There's no simple explanation. It’s human nature to fraternize with others like yourself. Humans, as social animals, have a proclivity to "otherize" outsiders who do not belong to their social group.
Skin colour and religion a pretty obvious difference, and therefore a likely characteristic to form the basis of "otherizing."
A person of any race can be racist. A person can even be racist against their own race. Of course society is to blame for racism. Race is a social construct. Sure, racial differences - like skin color and religion - are real, but they do not in and of themselves determine anything about who a person is or their life course. Society and culture do those things.
A deeply racist society would not admit to being racist,’ A deeply racist society would never even allow the question to be asked and the answer to be published.’ There are pockets of racism amongst us, there is no doubt about that, (but) a lot of racism is motivated by fear and ignorance and on political motives.
Racism have been part of Malaysian political, economic, social and cultural realities ever since colonial times. Today, race has been so deeply institutionalised that it is a key factor determining benefits from government development policies, bids for business contracts, education policy, social policy, cultural policy, entry into educational institutions, discounts for purchasing houses and other official policies.
Practically every aspect of Malaysian life is permeated by the so-called 'UMNO policy' based on Malay-centrism. This is clearly spelled out by political leaders in the daily mass media in Malaysia.
Umno trying to justify its existence through fiery racist policies. Its way of justifying its existence will most probably invite an opposite outcome. Instead of being a crucial block in nation building, it is slowly but surely turning itself into a ‘road block’ in nation building.
We can’t simply play the same old racial card as the evil does not care whether you are a Chinese or Malay or even an Indian. The evil only knows that we, the citizens are more less like a group machines to serve their greed for greater power and wealth. We already know, racial-based politics could only lead to a far more worse situation
Most countries in the world today have moved on and left their communal political framework behind. It is even more pertinent for a multiracial and multi-cultural country like Malaysia to abandon such parochial political model.
PEOPLE'S POWER
Dear Author,
ReplyDeleteI am writing this to let you know that your statement saying "Its way of justifying its existence will most probably invite an opposite outcome" would probably be valid to mostly the non-Malays. You might be surprised to know that I know some of my Malay friends who actually bought the racial-based lies that our mainstream media have been using all this while. And some even felt that even when UMNO/BN is corrupt, they have no choice but to support UMNO/BN because the BN's are "protecting" the Malay rights. This is, of course, very sad.
However, I strongly agree when you wrote "Instead of being a crucial block in nation building, it is slowly but surely turning itself into a ‘road block’ in nation building." Because of using racial sentiments, this has only caused our country more problems in the previous years.
I admit that a lot of us are born to undeniably care more about our own race. But this is natural, and people with different races sure can live together (in fact, the differences should actually be a positive thing as it would produce better results when different races work together).
I think for now, people between races in Malaysia should discuss more about racism rather than trying to stay away from the topic, because I'm optimistic that as long as we work together, nothing is impossible.
It's sad that even the Sultan insist of "This must be Muslim" , it is not just race but religion as well.
ReplyDeleteUnless we begin to identify ourselves as Malaysian, and not Malay,Indian, Chinese , Muslim, Hindu, Christian , Buddhist. It will always be an us vs. them scenario.
The problem starts with society, but it should be the government who should make the first step in the solution.
Racist, it all depends what you mean by it. If we go by traditional definition of superiority of one race over another then we have a problem.
ReplyDeleteI come to think of being a racist as openly acknowledging the difference in culture, religion or skin color.
I usually put down the Indians, sometimes I make fun of the Chinese and sometimes my own race, the Malays too.
I always held the belief that human beings will always stereo-type ideas so that we can organize our view of the world better. So if its not religion, its race, and if not race than territory and finally clans. But guess what? Brothers, sisters, parents and children fight too. Then what can we attribute the problem to?
So why fight it? As long as we respect each individual I see not problem. So what if Indians are snake or Chinese cannot be trusted or Melayu Bodoh. Its not directed at you personally, unless you feel that your association with your race compel you to feel insulted. Then you are just being racist yourself.
Just because the Malays have NEP does not make them racists. The NEP is there to protect not to overcome other races. When I talk NEP, its at macro level, not micro. And at macro level, its no different from other affirmative action policies.
And because some UMNO fellows manupilated it to their own benefit does not negate the need. After 50 years the Malays are still lagging behind other races.
The Malays are after all 'tuan rumah.' Look what happened to Singapore when the Malays left it to 'laissez faire.' We ended up giving it to the chinese and the Malays there are still no better off.
Singapore is a mistake the Malays do not wish to repeat. So you people on the net say its time to throw out racialism. Then let us look at DAP, they were supposed to be multi-racial party. After 40 years, why is it still being lead by the Chinese? Likewise, I'd like to see how PKR develops. But most of all, since DAP is in control of Penang, let us see how they tackle racial issues first.
In the meantime: "Aiyo thamby and Ah Pek out there. Cukup la. UMNO got themselves in this mess just cuz they wanna get rid of Pak Lah. They still have yet to do so. So take your little wins and try show us something new."
Let racialism and race-based system carry on. They are designed to be negotiated at a macro-level. On the micro side, if we see another human being as just that, then we have no problems. But if we start to associate the same human being as part of problem because they are part of a race or religion or political affiliation, then we have a problem.