“People are disturbed not by things but by the view they take of them.They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
Carl W. Buechner
I was not sure how accurate Carl was until this incident.
Rachel (my daughter) was born in Singapore. On her fifth day of birth, she became a Malaysian. I did not take note of the day, but she told me yesterday. I checked the citizenship, true enough, the citizenship Form W was dated 2nd October 1990 issued by Malaysian Embassy in SingLand.
I remember returning back to Sarawak, I had to apply for a PR status for her in Sarawak before I could apply for a separate passport for her. It was quite a stack of forms to be completed. It also took months for the PR to be approved (parents are Sarawakians though).
Then came another milestone, she turned 12 and needed an IC or MyKad. Her passport expired just as she turned 12. So, I would need to first get the MyKad done before she could apply for a new passport. And we were then due to travel.
It took Chris (my son, born in Sarawak) half an hour to get his passport done. While Rachel was being kept waiting at the National Registration Counter for hours. She had to get a photo taken outside and forms filled manually. Forms, forms, more forms to fill. And the counter staff told us that the application needed to be cleared by Bukit Aman. It took a few trips before she had her passport done.
I remember her saying, "I am a Malaysian. I am treated like a second class citizen. I want to call a press conference to state my case."
I was then quite amused. And secretly I felt quite "proud" of having raised a "journalistic" daughter who knew her rights at such tender age!
I totally forgot about it.
She turned 18 last month. There we were at the National Registration counter to "renew" her MyKad. It took her only 10 minutes and the sweet young thing at the counter capturing her charm digitally even let her took two pictures to choose from!
She said, "Why is it so fast this time? I could never forget how they made me feel six years ago treating me as second class citizen. I was only five days old when I became a Malaysian. How could I have any criminal record to be cleared by Bukit Aman!"
Carl really could not be quite wrong! Feelings, wo..o..o.. feelings - she would want to sing for as long as she can remember?
3 comments:
I heard the clip on radio the other day. It seems that they are changing to be more efficient and client-friendly...so they are doing away with all the unnecessary red tapes and fuss. After all, everything is computerised these days, so it should be much simpler... I'm glad it really IS the case, not just hot air on the radio...
suituapui,
Yes, it's real fast now and very friendly!
BTW, that picture is "To Sir With Love" - to you, her English guru! You have taught her well - and most of all, let her enjoy learning! I love listening to her talking about your class. And I have just "introduced" sister's daughter to your class!
Thanks. I don't deserve this; just doing my job (and getting paid for it). I do hope she'll do well...but it doesn't really matter. With her outgoing, confident and vibrant personality, she'll do well when she goes into the real world. It's not all about a string of As. What award did she get? Congrats to her.
P.S. My post tomorrow will be on daughters...and prayer.
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