米粒隔离政策

APARTHEID IN THE MIDST OF THE RICE POPULATION

某天,亚明被告知要将一推黑白参杂的米分开隔离。如果他不依照指示办，晚餐会没饭吃。

One day, Ah Beng was told by his wife to separate the black grains of rice from the white ones. If he didn't follow the instruction, he'd have to go to bed without dinner.

亚明马上呈递美敦书严厉抗议‘米粒隔离政策’。原则上他不会同意这种另类的种族歧视。他一向对所有的米都会 一视同仁，毫无分别心。黑米、白米、只要能入囗，照吃不误。所谓：“黑米、白米，能吃的就是好米！”

Immediately, Ah Beng sent out an ultimatum with the strongest protest note that his principles did not favour the policy of apartheid for the population of grains of rice as he wanted to treat all grains of rice equally irrespective of their colour, size or origin. Whatever rice that was shoved into his mouth he would chew and swallow without the slightest hint of discrimination.

 可是亚明家里其他成员都是'极端份子 '。他们对黑米很排斥。据说吃了黑米饭，他们的肚子会不舒服。

But other members of his family were ultra-racists. They discriminated against the black grains of rice saying that their stomachs could not stomach the black grains of rice and their stomachs would feel very upset after taking them.

 其实亚明并不是真正的人权份子。他只是一位伪君子。他假借反对隔离政策之名，其实想借机偷懒，不想浪费时间，呆呆坐在那儿静静地挑选米粒，让黑米白米分离。

To tell the truth, Ah Beng was just another hypocrite. Not that he was a racist. Just that he did not want to waste his time sitting quietly like a fool sorting out the black grains of rice from the white ones.

 最后还是碍于形势比人强，‘人在屋檐下，不得不低头’。如果不照指示作，肯定今晚要挨饿睡觉。所以他只好乖乖听话，双腿盘坐，将黑米、白米一粒一粒分开。

In the end, in order not to let his stomach go without dinner, he had to compromise. He had to sit quietly like a cross-legged Buddha, on the floor, following the policy of apartheid, discriminating against the black rice.

 一般上，一位极端种族主义者是自私`贪婪的。他有他自己的议程。表面上他是他族群的救世主，维护族群的利益为上。实际上，他从中囊括族群所有的利益，成为他族群里唯一受益者。

可是有些人，好像亚明一样，并不是真正的种族主义者。他们只是受形势所逼而成为种族主义的执行者而已。

Usually, a racist is a selfish and greedy fellow. Being a racist, he has his own agenda to fulfil. He would act as if he is the saviour of his own race. In fact he would go all out to amass the wealth of the country all for himself and his family members at the expense of his own race ‘like a super trawler netting all the big fishes in the sea leaving behind ikan bilis for others to share’.

But, sometimes a racist cannot be blamed as a racist as he is, like Ah Beng, a victim of circumstances which he has no control over.