My 2nd Interview; Malaysia

-Interviewer: Hello Zach! I remember meeting you on our first day in school, and now I suddenly find out that you work in Burger King on campus. We never really talked and I think this assignment will help me know you better. It is for an English class that I am taking now, and I hope you would not mind if I asked you some questions and recorded the interview so I can listen to it later. And nobody else will listen to it except for me. Is that fine with you?
-Interviewee: Yeah, that is totally fine with me. And I remember meeting you on the first day, too. You were the first Saudi Arabian guy that I have met in my life! And I want to know about your country, too!
-Interviewer: Oh do not worry about that, I talk a lot. And you can ask me about what you know whenever you feel like it. Let us start off with telling me which city you are originally from and where you were born.
-Interviewee: I am from a city in Malaysia called Penang, and I was born there.
-Interviewer: That is cool. What is your main language? And do you speak any other languages as well?
-Interviewee: Chinese is our main language since I am Malaysian Chinese, but Malay is national language and we all learned it. Besides that, I can speak Hokkien and Cantonese.
-Interviewer: How are you Malaysian and Chinese?
-Interviewee: My father is Malaysian and my mother is Chinese.
-Interviewer: That is really interesting.
-Interviewee: Yeah, because that helped me learn other languages. Do you speak other languages beside Arabic and English?
-Interviewer: I know a few words in Spanish but I wish I spoke other languages! (Laughs). Do you miss home the same as I do sometimes? How do you contact your family and friends back there?
-Interviewee: My country is located in Asia. It is too far from the U.S. to Malaysia. It took 22 hour flight to the U.S. And Yes, I miss home so much; I miss my family, my friends, and all the food.
-Interviewer: I know where you are coming from, and I get that feeling too. Since we are students here, how is the Malaysian education system comparing to the American one?
-Interviewee: Our education system is a little lower than the U.S. one. The U.S. education system is emphasized in whole semester performance, whereas our country in most of the courses is emphasized in exams, projects and assignments. Attendance is not that important.
-Interviewer: I guess that is pretty similar to our education system. But where do you like living? Here or back home?
-Interviewee: I like to live in the U.S. because the weather is so nice than Malaysia. Because in Malaysia, the weather is always hot. Besides that, Americans are so friendly and I would love to learn their cultural.
-Interviewer: I see what you mean, but if you asked me, I like the warm weather, but not as hot as it is in my country! And yes I agree with you that you that “most” of the Americans are friendly and outgoing with foreign students like us. Tell me about the politics system in Malaysia, Zach.
-Interviewee: I do not really know about the Malaysian politics. But what I know is they are corrupted. Most of the politicians are dominated by Malay, Chinese. And Indians are less. So, there are always many unfair and bias or racial issues within the politic world.
-Interviewer: That makes sense. The same thing happens in many other countries. I am interested to know why you chose Minnesota among all other states!
-Interviewee: Because my brother is studying here, and the education fee is affordable and cheaper than in other states. How about you?
-Interviewer: Well, I have four uncles and they all went to universities in Minnesota, and when I had to think of a state to go to, I chose it because of the success that I see in my uncles’ lives. But now I would move to somewhere else like Florida if I can someday! How about you; would you move somewhere else if you had the chance?
-Interviewee: Yeah, I would move to New York City because it is a developed one, a higher life quality, and it would be interesting to me to learn newer things.
-Interviewer: I suppose. I have never been to it yet, but I will someday and will remember what you said about it! So, you know since we are not from here originally, people laugh at us sometimes when we do something awkward in their culture but not in ours; have you been laughed at since you came to the U.S.? And how did you deal with that?
-Interviewee: (Looked disappointed) Most people here are nice and friendly. But there are also people who do that stuff. I have been laughed at because I did a small mistake. And I do not like talking about it. Otherwise I would have told you. Anyway, all I did was that I smiled to them and ignored whatever they were saying.
-Interviewer: No, you do not have to talk about it. The best part, though, that you knew how to deal with it the best way. So when are you supposed to graduate?
-Interviewee: In about two years hopefully. I work and I am a full time student at the same time, so I am trying to find a way to be able to manage that. But I am doing well so far. Business is not that hard.
-Interviewer: It is actually a bit hard for me. I guess it depends on the education system that we are used to, and also depends on the instructors and how they present the information to us. I cannot wait, though, until I graduate and look for a job either here or in Europe! How about you? What are your plans?
-Interviewee: I agree with you, Mohammed, but I am getting used to it now. I will do the same thing and look for a job here. But I will not go to Europe. I like the U.S. better.
-Interviewer: Well, I wish you all the success, Zach. And I hope you find ways to get rid of the struggles you are facing the same as everyone else does. Thank you for your time and thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
-Interviewee: You are very welcome. And I am sure I will see you soon in Burger King!
-Interviewer: Oh you sure will!

