Many Notes, One Song

PROLOGUE
It has been observed that in society, many often travel in cliques. Each person belongs to their own clique, and never stray from it. The same is observed in this school. All the students stay together in their own clique, ‘protecting’ themselves from the others. Enter a girl who’s of a mix of two races, who has come from a school where cliques almost do not exist.

SCENE ONE – First day of school, the classroom
Three malay girls who wear the head scarf are in a corner of the room gossiping and a group of Indian girls are in another, as are the Chinese. All are speaking in their very own mother tongue to one another, relating stories from their holiday. There are a couple of stray ones that occupy the last corner of the room, communicating to one another in English. A girl (Daena) walks in and looks around. All the chatter stops, all the attention diverted to this new person. The girl takes the seat in the middle, alone. Each clique is observing her, trying to determine which one she belongs in. Seeing that she’s malay, the malay girls approach her first.

Malay Girl #1 – Hello, saya Ain. Kamu dari mana?(Hi, I’m Ain. Where are you from?)

Daena – Excuse me?

Ain - *takes a long look and walks away*

Enter a representative of the English Speaking clique

Representative – Hi, my names Christie, would you care to join us over there?

Daena - *after some consideration* Sure, why not?

Christie leads Daena over to the group, which including her(Christie) consists of five people, and introduces Daena.

Christie – Girls, this is Daena.

The girls start introducing themselves

“I’m Marissa”
”I’m Sarah”
“I’m Gina”
“I’m Michelle”

Daena – Hi, I’m Daena.

Marissa – So Daena, which school are you from?

Daena – I’m from a private school, formerly.

Sarah –You mean, you went to a private school, with all the Caucasians and what-nots?

Daena – Yeas, that would be right.

Sarah – I see. *looks away*

Michelle – What ARE you?

Daena – Excuse me??! *looks startled and offended at the same time..*

Michelle – What I meant was, what race are you??

Daena – I’m a malay mix Chinese.

Gina – What’s your full name?

Daena – Daena Farisya Mohammad.

Gina – That’s..long. *looks very uncomfortable*

Daena - *smiles politely but uncomfortably*

The girls do not speak after that, but thoughts are running through each of their minds.

Marissa(thinking) – she’s so…different

Gina(thinking) – she’s like a martian…

Sarah(thinking) – mixed…is that even legal?

Michelle(thinking) – maybe she’s lying about being mixed…probably thinks its exotic…

Christie(thinking) – I should give her the slip as soon as the opportunity arises…

SCENE TWO – The Classroom, A Little Later
A teacher enters the class and the class stands up to greet her in a murmur. She gives them a dismissive nod and motions for them to be seated. The class resume their seats.

Teacher – Now class, I have been informed that there is a new girl in this class…*refers to list in hand* uhm, *muttering to self* what…*says name aloud* DAENA FARISYA MOHAMMAD??? *looks at the Malay Clique, expecting to see a scarf endowed girl*

Daena stands facing the teacher’s back

Daena - *clears throat* ehem, I’m over here Teacher.

Teacher - *turns around and stares in shock* oh! Uhm, ok…*clears throat in a business-like manner* Well, I don’t know if you’ve been informed but there is a group presentation that is supposed to be done next week…uhm..*looks at Daena quizzically* have you found yourself a group?

Daena – Well…no…

Teacher - *looks skeptical* Ah…well…*addresses the class* Who can squeeze Dania (Daena corrects her quietly – Its Daena) in?

Total silence greets her question. Everyone looks away, refusing to say a word. Daena flushes with embarrassment.

Teacher - *losing patience* Well, hurry up!! I haven’t got all day! The girl has to go SOMEWHERE!! *looks
at the Malay Clique, then at Daena* since you’re Malay, why don’t you join the Malay group?

The Malay girls look alarmed and immediately launch into protest

Malay Girl #1 – Cikgu!! Tak payah la!! (Teacher!! There’s No Need!!)

Malay Girl #2 – Ya lah, dia bukanya betul-betul melayu pun!! (Yeah!! She isn’t even pure malay!)

Malay Girl #3 – Cikgu, kesiankan kita orang lah!! (Teacher, take pity on us!!)

Ain – Dia tak tahu cakap bahasa Melayu, macam mana nak cakap dengan dia!? (She doesn’t speak Malay, how are we supposed to communicate with her!?)

All Four Malay Girls At Once – Cikgu!! (Teacher!!) *continue begging and groveling*

Teacher lifts up a hand to motion silence, looking tired.

Teacher - *sighing* Alright, alright. If you insist. *turns to Daena looking very annoyed* What language DO you speak then!!?

