The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 25 Mar 2013 04:28 PM PDT
MARCH 26 — After coming to the US, I feel like I have become hypersensitive to issues revolving around race. It's not like I wasn't aware of racism or discrimination before (after all how can I, being Malaysian and all) but some experiences here have left me with a fresh insight into racial and cultural differences. This is the first time in my life that I have felt such a stark divide between white Americans and me. I must clarify beforehand that this experience is not the only one that I have had with white Americans. Not all white Americans are oblivious of cultures other than their own but this bugged me because I am at a place of higher learning. If such sentiments are still rampant among the educated, what chance do I or my culture have at being understood (even if it means superficial understanding) in the greater part of the world? Before I left for the US, I was told to try not to "stick to my own kind" i.e. other Malaysians. I was urged to "go out there and mingle with Americans." In fact, some of my peers who have successfully assimilated into the local culture sometimes scoff at other Malaysians who only mix with each other: why come all the way to only stick with your fellow countrymen? I used to think that way, but the reality is harder than it looks. Coming here as a Malaysian puts me in a very strange position: I speak English and I am very well-versed with American pop culture. This is strange to Americans because their assumption is that as long as you have an exotic accent you probably would not understand American culture very well. The advantage of speaking English is that the bulk of media that I consume is primarily American media. As such, American culture is not new at all for me. But I am very "Asian", or more specifically, I am very Chinese. Despite having grown up speaking primarily English and no Mandarin all my life, there are many aspects of my background that are very Chinese. The food, the values, the holidays that my family celebrates are very Chinese. So while I may understand American culture, the reverse cannot be expected. The bulk of what is shown in the media about Asians is often skewed. It doesn't take much to realise that it would inherently be a weird generalisation. By saying "Asian", to what culture are you referring to? What is an "Asian country"? Sometimes when I listen to some of my white American peers speak about places in Asia, it almost pains me when their descriptions are flat and overarching. Worse when they look at another culture and look at it only from their lens, their own understanding. One quick example is how we are always encouraged to speak out and take charge. In order to be heard we need to project ourselves, bang tables so that someone somewhere listens to us or takes a problem seriously. It's tiring. I have been an extrovert all my life, but coming to the US and having this pressure to always be louder than the person next to you to be seen as smart or having an opinion is tiring. Because of this we are often left with situations where there is more talking than actual listening going on. So I, like many of my non-American peers, choose not to respond. We assume the passive position. Sometimes passiveness can be a virtue. It can be a mark of patience, a mark of tolerance or a willingness to bend for the sake of preserving harmony. Unfortunately, passiveness here is associated with all the wrong connotations like not being opinionated, being stupid or having no leadership abilities. Hence the stark divide. Hence this is why it's hard not to fall back to your own kind. At the end of the day, I still try to muster some energy to be heard and to socialise with other people. I am abroad. I am, in some ways, an ambassador of my own culture. If I don't make the effort to make known where I'm from, what my background is like, if I only try to "become American", if I reject my culture, my heritage in order to fit in, there will be no further understanding, no way of making known the true depth of all non-white cultures. I have half a mind to do what my father did when he visited the US — to go with my Chinese name, and preserve the order of my name. When people ask why, I'll explain to them — a small imparting of knowledge that will go a long way. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. | |
| Posted: 25 Mar 2013 04:20 PM PDT
MARCH 26 — Qualification for next summer's World Cup finals in Brazil is moving swiftly towards the decisive final straight with another batch of fixtures today, and in the European zone two traditional heavyweights face must-win away games against their current group leaders. In Group H, England's campaign got off to a disappointing start with draws against Ukraine and Poland, leaving them two points behind surprise packages Montenegro ahead of tonight's meeting between the sides in Podgorica. And in Group I, reigning world and European champions Spain have left themselves in a hole with back-to-back home draws against France and, most surprisingly, against Finland on Friday. They now travel to Paris two points adrift of their French hosts, knowing that anything less than victory would leave France in a very strong position to qualify as group winners. England