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Zachary Tan, or Zach (as he likes to be called), is majoring in Business Computer Information System. I met him on the first day of the orientation week since we are both majoring in Business. We had a very short chit-chat that day and never got to see him again, until about a month ago while he is working in Burger King. I ran into him and we talked again but not for too long because I did not want to interrupt him. When we were told about this assignment, he came to my mind quick. I met Zach at the library on Sunday, November 1st, after he told me on the previous Friday that he was going to be free on Sunday evening. We sat at the studying tables in the 3rd floor and had the interview. I am glad he did not refuse when I asked him whether I can record or not.
Zach is 20 years old, was born in Penang, Malaysia. He moved to Minnesota from home in 2008, and that is mostly because his brother goes to school here. Again, he is majoring in Business Computer System, graduating in two years. Zach also works in Burger King in Atwood.
The interview went well as I hoped. Zach was welling to give me the information I needed; however, I was impressed the most when he told me that he was laughed at even though he did not tell me what happened. I told him that it was okay if he did not want to tell me about it, but I wish he did. He seemed as if his mood turned to the worst suddenly, and I was worried if he tells me to stop the interview.
One of the other things that impressed me is that he was half Malaysian and half Chinese, and that he spoke more than two languages. From the way he was talking to me, he seemed very educated, knowledgeable, and open minded. Also, when he told me about his interest in my culture and that he would ask me questions sometimes, which made the interview go smoother and exciting. From what I know about Malaysia through my friends who have been there, the weather in Malaysia is nice. But Zach said that it is hot, which also impressed me because us, Saudies, wherever it is cooler than our country, we think it is great.
Before the interview, I made a quick research about Malaysia and I found the following information:

“Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants. The country is separated into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo, by the South China Sea. Malaysia borders Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei. The country is located near the equator and experiences a tropical climate.”
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia


“Malaysians are usually at least bi-lingual, Bahasa Malaysia or the Malay language is the official language and English is the second most widely spoken. The Chinese and Indians are generally tri-lingual, speaking Malay, English and their mother tongue.”
URL: http://www.malaysia.alloexpat.com/malaysia_information/culture_malaysia.php



“Malaysia is a multi-party system since the first direct election of the Federal Legislative Council of Malaya in 1955 on a first-past-the-post basis. The ruling party since then has always been the Alliance Party coalition and subsequently from 1973 onwards, its successor the Barisan National (Malay for National Front) coalition. The Barisan National coalition currently consists of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and 11 other political parties.”

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Malaysia


“Tourist arrivals hit 20.97 million in 2007, surpassing the 20.1 million target set by the government and brought in total revenue of RM46.1 billion, which exceeded the target of RM44.5 billion.
Tourism Malaysia in an announcement here, said the tourist arrivals for 2007, which coincided with Visit Malaysia Year, represented an increase of 19.5 percent compared with 2006.
Singapore remained the top market with 10.49 million tourists, followed by Indonesia (1.80 million), Thailand (1.62 million), Brunei(1.17 million), China (689,293), India (422,452), Japan(367,567), the Philippines(327,140), Australia(302,363) and Britain (276,213).”

URL: http://www.tourismindonesia.com/2008/02/tourism-malaysia-statistics.html