Tainted
Jul 28, 2008 in C’est la vie
As an Asian and a foreigner in Germany, I have never felt more comfortable. It is a safe country where I have no worries walking the quiet streets alone at night without having to watch my back every two minutes. So far, I have never encountered any racists nor any xenophobes which is something I’m very thankful for.
Due to the upcoming Peking Olympics in August, there has never been more attention dedicated to China than now. I’m used to people asking me where do I come from. Some will automatically come up with China or some even thought that I come from Thailand…jeezz..do I really look like a Thai (not that I have anything against Thais okay 
)?
Even my boyfriend’s father had his first guess, Thailand. His second guess, Japan. Uhmm….don’t they see the difference between a Thai girl and Japanese girl? I guess not because to Europeans, almost all Asians look more or less the same.
When I told them my country of origin, some would apologize profusely, thinking that they had insulted me or something like that, which I had to assure them that they didn’t. While some would find it interesting because I don’t look like a typical Malay. I realized that not many of them have even heard of Malaysia, less even know where Malaysia is situated on this planet Earth!
So how does Malaysia come into the picture of this Peking Olympics craze? While I was on my way to work one morning, listening to the local radio station which is airing a comedy, poking fun at the upcoming Olympics in Peking (they did that same gag about the Olympics in Athens back in 2004 too, so it’s no big deal).
However one of the main theme of this whole gag is the problem of bootlegging, yawn. The comedy is about the a committee trying to solve some last minute problems prior to the opening of the games. One of the gag roughly goes like this:
Apparently no because these microphones are some cheap bootleg microphones copied from the trashy pirated versions from MALAYSIA which in turn are some pirated copies from the superior German version. Heh. So what do they do now to solve the problem?
The chief of the committee suggested that they replace the microphones for the press with laptops ?!!
And why do they wanna do that? Because those laptops are also some shoddy pirated laptops from MALAYSIA…cheaper than those locally produced.
Err…so funny. I’m not starting with the Germans’ sense of humor now. My boyfriend was laughing like mad and I was sitting there seething with disbelief, that is so not funny. I know it’s just a joke but I was still shocked that they bring up Malaysia in this kind of context. Not that it’s a secret that piracy is still rampant in Malaysia but up till now, I have never thought that it is THAT obvious.
Sigh, it’s sad that Malaysia is still painted in this sorry shade, where intellectual properties aren’t respected after all and the fact is known world wide.
Hahaha, by no way I ridicule the blemish( hey, we’re good neighbours ), but I appreciate guys who laugh heartily like T… cute
Oh, many Japs DON’T KNOW where or what Singapore is despite the relative distance, or maybe; Singapore’s not worth knowing. You’re lucky that the Germans aren’t least racist. It’ll be timesfold infuriating to be insulted by those who share the mutual yellowed-skin.
In our country, pirated CDs and DVDs are sold on the streets , that is why, in my opinion, so obvious. In the USA, piracy is so much more sophisticated. People rip off protected movies and music CDs using software and then share them over the internet. If they ever smuggle a video camera into the cinema, they don’t copy them onto CDs/DVDS. They share them online. Sigh…
The other stereotype about Malaysia is Street Malacca has lots of pirates! That makes Malaysia a pirate country.
Surprisingly, most of the French I talk to know where is Malaysia, they can point it out on the world map. They just don’t know what is the national language.
Stardust, at least the Germans fare better here, they know where Singapore is
but not Malaysia, which is just a stone’s throw away ..sigh..
Chin, exactly, that is so unfair. I even saw so many ‘gwai lo’ in Petaling Street and at Batu Feringhi supporting those pirated business themselves by purchasing pirated goods.
Bee Ean, haha..yea I heard about that too (from the Germans) that there are lotsa pirates at the Straits of Malacca.