No, not the horror slasher movie of a couple who picked up a psychopathic hitchhiker. But I was in car with a complete strange. Just the two of us. For about 20 minutes...
So it goes like this. I pulled some extra work at my lab yesterday, and came back to my college around 6 pm. I had just turned the engine down and was putting up the sunshade when I spotted this guy walking near my direction. A Chinese dude, but doesn't look local. Likely from the batch of students from China that recently came to UKM. (And I just realised that 'Chinese' here has multiple contexts - foreigners use it to refer to people that came from China, I use it to refer to the stereotypical fairer-skin/slit-eyed populace in Malaysia).
Anyway, I was about to get off my car when suddenly he knocked on my window. Thinking maybe he needs some direction, I just opened the door. And then he asked in, in Mandarin obviously,
"Might I trouble you to give me ride to KTM station to buy some food?"
Though likely I'm making up half the sentence, since my Mandarin's like really bad, and I could only figure out that sentence by the words 'trouble', 'KTM', 'buy' and 'food'. And there were some other things he mentioned afterwards which I couldn't get. Anyway, near the KTM station there are some Chinese mix rice, which is quite popular among the Chinese students in UKM as it's rather near and cheap.
So anyway, I was faced with a decision. A complete stranger asking me to give him a ride. Stories of psychopathic killers, muggers with knife briefly flashed my mind. But he does look like a regular guy and harmless. And I'm partial to helping out people who need a ride as I was in their shoes not too long ago and know how inconveniencing it is. And it really has to take a lot of guts, not to mention pride, for him to actually ask a stranger for a ride. In his mind, I in turn might be the crazed killer (though from what 99% of friends tell me, I look too innocent to be considered a threat). After careful deliberation for a few seconds, I obliged and he got into my car.
And so we chatted, sorta. Have I mentioned that my mandarin is bad? And on top of that, his Mandarin also has a slight accent to it. But somehow we managed somewhat with my badly-pronounced and grammatically-erred Mandarin. And most likely half the time I was understanding him wrong and spewing nonsensical Greek to him. If I did, he played the part of a gracious passenger and responded appropriately, even feigning surprise when I told him that I don't really know Mandarin and I speak mostly in other languages.
Bits of conversation which I can state quite confidently as indeed being spoken about include: the course he's studying (IT), his intention to buy car, and him not adapting to the cafetaria food. When we returned, he thanked me profusely for the lift. I just smiled and assured him it was nothing. Ah... it certainly feels great to do a good deed. And that my instincts weren't wrong on giving him a ride.
Edit p/s:
My short encounter with him also made me realise how different, contextually, we are despite sharing a common racial descendant. He asked me whether both of my parents were Chinese (probably because I suck in Mandarin) and whether they were born in Malaysia. I'm not one for tracing my family tree, but I vaguely remember mentions of my grandparents or greatgrandparents arriving in Malaysia. So technically I'm at least the second generation being born and bred here, and he was slightly fascinated by this.
He also asked me whether the food stall was opened by a "China-ian (?)" (pardon my lack of han yi ping yin, what he said chung-quo-ren ". I was slightly surprised, and I replied by a "Yeah, by a Chinese (hua-ren)". Again, the context of the word "Chinese" is vastly different between me and him. As far as I know, no Malaysian Chinese refer to him or herself as "chung-quo-ren", but as "hua-ren" regardless of the many types of clans and dialects available. Likely because the former has a connotation to China, despite both words also means Chinese (the stereotypical definition of fair-skinned/slit-eyed people across Asia).
I guess subconciously, the majority of the Chinese populace of Malaysia was brought up and grew here, mingling with other races and embracing the culture here. That we've diverged so far from the first settlers who arrived here that we no longer identify with China or it being "the great motherland" or something like that. Which is what really angers me when a few years ago, we were labled as "pendatang" and told that "kalau tak suka, baliklah China". Which is insulting, as it implies we're not considered full citizens here. There is no other place to go to, no homeland which we harbour a secret desire to return to. It's time politicians and everyone in Malaysia realise that we're all Malaysians, irrespective of skin colour; and that we're all here together, for better or worse.
So it goes like this. I pulled some extra work at my lab yesterday, and came back to my college around 6 pm. I had just turned the engine down and was putting up the sunshade when I spotted this guy walking near my direction. A Chinese dude, but doesn't look local. Likely from the batch of students from China that recently came to UKM. (And I just realised that 'Chinese' here has multiple contexts - foreigners use it to refer to people that came from China, I use it to refer to the stereotypical fairer-skin/slit-eyed populace in Malaysia).
