How to get into the circle?

Ever heard of holograms? They are sometimes known as cheating device. Why? It's because you think the obstacle is not there and you walk towards it, just to be hit by the obstacle. It's also sometimes called invisible deterrent. Why? You can't see it but something is stopping you from advancing further....something you can't see with your naked eyes. But the most suitable name for it is virtual barrier. Why? It's because you can go further but with very great difficulties and it's normally invisible.

I have a lot of friends from Taylor's and why not? I have ReComers here and one friend leads me to another. I know many people here as well. However, that's always the limit - knowing and identifying. I have not advance any further and I wondered why. After some serious thinking and analysis, I finally got my answer and the answer was not obtained through formulas and equations ( I am not that eccentric yet). Here's the answer :

I am waiting for my bus in front of college yesterday. I looked around me (I am alone, as usual)...a small group of JPA Chinese boys are talking to each other and one of the boys is also talking to a Malay girl (JPA scholar). All of them are studying SAM. Then, I saw a group of JPA ICPU students talking to each other. Two are Chinese and most others are Malay. A small of Petronas scholars studying ICPU are also talking to each other. The group is a mixture of guys and girls.

Another independent event:

I am in the class waiting for Mathematics teacher to come. The class was divided as usual. Christine and Dian were sitting together. Mike, Eugene sat together. Dave, Siew Kiat and Vivek sat together. Akram was chatting with Mike and Eugene. Khashafiq and Salman and Rahim sat together. Salaamin, Fakhruddin and Hamedullah sat together. Maryam and Nadya sat together. Inseparable pair, Sook Mei and Xiao Hong sat together. Yuk Chang and Shu Hao will always sit together. These pairs in class, unless under very rare occasions, will always stay together, creating blocs in class. Oh yeah, what about me? I will be alone, striking conversations occasionally with some of them.

Next independent event :

I am in my scholarship friends' apartment. All seven of them are Malays and all of them live together. When I went there, rather than expecting any welcome, I will obtain nothing, as though no one has walked into the apartment. However, one of them is very friendly though. ONE....out of seven.

Last independent event :

I know a Chinese guy here....an IC-Chinese guy. Why I call him IC-Chinese guy? Because he's only Chinese in his IC. He's from KYS and he's behaving like a classic Malay who stayed in a hostel for 5 years. His very very close bond with all the Malay scholars is not a problem (in fact, it's good...because of racial integration), but his action is the complete reverse against Chinese or Indian scholars (no Indian btw.) My friend and I (Chinese) often received cold stares from him, as if we did whack him before. I have never meet such people before. My friend even make a joke (just a joke) : IF he becomes the MCA president, even Yap Ah Loy will rise up to oppose him! I daresay he gives me a very bad impression of KYS....shame on him.

Ok, after all the events (true events), what is my conclusion? The first problem is about scholarship. Scholars from the same scholarship agencies often flock together (observe first example). They don't tend to know people from other scholarship agencies. However, for cases such as us (MISC scholars and also Telekom scholars), our group is so small that we need to interact with others.

Some made it through the first obstacle and some don't(including me). Why? The second reason is race. In this 21st century, race is still a separator. Scholars of the same race tend to make cliques. With all these tight cliques around, how can I make close friends here? Even within my own ring of 12 MISC scholars, the clique was seen. Malay guys mix with Malay guys. Chinese girls mix with Chinese girls. Malay girls mix with Malay girls. Even between Chinese, Chinese-speaking Chinese mix with Chinese speaking Chinese. English speaking Chinese mix with English speaking Chinese. What kind of culture is this?

The problem is not with the government....the problem is not with the education system...the problem is not with the teachers....the problem is with ourselves! Our mindset and vision is tuned so that we will focus on our "same kind" of people only. Once we don't change, we will no longer just see trading blocs, but people of different religions will live in different parts of the world and take up different jobs, just like the Colonialism era.