…..

I realise that I’ve been watching alot of English films, listening to alot of English songs, reading alot of English books, and writting alot of stuff in English. In fact, i haven’t touched anything that can link me to my chinese herritage (except my family, of course) for ages. I can read and speak mandarin, but due to the lack of use for 2 years, some of the words seem rather alien to me at the moment and i currently regard English as my main language. So does that make me any less Chinese than I am? I know loads of Chinese people who cant speak mandarin to save their lives… but does that make them any less Chinese then they are?

So I’ve been wondering… What is the significance of being Chinese? What does the Chinese language and Chinese culture mean to me? Am I a chinese merely because i look like 1?

I’ve reallised that splitting people into races actually devides the human race at whole. Why is race so important? Im sure most of you will feel proud when members of your own race achieve great things be it at the present time or during some time back in history, some of you might even puff out your chests and say "See, my people are able to achieve this!!". The Chinese will always be proud of the Great Wall. The Egyptions will always be proud of the Pyramids. The Malays will always be proud of Hang Tuah. But the thing is, most of us aren’t even related to the people who built the Great Wall or the Pyramids. Some of us might argue that we might have been related at some point of time, but if you trace your family tree far back enough, you will realise that all of us shared a common ancester  200,000 years ago back in Africa. So why cant all of us call ourselves Africans instead?

I think it wouldn’t be fair to call me an "Orang Cina". I definately dont feel the sense of belonging to PRC (People’s Republic of China) neither do I belong in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore. I am a true blue Malaysian !! Born and bred in Malaysia !! I eat nasi lemak, hang out at Mamak stalls for Teh Tarik and Roti Canai. I speak a 3 in 1 language (mixture of Malay, Hokkien and English), which I’m sure my PRC counterparts dont. So why won’t people let me write the word "Malaysian" under the "Bangsa" section when I fill in borangs?

P.S. : I’ve checked out the dictionary and bangsa can either mean race or nationality.

P.S.S : Being a Malaysian is different from being a Malay…