Tuesday, 1 May 2012

The Diary of Ma Yan

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah


Just a sharing a bit related to journalism field and social work. Though media in the West and in our country had blackened useless Shariah students like us, well I am an ex-Shariah student who is now contaminated by the world affairs. But my father was once a journalist and worked for media organization. I am familiar with journalism as well though I am not a mass-comm student. Even when he serves government officials but he was not a recognized government servant. He was only a servant by contract serving to state's and federal ministers dealing with medias and protecting the image of government departments. Media world is not easy dear brothers and sisters in faith, it is a harsh and challenging world. Also when my maternal cousin brother in Perlis lower-estimating my father in front of me and made me sad and having low self confidence, but I would probably now say to him that my father is an unfortunate guy just like you where both of you had lost mothers. But at least he did achieved something in his life and revealed others' misfortune for public to be alert with while not being religious like you simply because you are an infallible member of Islamic Brotherhood Party who illegally smuggle rice and stuffs in and out of Thailand. For now, I am not any member of any political party but certainly if I am forced to choose, I will choose to join a Malaysian Chinese majority and secular political party though I am not a Chinese! My faith is only for me and for Lord to know. Not for others and I am not interested to show off my religion status to people.   

 Ma Yan and mother

Diary of Ma Yan

The sharing is about a girl from Ningxia province in China and her diary. She have to write in papers because she has no blog like us or internet connection to talk in forums. I am not sure this province is apart of Gansu province but I think it was once apart of Gansu province in Northwestern part of China. Around January 2010, al-Jazeera Witness reported the story of a Muslim girl from this province. Her area is a rural area and she lived in poverty. The report features the diary of this girl and it was published in many countries including China and the United States. It was a best seller in China itself.

The village where Ma Yan lived is described in Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China, but since that time, few outsiders have visited it. The United Nations (UN) says this is a region unfit for human habitation (China. org.cn). In contrary to popular opinion, the porr in China did not get this way because of the Communists. The hardship and poverty of Ningxia people and many others in China has been that way for centuries. It did not help when the Communists won China's civil war and the defeated Chinese Nationalists took the nation's treasury and most of the ancient Imperial treasures to Taiwan leaving China nothing but only people and the land.

In the segment of Witness, audience travel with Ma Yan as she breaks the cycle of poverty. By chance in 2001, a French journalist was visiting the remote Ningxia province in northwest China when a Muslim woman wearing a white headscarf of the Hui ethnic thrust her daughter's diaries into his hands. Ma Yan writes that the economy where she lives has not been developed. However, Ma Yan is not alone wanting to escape the hardship of poverty. She wrote that her life was like a death sentence. The French journalist read the diary given by Ma Yan's mother and he was so impressed. He arranged few excerpts to be published in one of the French daily newspapers. By 2007, Ma Yan passed a university exam and was one of the first girl from her village to be eligible for a university education. He next move was to Paris where she lives with a French family and attends a university there. - iLook China

Closing

We have many Hui students in our university too. But I think most of them especially undergraduates are rich people because I could tell it from their appearance though they just wear normal clothes like others. I don't normally mingle with rich people because we are only poor brothers as birds of the same feathers flock together. There are also Hui students in International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) and I talked with few of them. They are mostly from Gansu and Shandong provinces and others were from Xinjiang where I meet them in the Masjidil Haram during pilgrimage season around 2005 in Holy Mecca. We only know how people feel when we are in their shoes. This one is an Asian version of autobiography of a girl's life and vision where in Europe they have Anne Frank's diary during the world war holocaust event of European Jews. I am actually very impressed with Miss Ma Yan's mother. She is a good mother if I see her I will serve her some tea as a respect.    

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

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