Kadang-kadang saya malu untuk mengaku saya rakyat Malaysia

In a country (and continent) where the fairness of your skin matters, it's hard to ignore the fact that just because you're not fair and thin, you'd be considered as the other side of beautiful. We've been fed with the belief since birth that if you're not fair enough, then you're not worth people's times. Come on, how many times have you heard that this girl is beautiful just because she's putih melepak and so and so? Even the media doesn't help that much with all those beauty products ads.

As a not-too-fair person, I've encountered scenes like these for as long as I can remember. I still remember how my F8 lecturer only remembered the names of the fair and "beautiful" while she had to ask Lily's and mine everytime she saw us, even after 4 or 5 months of being in her class. This is the lecturer who coins your behaviour with your zodiac and fiercely believes that the day you were born somehow shapes you into becoming who you are ( even though I loyally read my horoscopes at least 4 times a day, I still think those things as a loadshit of bullcraps). What I found extra-unbelievable about her(because everything about her is unbelievable, this one has an "extra") was that (and still do in fact), she could remember Fai's name and had no idea what mine was even after 2 semesters of Fai leaving me to fight the world alone. Okaylah, maybe that's because Fai doesn't possess a uterus like I do and she likes her male students more than her female students, but still, that was hurtful.

Okay, the above story has no linkage whatsoever to what I'm about to write, but then I always write crap so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Anyway......

Just a few days ago, my brother and his friends boarded KTM. At one of the stops, came in this one African dude who looked distraught and almost hysterical. Since he was behaving oddly, one of the passengers asked him what happened to him and from his jumbled answer, it was concluded that he had just lost his phone. While he was relating his unfortunate story to those who listened (and shamelessly eavesdropped, like my brother and his friends), a group of rempit-like imbeciles (well, according to my brother, that is) made fun of him and all. One of them even whacked his head and almost everybody in the train laughed when that dude sputtered and asked "Who hit my head? Why did you hit my head?" over and over again.

Trust me, that wasn't the worst of it. When the train stopped at Serdang, these imbeciles pushed him and kept on pushing him till he was out of the train. When the door was almost closed and the African dude tried to board the train again, they held the entrance so that he couldn't get back in. When the door was finally closed, those who laughed at the African dude clapped and cheered loudly! CLAPPED!!!111!!!! and CHEERED!!!111!!!! Can you fucking believe that?

After the clapping and cheering died down, one of my brother's friends said loudly, "Bangga sangat ke dapat buat camtu?" and he was met with deathly stares. The rempit-like creatures even tried to pick a fight with my brother and his friends. Luckily, none happened.

Yes, there are a lot of guys from the African nations who are involved crimes, both thinkable and unthinkable. One of them even inflicted horrific, unthinkable injuries to a 3-year-old (and in Kajang, nonetheless!). Everyone who knows me knows how I feel towards child-abusers. But, just because of some rotten apples, you want to bring down your own judgement to those with the same skin colour? Why can't we show them our compassionate sides like we do with those fair-skinned foreigners? Diorang tak mintak tolong pun sibuk nak tolong. And don't you dare throw the "sediakan payung sebelum hujan" arguments at me.

They're humans too, you know, just like you and me.

To be born with a darker skin doesn't mean that you're half a person. It's not even a sin, no matter what other people say. Be proud of who you are, my friends!

Don't bother to figure out the symmetricality of all these stories. I'm show-offing the abstract part of my art, thank you very much.