and Spain would both have the fall-back option of a two-legged play-off for group runners-up, but they would clearly much prefer to avoid that scenario. With dangerous teams like Portugal, Croatia and Sweden also struggling to top their groups, there will be some very good teams in the play-offs and, of course, there's always the possibility that they would be drawn against each other. England vs Spain in a play-off for a place in the World Cup finals would make compulsive viewing for the rest of the world, but would be a nightmare scenario for the two countries concerned. Although both England and Spain are more than capable of winning tonight's respective away games in Montenegro and France, their tasks are by no means straightforward. Roy Hodgson's England warmed up for their trip to Podgorica with a pretty pointless 8-0 victory at San Marino, whose inclusion in the qualifying phase is the best possible argument in favour of Arsene Wenger's idea that the weaker countries should contest a preliminary phase before joining the big boys. San Marino is more of a large hill than a country. Its population is just 32,000 and the national football team has only ever won one game — a 1-0 friendly triumph against fellow minnows Liechtenstein nearly a decade ago. England's stroll to victory on Friday night, therefore, cannot be regarded as anything more than a training exercise; it will bear no relevance to the action that unfolds tonight. And Montenegro will present a very competitive challenge. It is one of the world's newest countries, having only gained independence from Serbia in 2006, and possesses a batch of very good footballers despite its meagre population of less than a million (perhaps serving as the best example of why Wenger's proposed preliminary stage would be a bad thing...). First and foremost is the captain, striker and emblematic figure of Mirko Vucinic, who has established himself as one of the best forwards in Europe during his seven years in Italy's Serie A, initially with Roma and now with title holders Juventus. Vucinic is a clever, versatile player who can operate with equal effectiveness on the wing, as a centre forward or a deeper-lying creator. His link play is exceptional, with outstanding ability to hold up the ball and bring his teammates into the action in dangerous areas. He scored the crucial late winner in his team's 1-0 win at Moldova on Friday, and will undoubtedly be the key man for his country tonight. But Vucinic is by no means Montenegro's only danger. In particular, Fiorentina striker Stevan Jovetic will pose a big threat to England, having further enhanced his reputation with another strong season in Serie A — he scored twice in a 4-2 thrashing of Inter Milan last month. The only previous meetings between Montenegro and England — during the 2010 European Championships qualifying campaign — both finished as draws, with Wayne Rooney's "red mist" dismissal in Podgorica attracting the most attention in the build-up to this evening's encounter. England should win tonight, but another stalemate would be no great surprise. Spain's trip to France assumed a must-win nature after a shock draw for Vicente Del Bosque's team against lowly Finland on Friday in what must rank as the biggest surprise of the qualification campaign so far. It wasn't a particularly poor performance from the Spanish — they played with typically composed fluidity and utterly dominated possession. But they badly lacked a cutting edge, creating only a handful of decent scoring chances against the disciplined Finns, who grabbed an unlikely late equaliser after catching Spain's defence asleep on the counter attack and scoring with their only shot on target. Spain were missing two key players in the shape of Xavi and Xabi Alonso, who will return to action in Paris tonight, but their reintroduction into the midfield might not do much to address the team's lack of attacking penetration. Del Bosque has recently favoured the striker-less "false nine" formation used by Barcelona, with the key difference that his team isn't able to call upon the services of Lionel Messi. Tonight might be the time for Spain to return to a traditional centre forward, with the country's all-time leading scorer David Villa in prime position to fill that role following his recent strong club form with Barca. Under the wise management of Didier Deschamps, France are in something of a transitional phase as promising new players such as Real Madrid's Raphael Varane and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba are introduced into the fold. Like Spain, their biggest problems are in attack where first-choice striker Karim Benzema has been in poor form all season. The Real Madrid striker has gone 993 minutes without a goal for his country and would have been dropped long ago but for the fact that France's strength in depth in the goalscoring department is rather modest indeed. Spain will be determined to prove that Friday's disappointment against Finland was a mere blip and that they should still be regarded as the best team in the world. With the added motivation of the top spot in the group also up for grabs, they should be good enough to claim the points. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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