Literature Review..A Doctor In The House : Chapter 3: Part 2

·      While 50 years after Indipendence the Malays still form the bulk of the poorest stratum in society, there have been great advances.

·      Malay economic progress have been accomplished ethically and legally, not ruthlessly.

·      Malays have scaled Mount Everest, sailed solo around the world, swum the English Channel, walked alone across Antarctica and travelled in space.

·      Their achievements are undeniable to those who can think clearly and fair-minded.

·      History, it seems, is easily forgotten. Apart from leaving the Malays with a big immigrant Chinese and Indian population to manage, the British also left the country very poor.

·      The country’s per capita income in 1957, the year of Indipendence, was less than USD350, more than 70% of the population lived below the poverty line. The literacy rate was very low and there were only about 100 university graduates in the whole country. Roads that were built served only the British-owned rubber estates and tin mines.

·      By sharp contrast, Malaysia’s per capita income today is more than USD7,000 (or in Purchasing Power Parity terms, USD14,000). Less than 5% of the population is below the poverty line (and only 1% are in absolute poverty). The literacy rate is more than 90% and there are hundreds of thousands of university graduates. A network of modern expressways and tarred roads, reaching the most remote villages, joins all parts of the country together.

·      It is not the Malays who developed an obsession with the supposed purity of bloodlines but the Europeans.

·      The Malays belong to the brown-skinned people who inhabit almost all of Southeast Asia, including the vast archipelago once known as the Malay Archipelago. The division is purely political, deriving from the history of European colonisation of the region, and is not all based on any inherent ethnic differences. Example, Jose Rizal from Philippines.

·      Peninsular Malays tend to be more relaxed and easygoing. They are not violent, dislike physical work and are not naturally given to competition. The other ethnic Malays of archipelago are, by contrast, naturally hardworking and can sometimes be quite violent and intensely competitive.

* The British encouraged the Chinese to immigrate and move to Singapore to provide the economic base and manpower for British trade and commercial activities. By 1963, three-quarters of Singapore’s 3.5 million inhabitants were Chinese.

Terjemahan Inggeris - Melayu

*    inherent – semula jadi (sifat, unsur yang)

wujud dalam diri

    stratum – lapisan batu dlm kerak bumi,  

golongan @ lapisan dlm masyarakat

    accomplish – menyempurnakan (dgn jayanya)

    accomplished – yang cekap, yang ahli

    apart – pisah; terpisah; scr terasing @

berasingan; ke  atau di sesuatu jarak ;

berkecai

    purity – ketulenan;  kesucian

    vast – sangat luas

    intensely – dengan bersungguh-sungguh

    swamped – digenangi air;  dibanjiri

    insignificant – tidak penting ; remeh

    acrimony - kepedihan

    crassness – ketololan; kebodohan

    vulgarity – kekasaran;  perihal kurang sopan

    entitlement – judul; tajuk; hak

    granted – telah mengabulkan; menganugerah;

mengizinkan; mengakui

    self-reliant – bergantung pada diri sendiri

    instance – misalan; contoh; ibarat

    glimpsed – imbasan; pandangan sepintas lalu

    industriousness – kerajinan; ketekunan

    remarkable - istimewa

    acumen – ketajaman (fikiran)

      prompt – pantas; segera; tangkas; cepat

      creditworthiness – mempunyai kepercayaan kredit

      prerequisites – sesuatu yg diperlukan sebelum sesuatu perkara dapat dibuat