who is taking down our order couldn't hear us properly and my friend have to repeat twice. But my friend was kindda rude when he had to repeat the 2nd time. Rude in the sense of the way he looked at the guy and the way he repeated his order, as if the guy was slow and stupid. So i asked my friend why he's being rude, he said because the guy couldn't hear. I told him not everyone can hear at the first instance. So he's gonna snap every time he has to repeat himself despite only repeating it TWICE?

It made me think, was he rude to the guy because the guy was a FOREIGN WORKER? I doubt he will behave the same way if that other person is a local. What made me assumed such thing is because there are several guys that i went out with who seem to be rude to "mamaks". Rude from the way they order and the way they snap when the worker can't understand what they wanted. I'm not a saint, and i do come across slow people and sometimes i do get annoyed when i have to repeat myself several times but i never snap (coz i vent out my anger in my beloved blog :-D).

Some locals hate foreign workers because they deemed foreign workers as troublemakers. Yes, some foreign workers are troublemakers, especially those who commit crimes but not all are like that.

I've seen foreign workers who work harder than the locals, and some are even more PROFESSIONAL than the locals in doing business. Sure they are not highly educated people but what makes them professional is their friendliness and their knowledge in the field. Most people like to show off, thinking they are very professional just because they have good high quality education and get good results.

There's another incident that occurred today. 2 foreign workers were fixing the grill at my condo and another Malay guy came because i asked for the condo's management office maintenance guy to take a look at the hole at the ceiling because i was afraid it might be a leaking from the roof. It wasn't.

Before the guy left, he made a big fuss to the foreign workers, saying something like he will SUE them if they mess up the common area. As if he owns the common area? He's just a maintenance guy. Was such statement from him even necessary? I felt sorry for the two foreign workers because they are actually good hardworking people. They cleaned up after finishing their work and their work was satisfactory. The way they behaved was humble.

It also made me think that we should appreciate people who do labor work. Not only is such work tiring but it's dangerous. Many think their work is "easy" because you don't need education and everyone can do it. Think again. Because of such mentality, labor workers are often being looked down.

How many so called educated people are actually willing to get "dirty" to clean a house? Many girls are too lazy to do it, or they think they are "too pretty" to do such dirty and tiring work. Basically, they don't want to mess up their 10 inch 24/7 make up or break a polished nail.

As for "repair" work, that one is tougher compare to cleaning. When i watched the 2 foreign workers setting up the grills, i was awed just watching them working, especially when they have to set up a grill at an open window. To me, it looks dangerous and i was praying for him not to fall. Or hurt himself when handling those electrical tools. Even when my dad uses a drill, i was scared. I guess i've seen too many gory pics of people involved in accidents while handling machines or tools.

The thought of having a bf/husband who is very handy in repairing household stuff is intriguing. I can save costs in not getting a professional to repair stuff. A man who can cook well is a bonus too. Hmmm, perhaps i should reconsider not getting married if i can find either man ;-p.

Women in Danger

So MEN are FLIES then?

I came across this pic and it caught my interest. It's a good comparison to hejab (head cover). Women are like sweets, men are like disgusting flies :-D. However, it also cause some dissatisfaction in me.

So yes, women are told to cover up to protect themselves. It seems like every where a woman goes, she needs to protection. And if she doesn't that the protective steps, society will blame her. Example, if she doesn't dress decently, and she gets raped, people will say serves her right. But if she dresses decently and she was raped, only then people will call the man an animal.

That's another reason why woman can't go out late at night, because of the dangerous men lurking around, waiting for women who are ALONE.

Ha, you don't even have to wait night time for it to be dangerous. So long as you are alone, you will be in danger. Like me, I go to public places but because i'm ALONE, there are a few occasions when i came face to face with dangerous men.

Me doing things alone, is it my fault? It's not always practical to do things with friends. Furthermore, i don't have a bf who can accompany me and protect me in some way. So is this why women are encouraged to get MARRIED? Ha, even in marriages some women have to deal with abusive husband.