Daena – Well it’s English mostly, because both my parents speak to me in *teacher holds up hand to stop her in mid-sentence, leaving Daena’s mouth half-open*

Teacher – Then you shall join the English-Speaking, err…group. And that…*she turns to look sternly at Christie as she opens her mouth to speak* is Final.

All four girls in the English Speaking group look at each other rather shiftily. Sarah gets up and speaks.

Sarah – Teacher, if I may…*sounds hesitant at the look of the teacher’s face* we’ve already come up with our own topic of our choice, so…what if Daena were to speak on her own, about a topic of HER choice?? *she finishes...equally hesitant*

The teacher considers for a while. All four girls look hopeful, and Daena looks even more uncomfortable than before.

Teacher – Very well then. *turns to Daena* you’re on your own. Pick a topic of your choice and speak. I shall hear your speech next week, on Monday.

Daena nods and takes her seat amongst her “friends” who all give her fake smiles that fail to hide the awkwardness within. The four girls huddle together in their own group for the rest of the day, leaving Daena rather isolated and hurt.

SCENE THREE – Saturday Night, Daena’s House
Daena’s in her room preparing her script for her speech on Monday. She frustratingly writes and scratches off her work over and over again until she finally gets fed-up and rips the paper into shreds. She lets out a yell in total frustration and bangs her head on the table. Her mother walks in and looks quizzically at her daughter.

Daena’s Mother – What’s wrong?

Daena - *looking up* I need to write a script for my speech on Monday, and my mind is blank. I don’t know what to write about. *chucks a crumpled ball of paper across the room* It’s hopeless. *sighs heavily*

Daena’s Mother - *skeptical look, the good kind* Are you sure this is just about the script?? And that there’s nothing else about your new school that’s bugging you?

Daena – If I said no, would you believe me?

Daena’s Mother – *in a mock thoughtful voice* hmm, lets see *pause* No. I’m going to ask you again. What’s wrong?

Daena – Well…in my school, and in my class especially, it’s all about cliques. Everyone sticks to their own clique, and they never socialize with everyone else. And well, I don’t belong to any of the cliques. Well, not really. I mean, from the outside it does look as if I’m part of the “English-Speaking” clique, but they stick to themselves, and half the time I’m with them, I’m shut out. It’s just so different from my old school. Irregardless of what color we were, or what race we were, we always got along. *smiles in remembrance of her old school days* How I wish I could go back to my old school…

Daena’s Mother – Well, the fact stands that you aren’t going to go back to your old school. Not anytime soon at least. Since you can’t fit in with the environment, why don’t you try changing the environment to fit you?

Daena – *looks up thoughtfully* How??

Daena’s Mother – You can try convincing your “friends” through this speech of yours that living in cliques isn’t healthy, and show them how life could be without these racist barriers…couldn’t you??

Daena – Err…*hesitates* I…guess…I could try…

Daena’s Mother – That’s settled then. Good luck! *walks out of the room*

Daena, convinced that her mother’s plan would work, enthusiastically starts drafting her speech.

SCENE FOUR – Monday, The Classroom
Everyone is seated and the Teacher walks in. The class greets her after everyone settles down, the teacher begins to speak.

Teacher – Alright, today’s the day of your presentations and in Daena’s case, her speech. We’ll let her go first, shall we? *pause* Very well. Daena?

Daena steps in front of the class and the Teacher motions for her to begin. Daena looks at her fellow classmates and begins her speech.

Daena – Respected teacher and fellow classmates, the topic I’m going to talk about today, is unity, and how it doesn’t exist in our school, and even more in our classroom.

Our country, Malaysia, stresses highly on unity. Then why, why, why are we divided by our race, our color, and what language we speak? Are we all not, if summarized in general, Malaysians? Do we not live on the same soil as the other? A nation as strong as ours should not be divided merely by the color of our skins.

If we look at each other closely, we would see that we are not as different as we think we are. For example, all of us, despite our differences, would never say no to a hot cup of teh tarik, neither would we decline an invitation to feast on nasi lemak.

United we stand, divided we fall. This, in a multi-racial country like ours, is heavily stressed on by many. Why isn’t this implied in our everyday lives?? How are we supposed to be a multi-racial country, if we continue to barricade ourselves against those who are just a little bit different from us? How are we supposed to progress in an environment such as this?

Our nation is like a song. It contains many notes, but each and every one is important, for it contributes to the song and completes the song. Without one, the song is incomplete. If played separately, the song, isn’t a song. So before you decide to resume your lives confined within those of the same color as you, remember these four words and think about them = Many Notes, One Song.

Daena finishes and resumes her place amongst her classmates. Complete silence surrounds the class. Even though the reaction received wasn’t as expected, Daena knows that she has made a difference and slowly, her mouth curves into a smile.

- The End -