So far two clips in the "15Malaysia" video project have been released.

If you were to ask me what I've seen in these two clips, my answer would be: Myself!

In Yasmin Ahmad's Chocolate, a Chinese mother in a family running a grocery business, wants her son to leave "this land," as "this land" does not belong to him, and he will have no future staying back.

The boy is unwilling to leave because he has many friends in "this land."

He even suspects that his mother wants him to leave because she has had a new boyfriend.

In the midst of their quarrel, a young tudung-clad Malay girl steps into the shop to buy some batteries and chocolate.

The boy is instantly lured by the graciousness of the girl and the atmosphere gets softened.

All of a sudden, the mother's high-pitched voice comes from the back: "Why are you talking so long with that Malay woman?"

The atmosphere gets tensed up again.

As the girl brings short of five cents, the boy coldly takes the chocolate back, and she leaves in disappointment.

Just as the boy is about to give the Malay girl a chase and hand over the chocolate to her, the mother's voice bursts out again.

The boy has to kill the idea of going after the girl!

Just a two-minute short story, or should I say just an episode, not even a whole story!

While this could be just an episode in a story, it could also be an episode in our society!

Yasmin has masterfully grasped the sentiment of alienation as well as conflicting moods of Chinese Malaysians.

"This land" does not provide equal opportunities and we won't have a future here. Leaving "this land" seems to be the best way out.

Nevertheless, this boy has developed some feelings for "this land."

Indeed, other places may offer lucrative scholarships and career prospects, but those are unfamiliar places without any emotional links with us!

The emergence of the Malay girl is a kind of catalyst that signifies a linkage in our social relationships.

But such a catalyst is shortlived.

The mother's voice represents the prevailing stereotyped views in our community, a force that resists changes and sends everything back to the old shape.

My heart was heavy having watched this film.

No one likes the way the mother talks (and she never even shows up on the computer screen, just her voice), but this shadow looms over almost every Chinese family in this country.

Everyone feels sorry for the boy. Perhaps he should be a little more enthusiastic and deliver himself from any bondage or restrictions.

Indeed, Chinese people living in Malaysia do have too many self-confining and cautious views. They are worried about this, and scared of that. Their fears are particularly marked when it comes to social and political interactions.

That's why I said we could see our own "selves" in this clip.

Yasmin had observed so subtly the contradictions within the Chinese community. She did not offer a direction or conclusion, probably because she did not want to show her stand.

She only brought out the issue to send the viewers thinking. (By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)