Day +1109 : If pigs can talk

I am fine today.

I came across this very well written essay in Sin Chew Daily by Moshin Abdullah. I googled and get the English version as well. However, the Chinese version contains something which the English version had “censored”. If you don’t know where is the censored part, please take note of the last paragraph of the Chinese version.

I wish my children could produce an essay like this :-)

The Engish version:

Porky speaks good English. But he's a cartoon character. Stretch our imagination. From the world of animation to a real world where all animals can talk. Including pigs. And if pigs can talk what will they say?

This perhaps..

“It's hard being a pig. I mean all things negative people relate to us pigs. Lazy like a pig. Fat like a pig. Sweat like a pig. Dirty like a pig." After a while we get used to it. Somehow we tolerate that nonsense. At least I can.

But things are getting worst. We pigs are seen as the cause of a war of words in Kedah between PAS and DAP. The Kedah government, headed by the MB from PAS, tore down the abattoir. The DAP is angry and wants to pull out of the Pakatan government. So we pigs are blamed. But in a way it's good for us. Wth no slaughter house in Kedah our life span is somewhat extended. If only temporary. Now the price of our meat has shot up as they have to import pork from outside the state. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Still I hope things don't get out of hand. You see ,some say our wastes from the abattoir flow into the padi fields nearby. The padi farmers are Malays. We pigs don't want to be the cause of any racial conflict.

Remember Nipah E. in Bukit Pelandok. Many of us were culled. Then came the blame game and compensation issue. It nearly became a Chinese Malay thing. Thank God it didn't erupt. Still we pigs are being blamed unfaily. True our living quarters are dirty. But that can be ironed out. Look at where our brothers and sisters in Europe stay. They live in clean farms. The same can be done here. But that cost money. Big money. And both the authorities and the good folks rearing us do not want to spend that kind of money. Hence we're stuck in dirty environment. And you humans have the cheek to say dirty like a pig.

As if all that is not enough we now have a big guy, a minister at that, wanting to pin the blame on us for the influenza pandemic. Hello!!! Even the WHO calls the bug H1N1. It's a mixture of pig. bird and human viruses. But the minister want it called swine flu. Like we the only ones to blame The kampung folks find H1N1 a mouthful? Hello Datuk... that's not our problem. To takut takutkan people of the flu? Well the only people frighten of us pigs are Malays.

So we need only Malays to be wary of the influenza.What about the rest? Let them be bugged?

Oink, Oink, Oink… (By MOHSIN ABDULLAH/MySinchew)

The Chinese version:

莫辛阿都拉‧如果豬會說話

2009-07-15 20:46

豬小弟說一口流利英語，但他只是卡通角色。擴大我們的想像力，從卡通世界來到現實，所有動物都會說話，包括豬。如果豬會說話，它們會說甚麼？

也許是這些：

做豬真難。我是指人類喜歡將一切不好的東西跟我們豬扯上關係：懶惰得像隻豬、肥得像隻豬、汗流浹背像隻豬、髒得像隻豬。過了一會兒我們就習慣了，不知怎的，我們就忍受了這些愚蠢的舉動。至少我能夠。

但是事情越來越糟糕。在吉打，我們豬被視為回教黨和行動黨口舌戰的導火線。由於回教黨州務大臣領導的吉打州政府拆毀了一家屠宰場，行動黨很生氣，決定退出民聯政府。我們豬被怪罪，但對我們是好事：吉打州沒有了屠宰場，我們的生命就可以延長，即使是暫時的。現在我們的肉價飆漲，因為他們必須從外州進口豬肉。不錯，真的很不錯。

我仍希望事情不會失控。你看，有人說我們的排泄物從屠宰場排入附近的稻田。稻農是馬來人，我們豬可不想造成任何種族衝突。

記得武吉不蘭律的立百病毒，我們當中許多被毀，隨之而來是推卸責任和賠償課題，幾乎演變成種族議題。感謝上蒼，事情沒有爆發，但我們豬還是不公平地被怪罪。的確，我們生活的地方很髒，但這是可以解決的。看看我們歐洲的兄弟姐妹住的地方，他們住在乾淨的農場，這裡同樣可以做到。但那需要資金，很高的成本。當局和飼養我們的好人們都不要花這筆錢，所以我們繼續困在骯髒的環境裡，而你們人類就繼續無禮的說髒得像隻豬。

如果那還不夠，我們有個大人物部長要把流感推到我們豬身上。哈囉，世界衛生組織已經稱之為A（H1N1）型流感了，而且那是豬、鳥類和人交錯感染的病毒，但那位部長卻要稱之為豬流感，只有我們被怪罪。拜托……理由是甚麼？甘榜人認為H1N1拗口？哈囉，拿督……那不是我們的問題。要人們害怕流感？其實對我們豬忌諱的只有一種人，所以我們只要馬來人小心流感，其他人呢？就讓他們感染？

我不是要在這裡散播種族主義，只有人類會那樣，我不是人類……馬來人避諱我們，甚至不要稱我們Babi，他們叫khinzir，聽起來比B字音好聽。馬來人甚至不要碰我們，更不用說吃豬肉……這對我們是好事，因為我們不潔。但是賭博、賄賂、通姦、喝酒也是。如果賭博、通姦、賄賂，做一切被禁的事，那不是等於吃豬肉？（譯：張立德）

星洲日報／言路‧作者：莫辛阿都拉‧自由撰稿人‧2009.07.15

See you next post :-)