The Origins of My Point of View

As the title of this blog might suggest, this is the post of which I tell you where I'm coming from, how it is it that i come to be, well me. The story of my life, so far.

My Country

I live in Kelana Jaya, a small town in the city of Petaling Jaya, which is located in the state of Selangor, just one of fourteen states that an be found in the country of Malaysia. For those of you (if you are foreign) who still do not know where it is, I would always explain, "Above Singapore, below Thailand, and in between Indonesia and the Filipino (Philippines). Sadly it is much easier that way. We are not as famous as the four mentioned countries (even though the fact is that they all come here). I love my country. Somehow there is something wrong about it (I'll explain that some other time).

I am a 'Malay'. The majority race in this country (hence Malaysia). We live along side the Chinese, who first came to live here as a diplomatic endeavor, between the Empire of China and The Malacca Sultanate back in the mid 15th century. We also live our lives with Indians brought from India by the British in around the mid 1800s, and Sikhs who are brought in as the British Imperial Guard he in 'Malay Land' (Tanah Melayu as it was called). Tanah Melayu claimed independence from the British (who lost us to the Japanese in World War 2, and regained us in 1945) and it was given to us on the 31st of August 1957, and together with Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, Malaysia was born on the 16th of September 1963 (though Singapore claimed independence and became a country of their own).

Even though the Malays is the majority in Malaysia, the Chinese seemed to be having the upper hand. Although many of us Malays would not want to admit this, but it is true. I don't blame the Chinese either, it was us Malays that let our guard down. More on that in some other post. 

My Family

I was born, on the 7th of February 1987. i am the third child of one Anuar Bin Jaafar and Noor Ruzian Binti Shamsuddin. My dad is an honest man, very well educated in the old 'Malay College' schools (a school system set up by the Brits for chosen Malays). He was was an excellent student because his father, my late grand father was a school headmaster, in Kedah (a Northern state in Malaysia). He once told me that he was given a scholarship to study architecture in England, but he squandered away his scholarship money (your words dad, not mine), when he got there. So he took a job as an accountant assistant in one of the firms in London. One of the partner liked his workmanship and offered a private scholarship to do 'ICAEW'. He took it and never looked back.

In a way, he wanted me to become an accountant, because it's a "safety net". Should I fall later in life, I could always do my accountancy practice. The common thing about my father and I, is that we both had different dreams, then what we set out to do now. He may seem very harsh to me, very strict, but I know now, that is only because he loves me, and before he departs from this world, he would just like to see me make something of my life. I am trying, Allah SWT knows I am, but I don't feel happy about it, and still until now, I have no idea to tell him that this is not my dream.

My mother is a wonderful woman. She formally worked as an air-stewardess. She got her training from the MSA Academy (Malaysia-Singapore Airlines). When the two countries decided to have their own airline, my mom, was placed as the first ever batch of Malaysian stewardess which they call 'The Golden Girls'. She now has a 'Golden Girls' privilege card that could be use in a number of airports around the world. As a mother, she was very very very strict, she has a different trait too, she is always prepared for anything. Everytime we traveled as a family, she would bring everything. Do you know the phrase 'a mother knows best?' that is definitely the case for her.

Me, Myself

I was given an early education by a government school. I was really a nerd back then. I'm talking full on glass, water bottle around my neck, school bags with wheel, short pants nerd (although it has decrease miraculously over the years, I still consider myself to be somewhat of a nerd). When I was fifteen, my dad sent me off to boarding school. Not Just any boarding school, a private boarding school. Not just any private boarding school, an international-private boarding school. CO-ED! So you could imagine the shock having free liberated boys and girls, RICH boys and girls with very little supervision, running around in school. Cultures from all over the world, RICH cultures from the world over smacked here in a massive compound right in the middle of nowhere. Fifteen, was the year that my life completely changed. it was 2002. Now I am a Muslim, but it was here in Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar (KTJ), in the year 2002, i smoked my first cigarette, taken my first ecstasy pill, puffed my first joint, and drank my first alcohol. My culture shock, went full over-drive. I was out of control.

Now ten years later, I just finished my studies, starting to embark on 'The Real World', and finding my way closer to Allah SWT. We can never really regret all of our live's decision. You never know where it may take you. "A man may meet his destiny, on the road to avoid it," was one of the Chinese proverbs that I had learned. I can't say now at 25, I see my future for all it's glory. I am just as blurry about the comings as anyone else, but sometimes if you are honest enough with yourself, the world will give you what you want. All I know now, is that: 1: I believe in Allah SWT the one and only God. 2: My heart has been broken so many times before, but it's okay, because that just means that I had loved so many times before. and 3: "A man must do everything that he can, until his destiny is revealed to him." -The Last Samurai-

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost

Assalamualaikum