Tom Pepinsky

Category: Malaysia

  • A Dialogue

    On Monday, we had a special event at MACEE.  There’s a Malaysian woman who has been teaching at American University in DC for 10 or 15 years, and every other summer she brings a small class of masters students here to Malaysia for a really cool month-long summer program.  She brought her class of 11 students to our office, and there they met with about 15 Malaysian students from two of the local public universities.  The idea was to have a dialogue between young Americans and Malaysians about relations between the countries and perceptions that each group had about the other.

    It was quite interesting, and I heard some unexpected answers, mostly from the Malaysians.  The professor moderated and asked questions that she had collected from the students.  They talked about things like the pre- and post- 9/11 perception of America, how relations can be improved between the two countries, and what makes people proud to be from their country.

    That last question gave me (jm) some food for thought.  I was surprised that both the Americans and Malaysians had some answers in common when asked why they were proud of their respective homelands.  The main overlaps were how far each country has come in a relatively short time and the diverse populations and cultures in each country.  The diversity thing was funny.  They kept saying that they were proud that all three races live in harmony here.  It bugs me that they use the word "race" to differentiate between Indian, Chinese and Malay.  It’s the same in Indonesia, they just don’t use the word ethnicity.  Also, one kid said something about the "Malays, Chinese, and Hindus" coexisting together which I thought was weird.  Not all the  Indians here are Hindu, which I’d expect a college kid to realize.

    It was nice to hear that these kids treasure the diversity in Malaysia.  But somehow it didn’t quite sit right.  Every time TP gets a cab driver talking, we immediately start to hear about his problems with and stereotypes of the other two groups.  They often get quite worked up.  And this happens, without fail, every single time.  So yes, people here can be friends with people from different backgrounds and heritages, but it just doesn’t seem like things are at all integrated below the surface.  And I also noticed that whereas in America, everyone is Indian-America, or Cuban-American, or Korean-American, here it doesn’t work that way.  It’s Malay, Chinese or Indian, period. It seems to me that this is a telling mentality (that’s not to say that America doesn’t have some room for improvement on minority issues too).

    On a lighter note, several of the kids said they were proud of the great, cheap food here.  I’m definitely in agreement with that one.

  • A Taste of Indonesia in Malaysia

    Today the guys in charge of the microfilm at the library really bothered me (TP).  I guess it’s just the consequences of bureaucracy, but it was worse than normal today, in fact, Indonesia-style.  I have made something of a friend with Shahril (not his real name) who works at the microfilm counter.  I go tell him what I want, he gets it for me.  It’s his job.  His job is to get up, walk to the shelves of microfilm, pick out the one I need, and bring it to me.  Sounds like a terrible job to me, but not one that should be hard.  It’s clear that not many people stop by the microfilm department, so I am probably tripling his daily work load.

    I should have known I was in for an adventure when he asked me the other day why I wanted to read these newspapers. "Because they are important to my research."  Why don’t I read them at another library?  "Because this is the closest one to my house."  Really, asking why I don’t go do my research somewhere else where I don’t bother him is a little much.

    Well, today, I learned that Shahril is not going to make it easy for me.  I learned my first day that 1:00 to 2:00 is "lunch hour", even though the entire office just sits there and acts the same anyway, when I tried to exchange a microfilm roll at 1:37.  Had to come back later.  So, when I finished my two rolls at 12:45, I thought I’d be OK.  I made downstairs by 12:46, and was in the office by 12:47.  I asked Shahril if he could get me two more rolls.  (This is all in Malay.)

    Shahril: "No, it’s lunch time, you come back at 2, maybe after 2 sometime."
    Me: "Sorry?"
    Shahril: "You know, lunch time, time for eating in the middle of the day".  He makes an eating motion with is hand.
    Me: (Confused, but not by the concept of lunch; I have that down.)
    Shahril: "Lunch here is from 1:00 to 2:00".  He then points at the wall clock behind him, which says 12:47, just like my watch and his computer screen.
    Me: (Stares longingly at the racks of microfilm.  I can do his job, all I have to do is grab them.  It would take 2.5 seconds.)
    Shahril: "So yes, you come back after 2:00."
    Me: "So lunch is over at 2:00, right?  I should come back at 2:00?"
    Shahril: "Maybe, well, 2:15."
    Me: "OK."

    Notice how I did not strangle Shahril, which I attribute to my peaceful and mild-mannered temperament.  Notice also how I did not argue with Shahril.  Just like in any bureaucracy, you should never burn your bridges with the one person who stands between you and what you need to accomplish.

    You can probably find examples of bureaucracies like this in the US.  OK, you would be hard-pressed to find someone so purposefully unhelpful–did you notice how he said "no" to my request, he didn’t just not do something because he wanted his lunch to start 15 minutes early?  Plus, his bosses and coworkers were all right there listening, and they didn’t say anything, or even seem to notice.  But you could potentially find one of those in the US.  Still, Indonesia is the place where such bureaucratic unhelpfulness like this is the norm.  Sometimes you get a little taste of Indonesia in her little northern cousin.  Today was one of those days.