The statement (in italics, at the end of this post) has just been forwarded to me by a friend. I came across it before and I have no idea about its origin nor if it was in its original unedited form. I searched and found that it first appeared in 2009 and its author Sharyn went through the whole range of misstatements as is common in cyberworld, to suit the agenda of certain bloggers, and she bore the brunt of accusations as well as accolades because of her original views or purported ones.
Response
to the Responses of Suara Cicit Tunku Abdul Rahman
Writer:
Sharyn Shufiyan
Published: Fri, 05 Oct 2012
Published: Fri, 05 Oct 2012
“Information
moves quickly and swiftly in this age of technology for the masses.
With
a click of a button, information travels between one person to the
other, resulting in 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 10,000 people reading or
watching the same thing as you had just now, before reading this.
Information travels so quickly that it is almost impossible to trace
the source unless you get an expert to do the digging for you but by
the time you found one, 100,000 people might have seen your work or
your face already.
But
what’s more scary is how easily information can be altered as it is
easily transferred. …”
“If
I had not stated my relation with Tunku, would the interview piece
still have gone viral? I had liked to believe that people had related
to my views, not to whom I’m related to. But that’s wishful
thinking isn’t it?
I
was naive to think, that after 20 years of Tunku’s passing, the
sudden appearance of his descendant; young, female, Malay and Muslim,
would not garner any attention. “
“It
is encouraging that so many people want change and are aspiring for
change. And if I had played a role, even if it’s small, in igniting
that spark, then that’s something that I had contributed within my
own capacity towards a change that’s long overdue.
I
was 24 when I did that interview. Now 27, I still stand by every word
I said.
I
may be a bit wiser that words can be taken out of context just by
adding a few instigative lines.
I
hope that people would also be wiser about sharing information, to
understand that altering information, deliberately or otherwise, is
not a small matter and carries serious implications.
Action
does not come without intention, honest or selfish, and I would like
to believe, in my case, it is the former rather than the latter.”
More:
Suara cicit Tunku Abdul Rahman(东姑的曾孙) - Sharyn Lisa Shufiyan
"Both my parents are Malay. My mum’s heritage includes Chinese, Thai and Arab, while my dad is Minangkabau. Due to my skin colour, I am often mistaken for a Chinese.
I’m happy that I don’t have the typical Malay look but I do get annoyed when people call me Ah Moi or ask me straight up “Are you Chinese or Malay”
Like, why does it matter? Before I used to answer “Malay” but now I’m trying to consciously answer Malaysian instead.
There’s this incident from primary school that I remember till today. Someone told me that I will be called last during Judgement Day because I don’t have a Muslim name. Of course, I was scared then but now that I’m older, I realise that a name is just a name. It doesn’t define you as a good or bad person and there is definitely no such thing as a Muslim name. You can be named Rashid or Ali and still be a Christian.
I’ve heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don’t need to be told to be united. We’ve come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united. Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders.
For the concept to succeed, I think the government should stop with the race politics. It’s tiring, really. We grew up with application forms asking us to tick our race. We should stop painting a negative image of the other races, stop thinking about ‘us’ and ‘them’ and focus on ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘Malaysians’.
No one should be made uncomfortable in their own home. A dear Chinese friend of mine said to me once, “I don’t feel patriotic because I am not made to feel like Malaysia is my home, and I don’t feel an affinity to China because I have never lived there.
I know some baby Nyonya friends who can trace their lineage back hundreds of years. I’m a fourth generation Malaysian. If I am Bumiputra, why can’t they be, too? Clearly I have issues with the term.
I think the main reason why we still can’t achieve total unity is because of this ‘Malay rights’ concept. I’d rather ‘Malay rights’ be replaced by human rights. So unless we get rid of this Bumiputra status, or reform our views and policies on rights, we will never achieve unity.
For my merdeka wish, I’d like for Malaysians to have more voice, to be respected and heard. I wish that the government would uphold the true essence of parliamentary democracy. I wish for the people to no longer fear and discriminate against each other, to see that we are one and the same.
I wish that Malaysia would truly live up to the tourism spin of Malaysia truly Asia."
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