bAnGsA? aPa?

It was my second class of Hubungan Etnik(Ethnic relations)...
Basically what we learn for this class is understanding other Kaums(races),
Learning to live together,
Learning to WOrk together.....
Our lecturer is one of the coolest lecturers I've known so far....
He really knows how to teach....
Not the sitting-down-reading-from-book type of lecturer,
but one who stands up,
walks around,
connects with students,
relates current issues to the topic,
and makes the whole subject lively,
enjoyable and fun...
And to add on to that,
he's from KLUANG....
STK some more...


Anyways,
During the class this past wednesday,
we were talking about Bangsa...
He was talking about how in the forms we fill in all around Malaysia,
whether is for applications of jobs,
or whether is for I.C or driving license,
there will be a slot that writes "Bangsa",
and the 4 choices usually given is this:
Melayu, Cina, India, Lain-lain...


So he went round the class asking 3 different person a question,
A Malay, A Chinese and an Indian
"Apa Bangsa Kamu?"
The Malay replied:"Melayu"
The Chinese:"Cina"
and i think you can guess the Indian's answer as welll..
Hehe...

3 different people,
3 different races,
same question,
different answers,
but same concept behind the answers,
and after that,
our lecturer concluded all the answers to be
WRONG....


He then explained that all the answers given were for "Kaum",
not "Bangsa"...
"Kaum" only involves our skin colour,
the language we speak,
the culture we were brought up with,
and the roots of our family...
Whereas,
"Bangsa" does not look only at all the above,
but looks at the one thing we share in our diversity,
being a MALAYSIAN...


When he said that,
Time seemed to stop for a while,
to give me sometime to think,
reflect,
and let those words sink in...
I was shocked,
or more like in Awe by the answer he gave,
and after those few moments of thinking,
I just Couldnt Agree more...


This was the exact thing my brother once told me...
He said we are first Malaysians,
then Chinese,
or Malay,
or Indian,
or whatever race we are...
After this lesson,
it became more clear on what he said...


Malaysia is a blessed and special land....
After all the recent things happening in Malaysia,
it is sad,
but it is clear that living together in so such diversity isnt easy,
in fact,
it's a Challenge....
But we cant stop trying,
for the minute we do stop trying,
we lose the whole point of our land Malaysia....


So,
let us not focus too much on the "Kaum",
which shows how different we are...
But,
let us focus more on the "Bangsa"
which reminds us of the Significant thing we share,
being a MALAYSIAN....

I'm Proud to be One...
Are you?