10 things I love about Malaysia, really!

I was ‘browsing’ the newspaper earlier today (yes, these days I opt to browse the news instead of reading them) and came across an article written by a guest writer. She wrote about 10 things she likes about Malaysia, which includes the architecture, the food, the weather, the people and the other customary 10 things that people would write about. Then I thought, hmmmm since I need to ‘warm up’ my brain perhaps I should write something like that too. So, here it goes...

10 things I love about Malaysia, really!

1. The weather (I know it’s cliché but I just have to say that I love it!): Although people generally hate the hot & humid Malaysian weather (including my other half), I would not trade it for anything, ever! I simply hate cold weather, esp. during winter. My body was not built to withstand such extreme coldness; hence, the Malaysian temperature suits me just fine. I super like the weather here.

2. The convenience: Malaysia may be one of the few countries where a family earning less than RM3K a month can afford to have a live-in maid, or have part-time cleaners come and clean up the house once or twice a week, have a handy-man to come and fix things up in the house as and when necessary, etc. I used to call them up just to change my light bulbs or to move furnitures around, amazing eh? (Well, in my defense, my ceiling is mighty high and my furnitures are mighty heavy) It's either Malaysians are too rich to do this ourselves or help is too easy to get, not to mention help is cheap too. All thanks to the heavy influx of illegal immigrants into our prosperous borders. It’s a love-hate situation, don’t you think? (Note: for the record my maid is a legal one)

3. The abundance: Think what you want, but I think it’s so easy to make a few bucks here. Not-so-good nasi lemak sells like hot cakes in the morning by the road side, karipap, kuih or anything that can barely be eaten sell like hot cakes by the road sides too (these days the Indons are venturing into this business, what happened to us Malaysians? Perhaps everyone sudah kaya but me kot), pirated DVDs business turn some to very rich businessman, ali baba business has turned some lucky Malays to millionaires, even illegal money lending makes good business here too. Today The Star reported that Malaysia is "foreign beggars’ heaven". They are said to be able to reap up to RM8K a month from begging on the street *terkezut beruk*. Need I say more?

4. The safety: You may think that Malaysia is no longer a safe place to live in but I beg to differ. Today, we can still send our kids to school relatively worry-free - we need not worry about our kids being killed by some kid/individual who ran amok at school or worry about kids carrying guns to school. We also don’t have extreme act of Mother Nature occurring in our land - no volcanoes to erupt, no earthquakes to bring buildings to rumbles, no major flooding to sweep away lives before your eyes. Alhamdulillah.

5. The political antics: Wouldn’t you agree that the Malaysian political scene injects a daily dose of humor into our lives with their bickering? I find them to be humorous (this applies to ALL). What a bunch of jokers they are! BUT, we can’t ignore the fact that we enjoy political stability here. No one is killing each other freely because of their political differences (yet). Alhamdulillah.

6. The wealth: Malaysians are darn rich! Thousands can afford to sip a cuppa of RM10 coffee everyday (everyone I know but moi). They buy designers items like I buy bread from the convenience stores. Luxury cars that cost more than my house roams our roads freely. I have friends who own handbags that cost RM20K each *gulp*, neighbours who drive cars that cost almost a million ringgit, need I say more?

We have yet to hear serious cases of Malaysians losing jobs due to recession (some did BUT it’s not a significant number like in other countries). People are still making lotsa moolah every day here (again, everyone BUT me). Even in America, people are losing jobs every day as we speak.

7. The melting pot: We have everything we want here. Just name it and I’m sure you can find it. Feels like going Italian for dinner? Fret not there are plenty of authentic Italians and also the not-so-authentic ones in town, Arabic food, Mediterranean, Vietnamese, etc. from fine dining to road side stalls. Apart from food, we also have places of interest that covers almost all but a snowy mountain – beautiful beaches, rainforest, historical places, wild life, etc. Malaysia is a mini wonderland on its own.

8. The caring society: I bet only in Malaysia when an accident happened on the road/highway, everyone slowed down to look (I mean everyone from BOTH sides of the road)...teeheehee. We care so much that a little road accident can cause a 3km jam on both sides of the road (mind-boggling isn't it?). Jokes aside, we can’t deny that Malaysians are a bunch of caring people. We help people in need ALL the time. That explains why individuals/ organisations who want to build masjid, orphanages, schools, etc, came all the way from Thailand, Cambodia and even Afghanistan to collect donations from us. We are way too generous when it comes to charity, don’t you agree?

This caring attitude goes around in the neighborhood too. Two years ago when my next door neighbor passed away, I’ve witnessed a society that works efficiently in time of need. When the grieving wife was still in the hospital with the body of the deceased, the people in the neighbourhood was already camping in their house setting up tents, making arrangement with the masjid and the authorities without being asked to (and these are working citizens – everyone took the day off to attend to the burial arrangement including my dear hubby). It works so smoothly like a system was already put in place. The family of the deceased didn’t have to do a single thing, everything was taken care of by the neighbours. I’m glad that I chose to call this place home.

9. The festivities: We celebrate so many festivals all year round. We even have TV commercials that would bring down tears to our face during each festive season (I bet this only happens in Malaysia). Even the durian season is celebrated like a festivity by us Malaysians. We celebrate everything and anything with makan2 - for crying out loud there are even national level makan2! Malaysia Boleh!

10. The heroes: we have heroes in almost all categories – Ibu Mithali, tokoh Maal Hijrah, national astronaut (or Malaysia’s first space tourist, no?), tokoh kemerdekaan (did you know that there are actually a number of them? I only knew about this today ahaks), sports champions, sasterawan negara, biduan negara, and lots more. We celebrate them heroes with so much pride and attribution, and we look up to them as good examples to the society. These days we even have icons for young Imam. I like the fact that the general Malaysians (I hope) are moving towards spiritual fulfillment, a commendable shift from the Akademi Fantasia mentality. Alhamdulillah.

Now that my brain is all warmed up (woot! woot!), I should go back to work! I say writing from your heart is practically effortless and FUN but writing for others need lots and lots of reinforcement (and gallons of cheap coffee)...sigh!