Tuesday, December 10, 2013

ARE we COLOUR-BLIND or too intrinsically Racially-Biased?

ARE we COLOUR-BLIND or too intrinsically Racially-Biased?

Do you agree with this comentator?

FMT Narinder Singh's commentaries might have scored some schmaltzy brownie points but I fear that even he has been prey to his own prejudice that Chinese firms are just for the Chinese... He is sweeping and casting his statement net a little too far!

Notably he made no comments whatsoever about the Indian companies in the country, although he was making a strident point to agree with Khairy against supposedly non-bumi bias against bumis! [Another commentator Stan Tee mentioned that fmt has a preponderance of a certain ethnic group, which I will comment no further!]

The fact that the govt continues to eschew such practices of identifying race and religion in our daily lives, imply a differential and subtle racist agenda!

Of course we all know that the govt and the GLCs are the perpetrators of the worst forms of discriminatory employment and promotion practices. Just look at the civil service, the GLCs, the Banks, and even academia, where the lopsidedness is so stark and where glass ceilings for non-bumis are so unspoken yet tacitly but so resignedly accepted by those who chose to stay... Of course I respect and salute all these committed academicians whose agenda is simply to commit to their love of their work and knowledge sharing and research!

BTW, currently, I employ a healthy mix of 2 very capable Malay nurses and an Indian nursing aide in my small clinic practice! I used to have most of my many other nurses of Indian descent, but they come and go... And I count among my best friends some Indians, Malays, Sikhs, Chinese, etc. too!

Let me do a personal conscious headcount: In my professional working environment and NGOs, we all work well together with a true mix of Malays, Indians, Chinese CEOs, directors, managers etc.

We all have our own bias, we choose our own professional partners to share difficult patients to treat together, based on our own evaluation of their skills and fellowship... In my hospital, my most used/preferred partnering gastroenterologists, physicians, endocrinologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthetists are Indians, and some Malays, fewer Chinese, for some reason or other!

So I think we can be quite professional without being racially-conscious and biased! Just go on the basic premise of choosing the best that we would for our own selves our families, whom we can trust to deliver a good or the best job or task possible. And race and religion just cannot and must not interfere with that most important undertaking of what is best for us, our immediate families and our patients, under any local or parochial environment! What more for our beloved nation, with so much multi-ethnic potential!

LOL Some of my best fb colleagues that I respect are Kadazans, Orang Ulu, Bidayuhs, Ibans, a microcosm of our truly Asian Malaysia!

But I agree fully, we must learn to adopt more truly color-blind practices in our daily lives!

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