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MAYBANK FOUNDATION - PERDANA LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION

What being a responsible Malaysian citizen means to me.

Talent is a gift, but character is a choice. To some, a citizen means of singularity in mindset but plurality

in outlook, to others, it spells loneliness. From the moment we are formed as a zygote, we are bonded

to our distinctive culture, religion, belief, race and nationality; an everlasting life journey definitely has

to be a conspiracy of fates accentuated with myriads of stark contrasts. After all, we are just meant to a

particular country with a rather androgynous name where we spread our talons and implant seeds of

growth; sometimes depending the nations leadership and country policies. Preserving our features to

our posterity is deemed sacrosanct which flow in the face of conventional wisdom and common sense, a

dutiful scribe meant for a sense of autonomy and a feeling of responsibility.

In particular, magnetic repulsions between our identity and external influences from other countries

permeate the surroundings always and embodied us. Nationalists describe them as scaring and

contaminating. Narratives and manual competences broke out with hatred deep under ones psyche

and for some, their last threads of self-control snapped by their pollution-fatigued eyes. A responsible

citizen role has transformed into an evoke of contradictions and heterodoxies as if we are too overly

protect ourselves or rather real patriotism take place in the particular.

Ranging from small matters like declining to bribe a traffic police and participating in a gotong-royong do

make sense. To me, being a responsible citizen is not attempting to juxtapose or manipulate variances

from different people but instead replacing individualism by the calming vision of green pastures

toleration and gleaming water peace. A society needs to have a metamorphosis to be more civic

conscious and unite especially in a multiethnic country like Malaysia. Quite often, our notions towards

Japan and Korea are tended towards superb education that could modify a childs perspective to build a

civilised society from their sustainable morality. From issues like deciding where a small trash should bethrown to queuing for aids during calamity, these low-key senses of humanity distinguish a real citizen is

being bigger from the inside out.

Somehow, we are on the brink of an abyss for the fragility of life in a fast-paced society, repulsing a

titanic clash between human frailty and wealth. We feel numb for the social gap, bad employers and

leaderships, tactics cooking up a double dip just to survive as if all citizens are cloned to be competitive

to each other. As a responsible citizen, we should be the overlord of ourselves by the proliferation of

compassionate to a material-sickened community. Just like a butterfly that has just emerged from

chrysalis, we should lend a helping hand in continuum and spin our inner congeniality combating the

mental tug-of-war with poised strategies. A noble step without any politics, personal agendas andgimmicks for the desperate will have an influence eventually.

Next, what lingered in the cobwebs of our mind is the perpetual fear about migration. Well, of course, in

this era of globalism, we feel threatened by brain drain and the veritable increase of labours that

certainly do not dovetail harmoniously with each other. At the same time, a citizens entity could be

recognised by the contributions and disciplines when living or travelling in other countries. Simply think

of citizens from East Asia, a sweet gesture of niceness would has cocooned us. Alternatively, think of

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citizens from the continent of hardcore Africa, a stark oxymoron would have gripped us. Human judge

human based on quality, especially the aesthetic of food, culture and how the particular citizen behaved

with the identity his or her country had nurtured over the years. For example, Hong Kong people have

been calling the mainland Chinese people as locusts due to mass proportion of influx. National

Geographic (Michael Paterniti, June 2012 pg.106-115) states that while Hong Kongs per capita gross

domestic product ranks tenth in the world, its Gini coefficient, is also among the highest. The civil war in

Syria seems endless for a strong regime. As I scoured my brain for inspiration, assimilation can be as

good as it seems but our incandescent personalities can distinguish ourselves without being

misunderstood as manipulating others.

We are trying to add a choice with a soft launch and smile all the way like a sous chef about to unveil his

signature dish. There is no pretend with these simplicities and substances shown as an additive niche.

The moment you are being respected, you are already a national emblem in posing an extra influence to

people with different nationalities. A responsible citizen can easily stretch magic and leprechauns as

what you have confined to instead of turning into Chicken Little and says, The sky is falling down!

Cultural shock is usually temporary and there are lots of things we can do to get through thisdisorientation of unsettling experience.

At the same time, a responsible citizen is an individual who dares to speak out about issues that landed

the country such as environmental problems and human rights. The government should hear the voice

of the concerned because only a true citizen will express anything for the good of his beloved

motherland. Actions speak louder than words as how a citizen wish to track the terms be heard, get

into the right team, for a standardized benchmark that is deeply needed in Malaysia. Citizens who feign

deafness with the events of our lives are timid nerds that are fond of making dreams with malarial

intensity.

Sometimes, as a Chinese proverb says, a man in the act is at a puzzle whilst the mind of the on-looker is

lucid. To sum up, a citizen wants nothing but a sense of belonging.