Malott painted only half the picture of racism
John Mallot has waded into the debate on Malaysian race relations with half an analysis when obviously a fuller one would have been of greater service to the discourse. Granted, his piece was intended more than anything else to be a critique of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's handling of the current situation in the country.
However, in doing so, he has highlighted only the non-Malay responses to what is described as Malay racism. This is very misleading and the reason for my saying that he had written only half an analysis of the situation.
A more robust and honest assessment of race relations in Malaysia would take into account the fact that what appears to be Malay racism is in itself a response to non-Malay racism against Malays.
Yes, two wrongs do not make a right. But as the saying goes, “It takes both hands to clap”. That is to say, Mallot's article runs the risk of completely absolving non-Malays from any responsibility in the racial predicament that the country is in. That is nothing less than avoiding reality and counter-productive to any effort to improve race relations in Malaysia. Malays have their grievances, too, against the Chinese. The fact that they seldom get aired does not make those grievances any less legitimate or valid.
Education for the very young is one obvious area where racist attitudes can be nipped in the bud. The importance for racial integration to begin at a young age is recognised, so much so that in the 1960s and 70s, the US supreme court sanctioned the forced busing of students in order to break down the racial segregation between white and African-American schools. That was in America.
In Malaysia, a different approach towards early education was adopted. In concession to the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, vernacular education was retained as part of the national school system. The liberalism was well-intentioned and in line with the spirit of Malaysia's constitution whereby minority communities are given the right to use and develop their own languages.
In practice, and perhaps this was unforeseen by Malaysia's founding fathers, the national-vernacular dichotomy in the school system has resulted in precisely the kind of early-age racial segregation that the busing laws, upheld by the U.S. supreme court justices, sought to eradicate in America. While desegregation of schools may or may not result in greater racial integration, segregation virtually guarantees that there will be no racial integration.
The racial polarisation that we see so shamelessly capitalised on by politicians in Malaysia today is partly, if not wholly, attributable to that segregation in the school system. When you see not a few non-Malays unashamedly, even proudly, declaring that they cannot properly speak Malay, the national language, you can bet your life that these are the ones who graduated from the vernacular schools. This is forty-four years after Malay was declared the national language.
The Chinese community jealously guard the existence of the vernacular schools, implicitly reinforcing the message of their racial and cultural separateness and exclusivity, but yet insist that they should not be looked at as the 'other' by Malays. For many Malays, including this writer, that smacks of having your cake and eating it, too.
Often the excuse given by the Chinese for insisting that their children go to vernacular schools and for more such schools to be built is the poor quality of national schools. Surely the solution is not to build more racially-segregated schools but to join hands with Malays and Indians in insisting and ensuring that the quality of national schools be improved for the benefit of children of all ethnicities. Perhaps that is considered such an outlandishly 'out-of-the-racial box' thinking that I have never heard any Chinese make that call.
Any sincere and honest effort to improve race relations has to take cognizance of the fact that racism exists in and racial discrimination is practised, to one extend or another, by all the races in Malaysia.
However, my own honest observation is that the Chinese never want to admit or acknowledge their own racism against Malays or other races.
Official and overt discriminatory policies can easily be criticised as institutionalised racism but covert racial discriminations by their very nature are harder to pinpoint. That does not mean they don't exist or any less invidious than the former.
When a “Mandarin speakers only” requirement is stated in job advertisements, even for jobs which do not conceivably require much language skills, that surely is equivalent to saying “Chinese only”. But you will be hard put to find any Chinese who would admit that the practice is racially discriminatory.
When Malaysia's most famous blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, related some years ago in his blog how Chinese businesses ganged up to ensure the failure of his motorcycle dealership, none of his Chinese readers cared to acknowledge that he was the victim of racism. His was probably just the tip of the iceberg of similar cases.
And it's always with a mixture of amusement and sadness when I read the many comments on the Internet from non-Malays complaining about the racial policies of the Malaysian government which scarcely conceal their own racism towards Malays in general.
If Mr Mallot doubts the truth of what I am saying, he should read the comments that followed the publication of his recent article in Malaysian news portals.
