Bloody, me.

Your blood, is where your heart is. Biologically, its where the oxygen is being supplied. On the other hand, your blood is you. One way or the other, helps to make yourself. Only difference is that, you'd dwell on your blood, or just let the blood flow in you while you explore other factors.

What I'm trying to say is that, it's either we take pride of our traits (like "Hak Keistimewaan/Ketuanan Bumiputra" or the "Aryans") or you would just leave it as that.

Family. Deprived from sleep, my adik just had to drag me out of bed while my pillows were lavishing me with their comfort. Relatives visit. "Baby datang, kak". Ah, Baby. A reason to wake up I suppose.

Baby, has always been the witty tiny niece of mine. Cakap macam tak ingat dunia. Almost 4, you can even ask her to "Shuffle" (in her own definitions) because apparently her uncles (my cousins) were her teacher. So yes, she was shuffling in the hallway.

But that's not the point. Point is, this little girl goes to playschool and learns Chinese. From what I heard from my Aunt, whenever she sees a sight of Chinese people, she would repeat the same Chinese phrases. Er, I would try to type the phrase out, tapi takut salah eja. And apparently, Baby's repetition of Chinese phrases kononnya, she wanted to show off to them that she too, is apart of them. She can speak their language. No barriers in between lah kiranya.

And that's when I heard, "Wafa, ada boyfriend. Nama dia Daniel". Now, why would a girl aged almost 4 have a boyfriend? Haha, I suppose normal lah tu. Teasing and such. Then I thought to myself, "I've always liked the name Daniel. Sounds like a nice boy."

That's when it occurred to me, and I had to ask: "B, Daniel Melayu ke Chinese?". "Chinese..(and continuing blabbering)". And then she senyum sipu-sipu malu. In between, her uncle (my cousin) added something about a boy named "Nicholas".

The second was that, her uncle was wearing a tee with chinese words on it. And she said,

"Uncle Su pakai baju Cina!"
"Baby boleh baca ke apa dia tulis?"
"Boleh, 'Good morning, teacher' (in mandarin)".

The fact is, she can't even read. Suka hati dia je.

What caught me is that, at 4, she can differentiate between a Malay and a Chinese as well as mixing her Malay, English and Chinese words in a sentence. But these differences do not set her apart. The differences however, would only make her want to be apart, to understand, to adapt - like how she tried to show off that she can speak Mandarin (although only a few phrases).

Entah lah, maybe I'm just making a big fuss over this. But it somehow went through me, that Baby is growing up as a Malaysian, not a "pure" Malay. Can't exactly take pride on our blood for we too, are a mixture of a gazillion other breeds. Like that cat/dog of yours. Just that we are generalized into a larger category: Melayu, Cina, India atau Lain-lain.

Even my kawan calls her boyfriend "Sayang" or "Yang", although it is not her primary language. Awesomeness.

Maybe, it should just have been Malaysian instead. A mixture of hemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin, platlets and many other components - that is what is in our blood.