It's easy to determine how you view a situation based on your personal experiences, by illuminating this disgusting act of telling it to everyone else so that it becomes a general stereotype.
But it's easy to understand why so, when personal experience overshadows the bigger perspective. I cannot agree more when my personal experience clouded the reality, or was it the other way around?
There was this debate on a blog about feeling the shame outside of the country because another foreigner had been laughing at the shameless act of bribery in the country; this country, in fact. He felt so bad he actually wish there was a hole to dig in.
It was an unusual story of course. Many foreigners I've met with were polite enough not to mention about the bribery act like it was a laughable thing, or in retrospect, the foreigners I met were sympathetic and understanding enough to know bribery is not an act exclusively happening in Third World countries. I posted the same blog post up on Facebook to share, hoping to see the debates and I posted some of my arguments.
I've had people who, ranged from having the same shameful feeling, to feeling outraged at the foreigner's outlandish comments in a very sophisticated setting, to feeling that they are agreeing with the author, that this is a statement they should accept and then work from within.
Indeed, one even asked if this is worth fighting for.
I'm reproducing my full arguments here.
"I'm thinking really hard on how to reply these comment because while yes, I did think some of the African's statements are true (depending on when he was in Malaysia actually, because honestly I don't see the corruption rampage anymore since 2008), but I don't think the Malaysian should be subjected to that kind of embarrassment.
While the nation has made some past mistakes and has been a subject of laughter in the foreign world, as far as I'm concerned, if I was in his position, I would at least try to correct the man instead of feeling this embarrassment. Perhaps I'm naive enough to stand up to that statement because I've felt that Malaysia has changed, or perhaps working with the police force in many occasions allows me to have some personal bias that his statement of 'all cops are on the take' really cheeses me off. Not all cops are dirty, and vice versa. I don't believe in a country that is 'corruption free' and to label Malaysia as the only place to have such rampant activities depicts that the foreigner has a 'holier than thou' attitude.
Was it worth getting worked up on? Yes, I would say so. Very few Malaysians (who dares to call themselves Malaysians anyway) are in the international arena and if they start to agree with these generic images these foreigners have on Malaysia, then no one is going to see the change the Malaysians work from within. It's tough enough to conjure an image and these prejudices may just destroy it all. Like, what do people think of Taiwan?Many remember their Parliamentary fist fights, some call it democracy, some call it menace. That image sticks to you and you know it's hard to shake off. I'm pretty sure Thailand will have the Red Shirts Yellow Shirts image stuck in people's heads for many years after these incidences have passed.
It's not nationalism or patriotism. It's very hard for me to explain why I did have the burning feeling when I read that foreigner's comment, but I'm certainly not going to encourage this level of ignorance, knowing the law and purposely breaking it, only to laugh at it many years later at someone's face. If he was wrongfully caught for speeding, and he had to pay a bribe for it, sure, I'd feel embarassed because corruption was so bad a police would do anything to get his RM50's worth. But to a person who knew he was subjected to the law and he broke it for the fun of it? I think anyone should be pissed, not just Malaysians."
That was my argument and that was my hope. I wasn't even hoping that foreigners would see the "Malaysia is a multi-racial country living in the same place" kind of imagery bullshit. I even allowed myself to confess this personal bias that due to working with the community newspaper, police have been one of the few people I get in touch with, allowing me to see that they are not all that.
I was feeling bad for the guy for being persecuted like that in that kind of social setting. But seeing his reply I no longer feel so.
It turns out, his personal experience overshadows his general perception, he had to agree with what the foreigner said. He was caught by the traffic police and always for the reason to "bribe". That's how sad the country was, and still is, to him.
I can only conclude that his sight range is not my sight range because he's unfortunate enough to have been under what I've described in my argument to justify why was it worth fighting for. I'm fortunate enough not to be asked to commit bribery, that I'm in a place where we can change the mindset of Malaysians to start thinking like a community instead of "Corporate Malaysia", that though I'm still as hardcore about national issues I also know we're all fighting in smaller circles before the bigger picture can be brought down.
As for him? I'm not him, I'm not jaded yet. Here's my concluding words from Citizen Nades' twitter while he was in London:
"Met some misinformed msians who think they know abt msia sitting in london. They hv nothing good to say. Screw them"
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