To many Malays, given the refusal of non-Malays to even acknowledge their own racism, the prospect of a rollback in whatever few affirmative action policies left on the plate appears to be concessions which are unlikely to be matched in a similar spirit by the Chinese in the spheres that they predominate, namely the commercial and economic.
If Najib can be accused of pandering to militant Malay groups, Chinese political leaders in the government and opposition, too, can be accused of pandering to their racial constituency.
In my lifetime, I have yet to hear of any Chinese leader asking that the Chinese to join in and contribute towards the betterment of national schools.
I have yet to hear of one calling for Chinese businesses to assist or at least not to gang up against their fellow non-Chinese businesses or to not practice discrimination in their employment policies.
Mallot failed to take into account one side of the equation in his brief exposition of the race relations situation in Malaysia. Hopefully, I have managed to redress that and allow a better understanding of why things are the way they are in Malaysia.
It would have been more gracious of Mallot if he had used his relationship with Malaysians during his tenure as a diplomat to impart his country's experience and firm action with regard to vigilance against the emergence of the evil that is racism, than to make things worse by dogmatically adopting the attitude that sympathising with the minority makes one righteous.
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Comments:
A more robust and honest assessment of race relations in Malaysia would take into account the fact that what appears to be Malay racism is in itself a response to non-Malay racism against Malays.
Yes, two wrongs do not make a right. But as the saying goes, “It takes both hands to clap”. That is to say, Mallot's article runs the risk of completely absolving non-Malays from any responsibility in the racial predicament that the country is in. That is nothing less than avoiding reality and counter-productive to any effort to improve race relations in Malaysia. Malays have their grievances, too, against the Chinese. The fact that they seldom get aired does not make those grievances any less legitimate or valid.
Education for the very young is one obvious area where racist attitudes can be nipped in the bud. The importance for racial integration to begin at a young age is recognised, so much so that in the 1960s and 70s, the US supreme court sanctioned the forced busing of students in order to break down the racial segregation between white and African-American schools. That was in America.
In Malaysia, a different approach towards early education was adopted. In concession to the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, vernacular education was retained as part of the national school system. The liberalism was well-intentioned and in line with the spirit of Malaysia's constitution whereby minority communities are given the right to use and develop their own languages.
In practice, and perhaps this was unforeseen by Malaysia's founding fathers, the national-vernacular dichotomy in the school system has resulted in precisely the kind of early-age racial segregation that the busing laws, upheld by the U.S. supreme court justices, sought to eradicate in America. While desegregation of schools may or may not result in greater racial integration, segregation virtually guarantees that there will be no racial integration.
The racial polarisation that we see so shamelessly capitalised on by politicians in Malaysia today is partly, if not wholly, attributable to that segregation in the school system. When you see not a few non-Malays unashamedly, even proudly, declaring that they cannot properly speak Malay, the national language, you can bet your life that these are the ones who graduated from the vernacular schools. This is forty-four years after Malay was declared the national language.
The Chinese community jealously guard the existence of the vernacular schools, implicitly reinforcing the message of their racial and cultural separateness and exclusivity, but yet insist that they should not be looked at as the 'other' by Malays. For many Malays, including this writer, that smacks of having your cake and eating it, too.
Often the excuse given by the Chinese for insisting that their children go to vernacular schools and for more such schools to be built is the poor quality of national schools. Surely the solution is not to build more racially-segregated schools but to join hands with Malays and Indians in insisting and ensuring that the quality of national schools be improved for the benefit of children of all ethnicities. Perhaps that is considered such an outlandishly 'out-of-the-racial box' thinking that I have never heard any Chinese make that call.
Any sincere and honest effort to improve race relations has to take cognizance of the fact that racism exists in and racial discrimination is practised, to one extend or another, by all the races in Malaysia.
However, my own honest observation is that the Chinese never want to admit or acknowledge their own racism against Malays or other races.
Official and overt discriminatory policies can easily be criticised as institutionalised racism but covert racial discriminations by their very nature are harder to pinpoint. That does not mean they don't exist or any less invidious than the former.
When a “Mandarin speakers only” requirement is stated in job advertisements, even for jobs which do not conceivably require much language skills, that surely is equivalent to saying “Chinese only”. But you will be hard put to find any Chinese who would admit that the practice is racially discriminatory.
