Saturday, May 3, 2008

Malaysia, Truly Asia!

Even a very brief trip to Malaysia (like the 4 day one I just had) will drive home the point that it is truly Asia. Singapore surely is very close.

Firstly, the blend of people forming Malaysia's core is very heterogeneous. There are Yellows, Browns, and Malays (not sure where they fall but definitely not in the first two). This itself takes care of the diversity issue. India may be the king of all in terms of diversity of cultures and languages, but its not possible to entirely conjure up the image of Asia by measuring the length and breadth of our beloved nation.

Secondly, you really get to witness the Asian hospitality. People are genuinely friendly and they convey it with their smiles. I agree that in a 5-star hotel everyone is trained to show their teeth to the guest, but its not very difficult to make out an artificial smile to a natural one. I personally was able to feel the warmth in at least 90% of the smiles I received.

Thirdly, it represents the power house Asia is bound to become. It is greatly progressive as you can see a lot of Muslim women in the work force with their customary scarf. The infrastructure is very well done (with Kuala Lumpur airport being one of the finest in the world) even though Malaysia is not known for academic excellence or great scientific brains. It can only be the shear will of the people and their mutual respect for each other that can lead to such advancement in a primarily Islamic country.

Unfortunately, one keeps hearing stories about the discrimination that the ethnic Indians and Chinese (and there are a lot of them there) face in Malaysia. This can be the single most important hurdle in the progress of the country. Hatred always make people pay through their noses and this is something the rulers there will have to keep in mind.

Given this experience, I've decided to take a 10-day vacation to Malaysia whenever possible. Best idea is to rent a car, keep wandering and savor the delight Malaysia is.





1 comment:

Tarkeshwar Singh said...

There are four races in India as well.. and we do have yellow, brown, white, black etc. You need to travel across India to get to know the real one.. Malaysia on the other hand can be covered from end to the other in less than four hours..