Ok guys, this is fun to read! Trust me!

I've been dying to read a well-written piece of article about the insanely foreigner-worshipping habit among the Malaysians. Finally, I came across with this writing and it accurately describes the pathetic inferiority complex syndrome which embeds our society ever since the colonial time ends in 1957. Read this, laugh at this, amused by it - it's all true! Either we care or not.

From The Sunday Star
22nd July 2001

Use the best of both worlds
On The Beat With Wong Chun Wai

DEVIL-worshipping may have become a trend among some young Malaysianswho fancy black metal music but worshipping foreigners is certainly more prevalent.

Take a walk along the trendy restaurants in Bangsar and Desa SriHartamas and you wonder why these young Malaysians are going out withCaucausians who are old enough to be their fathers.

It's of course a blow to the ego and self-esteem of many Malaysianmales.

One possible explanation for the preference of these white men couldbe their bulging wallets or our Malaysian women's misconception that these foreigners are more romantic, having watched too many Hollywoodmovies.

But it is the preference for a foreigner, a somewhat novelty, in their arms that is the more the likely reason for the increasing number of"sarong party girls."

Like satan-worshipping, it is a sign against local convention and Asian traditional customs and religious rules.

Local political satire Politik Kedai Kopi naughtily claims thepreference for a Caucasian male partner is particularly prevalentamong Malay women.

It describes foreigner-worshipping as among the sins of the Malays besides being involved in poison-pen literature and get-rich-quick schemes.

But Malaysian men ought to share the blame too. After all, they areunlikely to take these often well-endowed "sarong party girls" home tointroduce to their mothers as prospective brides.

My Malay colleagues also wonder why the more religious Malays prefer to dress up like Arabs with serbans and long flowing robes.

Beside Caucasians and Arabs, young Malaysians, particularly theChinese, seem to imitate anything Japanese these days.

I thought Malaysian youths only have black hair but these days, theycome in red, brown, orange, red and even blond.

It is terribly confusing for someone like me, who still thinks he isliberal-minded at 40 and having grown up with Saturday Night Fever. Iam finding it hard to comprehend this fondness for multi-colouredhair.

Hong Kong used to be the benchmark of youngsters from Cheras and Kepong. No longer.

When the Prime Minister initiated the Look East policy, where we were told to emulate the industriousness of the Japanese, he certainly didnot have in mind Frankenstein-like platform shoes.

My Indian colleagues are still trying to understand why their younger brethren within the community prefer to dress and talk like they havejust stepped out from a Bronx ghetto in New York although they arefrom Brickfields and Sentul.

With their clean-shaven heads and poor attempts to sound like a soulbrother, one can sense the underlining admiration and adoration theseyoungsters have for American Blacks and their desire to hide their Indian roots.

It's a crying shame because the Tamil culture is rich and isrecognised for its intellectual history.

But that has been sacrified for some mindless rap talk which is a pale shadow of the Indian heritage.

Tune into our radio stations and there is no shortage of disc jockeys who think and believe that speaking correct English means sounding like a white man or a black man.

We laugh at our Malaysian-accent English but strangely, and without thinking, we embrace the French and the Spaniards for their heavilyaccented, even flawed English, with the misguided belief that theysound romantic.

And many of us think they really sound good simply because that has been grounded into our minds by the media.

Paris is perceived as a romantic city simply because that's what the media, especially the movies, say.

Never mind the fact that Parisians are snooty, rude and refuse to acknowledge English-speaking Malaysians struggling to buy a croissant, which is tasteless compared to the local roti tissue.

There's no end to foreigner-worshipping, really. Many of our hotel receptionists and restaurant waitresses are guilty of giving preference to foreigners, especially whites.

I am sure many of us, at some point, have experienced the contempt of some hotel workers for locals.

But thank God, our Culture, Arts and Tourism Ministry officials have more sense than our hospitality services workers.

Malaysia is being aggressively promoted in India, China and West Asia because tourists from these areas have a passion for shopping, which is good for our economy.

The older white tourists prefer to sit by the pool with a book, the middle-aged prefer the sex industry in Phuket and Bangkok while the young are backpackers with tight budgets.

Having said that, Malaysians should be mindful of not enouraging racism or xenophobia, the hatred for foreigners.

It will be myopic for us to be inward looking. History is filled with leaders who bring disasters to their country because of their narrow nationalistic views.

Malaysia needs to be wary of politicians who refuse to accept the importance of English or orthodox religious types who preach against liberalism. Worse still, those who think circus acts are immoral.

Let's take the best of foreign values and assimilate them into our local context. Not everything foreign is wrong and not everything Malaysian is right either.

Devil-worshipping or foreigner-worshipping aside, nothing will stop many of us from watching the Red Devils at work tonight.

http://thestar.com.my/