Highly sensitive post ahead, proceed only if you’re not here to haul me to jail under ISA or whatever… I am merely a youth with opinions! Yes, opinions founded on an article I came across on theStaronline. Proceed only if you’re open-minded to a bit of poking fun.

Well, I think Mr. Nasir was a tad too preoccupied with state affairs to clearly verify the meaning of the word ‘nation’ with a reliable source. How dedicated our politicians are! So I thought I’d give him a hand if his dedication has been keeping him away from the good ol’ dictionary.

THE PSYCHOBABBLEGUIDE TO THE USE OF ONLINE DICTIONARIES
*illustrations included

Step 1:
Visit any search engine and key in the words “Online English Dictionary” (in any case – lower or upper – oh, in simple conversational English, it’s called capital letters and small letters). My all-time favourite is still Google, with Yahoo! coming in a quick second.

Step 2:
In a mere 0.09 seconds (varying with your type of Internet connection, Tambun might be a secluded area with a limited (or no) broadband connection, so dialup might take a wee longer. Not to worry, I am sure it will not take up too much time of our dedicated leaders. The top three online english dictionaries listed on the Google search engine are Merriam-Webster Online, Cambridge Dictionaries Online and Dictionary.com. Feel free to click on any of them. All very reliable sources.

Step 3:
My all time favourite is Merriam-Webster Online. Simply enter the word whose meaning eludes your memory at the moment and click “Search”. I chose the word “nation” as an example in honour of Mr. Nasir Ismail.

Step 4:
Read.

Simple, is it not? It’s quicker than it seems. Although, if it seems too tedious for the said esteemed leader, he can easily ask. I have decided to take the initiative and search for the meanings of the word myself. In order to assure the readers of the validity of the results, I will share with you the meaning of the word “nation” from two other reliable sources.

Cambridge Dictionaries Online

Dictionary.com

It seems as if all three results have yielded a common theme. “independent status” (Merriam-Webster, ND), “own government” (Cambridge Dictionaries, ND), “possess a government peculiarly its own” (Dictionary.com, ND).

If the possession of a specific government and independence imperative, then the impression that Malaysia was born 50 years ago is, in fact, accurate. Therefore TourismMalaysia should not be faulted for their choice of words. Before 1957, there was no Malaysia. There was no Malaysian government. There was no UMNO and definitely no UMNO Youth. No PAS or DAP or Keadilan or MCA/MIC. There was no “Malaysia is an Islamic state” and without a doubt there were no politicians making such ridiculous wise stimulating statements in a major news daily.

I digress. Malaysia is a country of Malays, is it not? Well, according to our esteemed politician it is. Apparently, the influx of Chinese, Indians, indigenous people and the dan lain-lains are, well, nonexistent.

However, our esteemed politician chose to deviate from his initial point and state that Malaysia has come a long way since the “imperialists’ economic marginalisation”. It seems that I may have grossly underestimated his command of English.

That aside.

Today, our young politicians seem to be broaching on very thought-provoking subjects. Let’s hope they continue toeing that thin and dangerous line between unity and disharmony. Simple statements like that can provoke the uproar of the secondary citizens of Malaysia, like us. Perhaps his brain-mouth filter is due for maintainence.

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