RACISM AND NATIONAL UNITY

The weather is hot today and in the  last  few  weeks  and so is the media. Nobody seems to control their big mouth or are local dailies  without ethics?  I quote an example of racism in the UK. For instance, John Terry, a Chelsea and  England football captain was brought to court and a lip reader  was called to certify that he did utter the racist words at his opponent. He was fined £220,000 (Rm 1.1mil) and banned for four games. Luis Suarez a  Liverpool  striker was fined  £40,000 for racist remarks. Here in our country, leaders   or prominent persons simply  have a field day.

I give you  examples  on my experience on unity in this country. My daughter did her foundation at a private college a few years ago. There were two Malay students in the class and her close friends were local Indian students in a Chinese dominated class. When she did her undergraduate,  again her  close friends were Chinese but from Indonesia. My uncle  got married  to a Chinese lady during the height of May ’69 while he was studying in the UK. He came back and was doing well in a mining company  under  a British management. Things did not go well when the company had  to  undergo   Malaysianisation  exercise. He could not bear the biasness and racist attitude of the society taking the toll on him and his family. He left the country  to  Australia for good. Last month my nephew wed a Chinese lady in a two culture ceremonies in a premise  of a mosque organised by PERKIM. I wonder how she will cope with life in a so called multi- cultural society, God’s willing.

There are many examples and happenings which you and I came across but where do we go wrong? Is it due to circumstances or shortcoming of our  education system or racist attitude of some of the Malaysian? The topic of unity is  not  new and our country will never see a national unity if Malaysian of different  origins, races and religions  do not have mutual trust and sincerity.  It won’t be an  easy task  as human are special species  and possess  what we call ‘ego’.

I put a question to a few young people on how to achieve unity. Their answers are shallow and lack maturity. Areas like intermarriages, sports and open house are common answers. Those  are secondary elements which have been going on until today and with little impact .

 There are  three  key  areas where  the government can implement in order to achieve national unity .  Once  enforced,  there is  no choice but everybody has to toe the line. One  is  education, next is abolition of race-based politics and lastly tackling racism effectively. Malaysian need to be sincere in accepting the above  if  they want to achieve the so called national unity.

The subject of education has been hot topics year in and year out. Each major race is clamouring for more vernacular schools  and  colleges to please their voters. To touch this subject is  like  ‘walking on thin ice’. Now there are proposition of doing away with vernacular schools. A one school system will nurture the kids in forging racial harmony in their early stage of primary  schools  and continuing to foster  good relationship in high schools. Hopefully  the bond of friendship and mutual trust will be cemented  at the tertiary level. This had been happening in the early fifties and sixties where English was the major language used in schools. Currently the medium of instruction will be a big issue, shall  it be  in  Bahasa  Malaysia or English? There could be hue and cry but if the government is serious in national unity and willing to review the constitution ( not  to please voters), half of the battle is won. Here is  where Malaysians need to show their  sincerity and willingness to sacrifice. There are many pro and cons which you and I know but nobody dare to sacrifice.  For  a  start  why not  bring  back the  English medium school ?

As it is now, most of the Chinese kids go to the Chinese schools, the  Indian  go to the Tamil schools  and the Malays go to the national schools. The Chinese then enter the private universities and secure good foreign degrees through twinning or collaboration   with  well   known   foreign universities. The Malays  enter  the government  universities whose  ranking in the world are not even in the top 200 in the world. Now do you expect this young generation to appreciate national unity as their path is parallel since they were kids?

Our country is multi-racial and politics are race- based.  Malaysian politics were  shaped  on ethnics right from the pre- independence days and has hindered  national unity.  If  the  government  take  a stand   to do away with race-based politics, I think we will see some light on national unity. However  are  Malaysians sincere enough and willing to accommodate their counterpart from  various races in a single party? This issue is not as tough as  above and not impossible if we still think ‘Malaysia Boleh’.

Lastly,  there is a need to take  tough measures on racism effectively. The government need to uphold the laws and to take stern action whoever stir up racial sentiments. The John Terry case above is an example of how  serious  is  the  UK  government  in tackling issues on racism. Some were  hauled  up  just  on  a  racist statement made in twitter. I  just  wonder  how the  newly wed nephew of mine felt when reading newspaper headlines in the last few weeks. I hope he would  not resort to another country to start a new life.  

Again as I said the media is currently hot on sensitive issues and  if  not  wisely  handled ,there is little hope for national  unity. One may continue shouting the slogan ‘ Satu  Malaysia’ or Hidup!!! time and again as  it  will  be a waste of time and we feel  sorry for the next generation in this beloved nation.

Ir.GHAZALI  IBRAHIM

The above article is  the  writer’s opinion, without malicious intent or prejudice.