This world have never been fair to women. Then again, when were things ever fair? If you don't dress decently, people say it's your fault, you are just looking for trouble. If a robber robs a rich man, do you blame the rich man for having a lot of property?

When it comes to women, women are always at fault. There will always be ads to remind women do dress decently to protect themselves. Yes, i admit it's a good thing but why should women bear all the damn BURDEN? Why can't there be ads to remind men to look after what they "see" or "feel". When you see a scantily clad woman, you think she's immoral, lacked religous teachings. It's so easy to judge a woman right? But when a man ogle or drools after scantily dressed women, or owns porn it's NORMAL, he's not a bad man.

Lacked of Sensitivity?

Above is a video titled "Iklan Deepavali 2010 FINAS". Some think this is a controversial video while others think otherwise. For me, when i first view it i find nothing controversial although i was irritated at how dramatic this whole ad is to the extend that she's giving birth at the end of the ad. I saw some comments on the vid and majority don't see the problem with this vid. Of course you don't see the problem because you are a Malay and you are a Muslim and this video is "siding" the Malay Muslims.

It's not my intention to create issues but i just want to point out what i think. Look at it from a Hindu perspective. What makes you think they enjoy watching their people being converted out from their religion? Especially since the conversion is because the child is going to marry another person of another religion. But for the need to get married, the child wouldn't need to convert to that religion. Ask yourself this, as a Muslim. Wouldn't you be very pissed off when your family member says he/she wants to convert out of Islam because he/she wants to marry a non Muslim? But we are aware that in Islam, you are not allowed to convert out of the religion, therefore when it comes to marriage, the non Muslims have to convert into Islam. There's no compromise to that. Non Muslims will see this as a very strict and non compromising rule. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons why Islamophobia happens among some non Muslims. It won't happen actually if they try to understand Islam and the reasoning for such rules.

Like the movie "Sepet". It's about a Malay girl and Chinese boy who fell in love. I didn't watch it but i know in the end the Chinese boy died. Good too so that the director don't have to touch on the sensitive part in deciding who have to convert to who's religion if they plan to get married. But this being Malaysia, we all know that the Chinese guy MUST convert to Islam. Some Chinese might not be very happy with such ending while some may be COOL about it.

It's understandable if a family with very strong religious beliefs choose to disown the child or becomes very angry if the child choose to convert to another religion.

The problem with this advertisement is that it lacks sensitivity. What happens if this ad was made the other way round? The girl actually converted to Hindu and comes back during Hari Raya with her Hindu husband. What an outrageous scenario! It will never be shown on tv because the Malay Muslims will be so damn angry and claim it's an insult to Islam. Of course it's an insult to Islam.

And don't you think some sensitive Hindu will be insulted by such video? "Oh you can do that, but if we want to do that we can't". This whole conversion thing is a sensitive matter. Yes, it's happening in reality but why do we need to touch about it? It's ok when a non Muslim convert to Islam but if a Muslim convert into another religion we have to keep in hush hush? Apostasy is UNACCEPTABLE in Islam and you shouldn't go around telling people it's ok to convert out because it's not. Yes, if you don't want to be a Muslim, don't practice as a Muslim then but don't declare to the whole world that you converted out of Islam because that will amount to putting ideas into people's head. And you can get killed for that.

What i'm really trying to say is that you don't go around telling people how a non Muslim can convert into Islam and his/her family members should learn to accept it while if the same thing were to happen with a Muslim convert into another religion you will create chaos. Be more sensitive, taking into account the perspective of a Non Muslim. Festival Celebration ads used to be so simply and straightforward. Just because our society has become so complicated, doesn't mean we have to make our ads so complicated and to remind people of this whole complication.

Remember the controversial Hari Raya advertisement where it seems elements of Buddhism and Christianity are being injected into the ad and many Malays were very pissed off about it? I think the ad was improper, but hey, the creators of the ads were probably into the mood of 1 MALAYSIA, where you "rojak" all the religions into one. Seriously, if it's Deepavali, just stick wholly to Deepavali. If it's Hari Raya, just stick wholly to Hari Raya. Same goes to other celebrations. If you want to involve other races in your celebration ads, just show one race visiting another for open house.