Anyway, I was about to get off my car when suddenly he knocked on my window. Thinking maybe he needs some direction, I just opened the door. And then he asked in, in Mandarin obviously,
"Might I trouble you to give me ride to KTM station to buy some food?"
Though likely I'm making up half the sentence, since my Mandarin's like really bad, and I could only figure out that sentence by the words 'trouble', 'KTM', 'buy' and 'food'. And there were some other things he mentioned afterwards which I couldn't get. Anyway, near the KTM station there are some Chinese mix rice, which is quite popular among the Chinese students in UKM as it's rather near and cheap.
So anyway, I was faced with a decision. A complete stranger asking me to give him a ride. Stories of psychopathic killers, muggers with knife briefly flashed my mind. But he does look like a regular guy and harmless. And I'm partial to helping out people who need a ride as I was in their shoes not too long ago and know how inconveniencing it is. And it really has to take a lot of guts, not to mention pride, for him to actually ask a stranger for a ride. In his mind, I in turn might be the crazed killer (though from what 99% of friends tell me, I look too innocent to be considered a threat). After careful deliberation for a few seconds, I obliged and he got into my car.
And so we chatted, sorta. Have I mentioned that my mandarin is bad? And on top of that, his Mandarin also has a slight accent to it. But somehow we managed somewhat with my badly-pronounced and grammatically-erred Mandarin. And most likely half the time I was understanding him wrong and spewing nonsensical Greek to him. If I did, he played the part of a gracious passenger and responded appropriately, even feigning surprise when I told him that I don't really know Mandarin and I speak mostly in other languages.
Bits of conversation which I can state quite confidently as indeed being spoken about include: the course he's studying (IT), his intention to buy car, and him not adapting to the cafetaria food. When we returned, he thanked me profusely for the lift. I just smiled and assured him it was nothing. Ah... it certainly feels great to do a good deed. And that my instincts weren't wrong on giving him a ride.
Edit p/s:
My short encounter with him also made me realise how different, contextually, we are despite sharing a common racial descendant. He asked me whether both of my parents were Chinese (probably because I suck in Mandarin) and whether they were born in Malaysia. I'm not one for tracing my family tree, but I vaguely remember mentions of my grandparents or greatgrandparents arriving in Malaysia. So technically I'm at least the second generation being born and bred here, and he was slightly fascinated by this.
He also asked me whether the food stall was opened by a "China-ian (?)" (pardon my lack of han yi ping yin, what he said chung-quo-ren ". I was slightly surprised, and I replied by a "Yeah, by a Chinese (hua-ren)". Again, the context of the word "Chinese" is vastly different between me and him. As far as I know, no Malaysian Chinese refer to him or herself as "chung-quo-ren", but as "hua-ren" regardless of the many types of clans and dialects available. Likely because the former has a connotation to China, despite both words also means Chinese (the stereotypical definition of fair-skinned/slit-eyed people across Asia).
I guess subconciously, the majority of the Chinese populace of Malaysia was brought up and grew here, mingling with other races and embracing the culture here. That we've diverged so far from the first settlers who arrived here that we no longer identify with China or it being "the great motherland" or something like that. Which is what really angers me when a few years ago, we were labled as "pendatang" and told that "kalau tak suka, baliklah China". Which is insulting, as it implies we're not considered full citizens here. There is no other place to go to, no homeland which we harbour a secret desire to return to. It's time politicians and everyone in Malaysia realise that we're all Malaysians, irrespective of skin colour; and that we're all here together, for better or worse.
I was reading the first 3 chapter of Grapes of Wrath and mentioned was Joad hitchhiked someone's truck. And here I read ur post about hitchhiker, again.
ReplyDeleteMan, I sure have lived under the well for all this while for i don't know much stories about psychopathic hitchhiker or serial-killer driver. But common sense does tell us don't simply talk/respond to strangers AND we can't tell if a person is good or bad from their looks.
It must be a tough decision for you to make at that moment.
I applaud you for your decision :) You did the right thing in this case. I however, have had my share of conmen and such and I am usually very wary of strangers in Malaysia. Period.
ReplyDeleteHeck, the Aussies here are more trustworthy than the locals back home!
Good on you mate :)
On a side note, with regards to your last paragraph, those things are still happening la friend. And I'll be among the first to cheer if Malaysia becomes a united country.
It's really sad what's happening to our country :(
The pendatang mentality will still need time to change, even if it did. Sometimes it is just insecurity that divides us so much. A little more trust in each other will make such a difference!
ReplyDeleteI am also looking forward to a united Malaysia...