A Day in Kuala Lumpur with Melayu
Wood – 18 Jamadilakhir 1426 / 25 July 2005 (Laman M@RHAEN)Assalamualaikum,
It had been a very pleasant week for me during my business trip cum holiday to Singapore. Compared to Kuala Lumpur, I would have to say that Singapore is pretty much dwarfed by the sheer size, faster pace and more advance technology of our beloved Kuala Lumpur. I know some people might disagree with me, but who cares. Even some of the facilities in Singapore are pretty nice, overall everybody know that Kuala Lumpur is a lot better than Singapore, at least to me. One thing for sure, I think Kuala Lumpur is definitely better when it come to courtesy and kindness compared to Singapore. Sad to say that, not many Melayu in Singapore and even some of them not use to converse in Melayu language. "Melayu lupa diri" I prefer to refer to them. Anyway, people in KL somehow really like to start a conversation even with complete stranger. Oh Kuala Lumpur! Such an ugly name for a wonderful metropolitan.
One fine morning, I met a guy from Terengganu when I was about to board a LRT in KLCC for a meeting. Apart from his smelly jacket he looks okay and friendly to me. After a brief chat we boarded the train and take our own place in the coach. Give him a few minutes, what I know next is this guy walking towards me and try to start a conversation. Being a people person I am open for a conversation even though it looks very weird to everybody in the LRT. Believe me, it does look weird when a forty years old man refer to me as ‘abang’ and talk quite loud and telling me all about his experience for the past 2-3 days in KL.
He was telling me that he tried to settle his Mobikom bill but unfortunately the office is close. A few minutes later he told me that he just withdraw around RM15,000 from his KWSP after working for almost 20 years. Later he was shoving his gold watch to my face and told me aloud that it cost him RM3000. Then, he tried his best to tell me that he bought a new bike that cost him around RM3000 as well. Then he also inform me that since he got ‘extra’ cash, he took a flight to KL from Terengganu rather to a bus because “ada kelas” according to him. Last but not least, he makes sure that everybody knows that he still have around RM6500 with him after all the shopping spree he had done. Imagine that, almost half of the 20 years effort gone just like that. Just like that.
Later during lunch time, I went to Starbucks to meet up with a business partner. He was a bit late so I go ahead and order myself a drink first while waiting for him. There I am sitting all alone like a lonely guy, which by the way I enjoy because I did not get that much free time during office. Either I am rushing for appointment or flipping through a report to make sure all of my team members do their part in my project. Somehow my “serenity’ was “disturbed” by a very young and very attractive girl that sat across the café in a group with her friends. She keeps giving me this flirtatious stare and smile; and keeps on playing with her hair whenever she did that. I would say that she is a student due to her very youth look. However, I told myself, please don’t be “perasan” because she could be looking at someone else.
Later, about 10 minutes my business partner turned up and we quickly go to the counter to get some drinks. While I was ordering, the girl was suddenly right next to me with the same smile and stare asking for a serviette from the cashier. I told myself again, ”Nah, don’t be perasanlah, she is smiling to the cashier”. She left and joined her friend afterward. Then I paid the cashier and wait a while before we collect out drinks. What surprises me is when the girl is standing right next to me again but this time to get some syrup. What really bothers me is when she gave me the same smile and stare plus a lot (I mean it, a lot) of physical body contact to make sure she got my attention. Being me, I apologize and to her and just walked away with my business partner to continue our discussion.
By this time, I am quite convince that I did not “perasan”, definitely she is making a move on me, because she keeps on smiling, staring and playing with her hair. I feel bad for her, for being too open and too aggressive to show her interest to me. What bothers me is the fact that almost everybody can see a very big wedding ring on my finger. Anyway, I had a productive 30 minutes discussion with my business partner since any meeting that took more than an hour (per topic) is a waste of time to me.
In the afternoon after I had finished my internal discussion and satisfy with the report and update from our team, I took a short break at the pantry; cup of coffee and flipping through a newspaper. That is when our dispatch step in and start a conversation with me. Again being a people person, I put down the paper and talk to him. This guy is trying to start a business to supply some parts for a car the supposedly will make the car have a better fuel consumption. He has been talking to me on this since last month but he has to wait for a while because he need some cash to start up the business. I am offering myself to be his first customer when he manages to start the business soon. However, today he is talking to me about buying a new car after he got some extra cash from refinancing his house. “Gee..” I said to myself, why not use the money to start the business. But I do not wish to interfere into other people decision unless I was asked to do so. By the time I finish my coffee, he is rushing to deliver some mail and the last I saw of him that day was him smiling and waving at me, “Jumpa esok Tan Sri”.
Looking at my watch, it is 5.30 pm and I had one cancelled appointment. Regardless of how much I hate it when a person cancelled appointment 30 minutes before the time, nothing much can I do. After I perform my Asar’s Solat, again I retrieve to the pantry for another coffee while going through my report and prepare myself for tomorrow. However I cannot take my mind off the things that took place the entire day. The event with the Terengganu guy in LRT, a girl at the café, our dispatch in the pantry and the last minute cancelled appointment, all have one thing in common; those individuals are all MELAYU. The moment I learned that, I got this dejected, disappointed, sad, angry, sorry feeling crushing into me. Sort off like the feeling of a man that just lost direction and hope after noticing that everything happened around him is against him. Here we are, with Pak Lah and all are trying their best to motivate Melayu to be better, but I still keep on running into the bad one everyday.
However, give me 10 seconds, I manage to regroup and pull myself together. I comfort myself by telling me, “those are just some Melayu in Malaysia, not all are like that”. But as I drive back to my house, a question keep on popping in my mind; “Mana dia Melayu-Melayu yang bukan macam tadi”.
Mejoh
Penulis bebas - 27.07.2005 (M@RHAEN - Emel: marhaen@gmail.com / reformasi@gmail.com)
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