Posted by I Blink, Therefore I Am on October 19, 2005 at 09:44:16:
bidayuh "boleh", of course. sad though that fellow bidayuhs rarely really believe this.
most of the time, speaking from experience, they only acknowledged that you, in relative terms, do "arrived somewhere" and are proud of it. they announce it whenever and wherever possible.
maybe that is how we bidayuhs recognise how "boleh" we can be. but it is certainly no indication that we necessarily believe it.
well,i'm not sure of how it is in other lines, i am a legal practitioner. so i am talking solely from what i have encountered in my line.
when i first started, a senior bidayuh counsel remarked "if you think that you can rely on your own people's support, you will be disappointed".
i am disappointed. and i know of another bidayuh legal practitioner (quite active in politics too) is rather very bitter about how things are.
there are a great many bidayuhs out there; in financial institutions, companies, semi governments, statutory bodies, who are in a position to give you business. like myself, i don't need many or much, just enough to live would suffice and i'll be thankful. but do they give a fellow bidayuh business? i'd say no. in fact i've never heard of any bidayuh legal practitioner having any panelship "given" by a fellow bidayuh, not even on ad-hoc basis.
i remember approaching for business a bidayuh executive in a statutory body when he informed me they are dropping off their old panel. over a few beer, things seemed prospective. but later it was proven that i cannot hope to get any business from him, maybe because our beer was not at merdeka palace or maybe because i did not promise him a cut. anyway, he said that the other legal firm's rate is much cheaper since their fees are paid in bulk. little did he know that bulk payment is only applicable where the legal process is strictly standard and disposable at one single stroke, but mind you, there are many excuses a lawyer can find to prolong a process thus justifying an individual excessively expensive bill; a lawyer need not be good so as to be able to charge high. he should have known that people always ended paying more to a foochow. or maybe it's just that he has more belief in a foochow than a fellow bidayuh.
there are also a great many bidayuhs having legal problems out there. but would they engage a fellow bidayuh? i'd say most of the time they would not. many of them would approach you for advice but when it comes to fees they would flee but ended up happy paying more to an indian, a chinese or a malay. maybe they were expecting you would render a free service to just any bidayuh. i really do not know the reason why, or it could be that they think that an indian, a chinese or a malay is always a better lawyer that a fellow bidayuh, which is actually a popular misconception among bidayuhs.
i don't think it is a matter of competency. sure, like all good legal practitioners, i have won some and have lost some. i have battled indians, chinese and malays and i can tell for a fact that they are not necessarily good. and funny, if it is a matter of competency, i have indians, chinese and malays as clients but no bidayuhs (to whom, as a matter of principle, i would charge much lower or for free for the deserving).
whether we admit it or not, as a matter of psyche, we have this inherent belief, subconciously at least, that any other people are always more competent than the bidayuh especially in matters we traditionally do not do. we have severe lack of confidence and inferiority complex. in so far as how "boleh" we are, there is no use to flaunt it if we ourselves still think that we are "defective" or "incomplete".
i neither have any solution nor any suggestion to the problem and i don't want to pretend to know the answer. but we do have to change our mind set to see how "boleh" we can be and contribute fully to our community. if not "boleh" doesn't mean anything.
maybe i'm wrong on my perpective and that mine is an isolated case. or maybe i'm on the misconceived side myself. all the same, thank you for hearing my complaint and apologies for sounding so pessimistic or critical.
please, do share your opinion or experience
cheers
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