No Umbrella?

When my grandmother was still alive, she had the strange habit of repeating herself over and over again on the same topics. One might think that that was the result of getting old and senile. But in her case, she was like that long before she was old. Some people are like that; they lack originality in whatever they do — including their conversations.

On the other hand, some people are not repetitious; rather they have the strange habit of emphasizing a point or an idea in many different ways by using different words. I was told that the great Sir Winston Churchill had this style in his speeches. Closer home, we see it in our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with his famous tagline: Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang.

I have no formal training as an orator — in fact I suck in giving speeches. But looking at these great people, I suspect that it's some kind of trick or strategy to buy time when they run out of ideas of what else to say! I suppose it is a useful trick when one is faced with a situation where there's so little to say, and so much time allocated to say them.

In my opinion, Malaysia has always had the problem of "lacking originality". Take for example the themes by the many politicians since our independence 50 years ago. Although expressed in many different ways and styles; and to a varying degree of emphasis, Malaysians are always told that the Malays "will have to be prepared for a more competitive culture" — that "we are not doing justice to our own community if we let them think they can forever run under the umbrella," as reported here.

Yet the truth is that the "protection" will always be there. I used to be frustrated when my bumiputera classmates were granted scholarships to further their studies; whereas I had to look for my own ways even though I scored better than them in the exams. But now I have learned to accept that maybe it is a blessing in disguise after all.

Perhaps before I die, I will be able to actually witness the so-called "umbrella" totally removed and everyone will somehow have to learn to compete. But I doubt it very much. For the last 50 years or so, it's been talk, talk, talk.