Dilemma...

The recent issue pertaining to the HINDRAF rally and its aftermath seems to have quietened down a bit now after the arrest of the 5 leaders under the ISA. At that moment, in the heat of things, I figured that I also should say something on the issue but that turned out rather disturbing as after being "pointed" in the right direction by some friends, I saw some light and decided to retract my statement.

Now I feel I am in a dilemma because in actual fact, what HINDRAF was trying to do was to make sure that my life and that of my future offspring does not get shoved aside by some biased and discriminative outlook by certain people (you'll know who I'm talking about). Some friends say I don't know how it feels to be discriminated but in actual fact, I have been a victim and being naive at that time, chose to ignore it by putting the blame on me.

My story may not be such a big deal but it did happen and looking back at it, I feel that I've been discriminated outright. Here goes my story...

"It was when I was in Standard 6. I was in the best class of my school (a national school)at that time and was considered as one of the best in the whole school. Teachers normally rated me as the Top 3 guy in the whole school. When I did my UPSR exam that year, the target for the school was to have 30 straight As (4 As at that time) students. My name was in the list of guaranteed as I had aced my trial exams. When the eventual results came out, I only obtained 3As 1B. If you look at it, people would say that it was a good result but to my teachers it was a disappointment and a great shock to me. I was so distraught that I didn't want to go to school feeling that I'd disappointed my teachers who had great trust and hopes on me. At that time, in Seremban (where I grew up) all student's target (excluding those who get offered boarding schools) for Secondary School would be KGV as it was considered the best school but they only took in students with straight As. I was sad that I could not go there and instead was offered another school (which till today, I am proud to have been an alumni). As if obtaining a result of 3As 1B wasn't hurting enough, imagine my shock when I came to know that a Malay friend who got 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D had gained admission to KGV. Being naive, I thought I shouldn't blame anyone else but me for failing to get 4As." Many would think this is petty but to me on a personal level it was a bitter pill to swallow.

There it is my experience at being discriminated and I don't know how many others are out there like me. This is my personal experience and many others out there may have a similar story to share.