While basking in the glow of vicarious glory, one cannot help but notice something: all these writers live outside the country. Why? Are Malaysians only able to get anything done when they leave the country? One can't help feeling that there are so many more successful Malaysians outside the country than inside.
How many times have local journalist asked me in the last several years about the next big local writing sensation? I cannot help but feel angry. "The latest local writing sensation? Are you kidding?" I want to say, "They haven't stopped congratulating themselves after that one published short story yet, and it will be ten years soon." Doesn't anyone die of embarrassment when someone asks, You are a writer? So, how many books have you written so far? (But it is also true that several of them are now into other forms of writing.)
That brings me to another point: why do we Malaysians like to congratulate ourselves when there is nothing to congratulate ourselves about? Is it cultural? Whether it is about our football team or leaks in the Parliament (did one Minister actually suggest using plaster ceilings to mitigate leaks?!!!), we seem to be unable to do anything right. Sure, that is not our fault -- we don't play football nor do we repair roof leaks, right? But think again while organising that major celebration for the world's largest ketupat (clap, clap, clap!): why does this cultural trait run through almost everything we do, or am I simply imagining it? Should we (or can we) blame it on our love of the 3-hour-teh tarik talk-a-thon or the16-ringgit-cappuccino yada yada? When we have universities that congratulate themselves for being within the top 200 in the world (when the one in a neighbouring country is in the top 20), I think we should feel embarrassed. The way things are going, Brunei will probably have a Nobel Laureate before we do.
Is the lack of Malaysian writings the fault of our education system, then? Sure. Who hasn't heard of the many disturbing stories about our schools and the teachers? If it is, then how does one explain the writers mentioned above? Did they not attend the same local schools when they were here? Maybe they went overseas for their tertiary education, one might say. That could be it. But then how does that explain the 'failure' of those who come back from overseas after their education? No stimulus? No peers to push them on? It cannot be that we have no talent. The writers mentioned above were born here too.
So what is this Malaysian malaise? Malas?
