On the "International evening", WMSA put forward a sketch which claimed to depict the "typical scence" of Malaysian's hawkers' life. I think this sketch have misled our Kiwi friends and other overseas students. Certainly the performance did not reflect the "typical" and true hawkers' life in [unclear: M'sia] objectively.

What is the "typical scene" of hawkers? The detenorating economic situations (together with rampant inflation) had caused the hawkers' life even more miserable. That is why the hawkers had to toil day and night but their income and standard of living still had not improved at all. They earn a living in insecurity and suffered constant harassment from the random checking from the police and gansters. All these constituted the real life which the sketch didn't even bother to give a thought on it. As a Malaysian, I think we should love and respect our people, and try to understand their grievances, because we come here at the expense of them instead the sketch made a mockery of them. I was really hurt after seeing the sketch.

We Malaysians come from a place which has abundant natural resources, but our hawkers still have to toil like hell in order to survive. Where has our wealth gone to?

60% of our country's economy is controlled by foreign investors. For instance, British alone each year siphoned 220 million pounds from our country. This constituted the root cause of our people's poverty and that is why our hawkers had to compete for customers. (The Sketch had shown it in a very exapperated manner).

Apart from this, I was completely lost by the last act in which the hawkers called for 'berjaya...etc' which I think was completely irrelevant to the scene. May the producer of the sketch please explain what was it all about.'

Lastly, WMSA as a representative body for M'sian students in Wellington and in NZ general ought to think twice when representing an event in such a big occasion as the 'International evening'. My stray criticism about this sketch was that it gave an totally false picture of the common people and their culture in M'sia.

After watching the M'sian Sketch' on International night, we feel both sad and angry that some of our students could degrade our own people, namely the hawkers in this case, and made a laughing stock of them for the sake of entertainment.

The sketch was introduced as a typical M'sian scene, this is not true. We do not deny that rare incidents like that do occur but it is not typical for our hawkers to try to assault tourists and to double or treble their prices. The whole thing was grossly exaggerated.

We think the sketch is in bad taste and the MSA members who were involved should realise this and try to come up with something more meaningful next time.

I am very disappointed with the Malaysian Sketch' put up by WMSA. As a Malaysian I feel duty-bound to express my strong protest to the promoter of this highly distorted 'typical scene' of hawkers life. At the same time, I sincerely hope all my fellow patriotic Malysians/Singaporeans will register with Salient their discontent over the humuliation of our fellow country men. Tell me, honestly my fellow mates; don't you get hurt when a kiwi friend tell this to you; "We have too many idiot overseas students here. Look at the Malaysian Sketch, how can they come to universities with that civilization".

Regarding the 'Sketch' I can only sum up the following points.

1.	It has been a deliberate attempt to [unclear: portrav] a highly distorted and exaggerated picture of the hawkers life at home. It reveals not the true life of the hawkers but the snobbish attitude of some intellectuals who always despise the underprivileged.
2.	Everyone knows the hawker's life in Malaysian has been hard and strenouous. To make a good laughing stock out of them is an insult not only to them but to all Malaysians/Singaporeans, and that includes you, my ingenious sketch promoter.
3.	By presenting the 'typical scene' without explaining the grievances under which they earn their negligible income in doing a terrible injustice to the hawkers. We the 'lucky ones' are able to come overseas. Come under the expense of our country men the hawkers, the workers, the farmers etc. As a sensible Malaysian, we should sympathise with them instead of stabbing their backs.
4.	Cutting the tourists' throat by charging excessively and using force to threaten the tourists are never the practice of the majority of the hawkers. As a matter of fact tourist always finds it incredibly cheaper to eat off the street than at the high-class restaurants.

In view of this bad impression and distorted picture portrayed to oar kiwi friends, I would, together with all other fellow mates demand a public apology from those MSA sketch promoters. In addition they should assure no more of this sort of stupidity is repeated.

I wish to comment on the recent sketch put up by WMSA on International Night. I am really disgusted by the distorted view painted of our poor hardworking Malaysian hawkers and working men. Are these people (the majority of our population) really such a group of exploiting cut-throats ready to seize on the so-called rich tourists? Mind you I must explain that we are not a country of cut-throats as those who haven't heard or have been to our country might now seem to think so.

These poor but hardworking hawkers lead very humble lives and I can say they lead an Honest but hard life earning a meagre living. I have to point out that those so-called 'educated cream of the society' got the chance to gain a higher education because those people like the hawkers through their sweat and labour enable us to gain it.

So wake up WMSA! Don't give such a distorted view of our ordinary working people and especially on a night so important as this. I would say that a better view of our Malaysian people and its culture is called for.