When Malaysia's most famous blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, related some years ago in his blog how Chinese businesses ganged up to ensure the failure of his motorcycle dealership, none of his Chinese readers cared to acknowledge that he was the victim of racism. His was probably just the tip of the iceberg of similar cases.
And it's always with a mixture of amusement and sadness when I read the many comments on the Internet from non-Malays complaining about the racial policies of the Malaysian government which scarcely conceal their own racism towards Malays in general.
If Mr Mallot doubts the truth of what I am saying, he should read the comments that followed the publication of his recent article in Malaysian news portals.
To many Malays, given the refusal of non-Malays to even acknowledge their own racism, the prospect of a rollback in whatever few affirmative action policies left on the plate appears to be concessions which are unlikely to be matched in a similar spirit by the Chinese in the spheres that they predominate, namely the commercial and economic.
If Najib can be accused of pandering to militant Malay groups, Chinese political leaders in the government and opposition, too, can be accused of pandering to their racial constituency.
In my lifetime, I have yet to hear of any Chinese leader asking that the Chinese to join in and contribute towards the betterment of national schools.
I have yet to hear of one calling for Chinese businesses to assist or at least not to gang up against their fellow non-Chinese businesses or to not practice discrimination in their employment policies.
Mallot failed to take into account one side of the equation in his brief exposition of the race relations situation in Malaysia. Hopefully, I have managed to redress that and allow a better understanding of why things are the way they are in Malaysia.
It would have been more gracious of Mallot if he had used his relationship with Malaysians during his tenure as a diplomat to impart his country's experience and firm action with regard to vigilance against the emergence of the evil that is racism, than to make things worse by dogmatically adopting the attitude that sympathising with the minority makes one righteous.
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Comments:
justice seeker Yes Mr Rick Teo, I totally agree with your comments. Now the govt is slowly "TALIBANISING" our national schools. Hence it is natural for the non muslims to sent their children to vernacular schools.
Anon_65b our education system has gone to the dogs..don't believe me??...check this out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c846qznCcEU...this dude is the state director of the education dept....telling isn't??
TwoPartySystem Umar, it is not true that job advertisement with ""mandarin language " requirement are reserved only for Chinese. There are many Chinese who are english educated and do not write or speak mandarin as well.
Broken Foot If the national schools are of a decent quality, I am certain all other races will send their children there. It is a known fact that the schools have deteriorated so badly that even the Malays are complaining. This, again is a product of the government politicising the education system. The Malays have been complaining about flip flop policies and the government is not listening and you expect they will listen to the non-malays. Its all about mind control and you don't even realise that. This is to pepetuate their grip of the Malay mind and to keep them in power. Education is about expanding the mind but that will cause them to loose control of the Malays as it is happening now. I say bring back English education.
Broken Foot You're correct. Two wrongs does not make a right. When the Chinese are prejudiced against the Malays in business as you have mention, does that gives UMNO, the party in power prejudiced against all other races in the country in all other spheres. Instead the should find ways to tackle that behaviour. Follow the American model in enacting laws that will deny one race being prejudiced against another. A good example is equal employment opportunity act, anti monopolies act and anti trust act etc.etc. The fact of the matter is that UMNO is not interested in a level playing field for anybody except themselves, and that include other Malays. They are the goverment of the day. They forget that they are suppose to protect the interest of all races.
rick teo I forgot to mention that up to 60,000 of malays are now registered in vernacular schools in Malaysia.In some schools many chinese and malay schools could not enrolled in the school of their choice because it was so popular that the schools were full to the brim. Infact some schools even gave preference for malay students over chinese students. If the chinese are racists would they have opened their doors to such a huge influx of malay students to their schools? This alone refutes what the writer said that the chinese opt to study in chinese schools in order to be racially segregated.
rick teo During my time, vernacular schools were so unpopular among the chinese that most voluntarily closed for lack of srudents. Most chinese and indians were all in favour of National schools. The medium of instruction was english and bahasa was one of the main language. Many of us chinese grew without learning a word of mandarin. We proudly wanted to master english because it was the language of commerce and science. To have a bright future we knew we had to master english and not chinese or Bahasa malaysia. Then why the exodus of chinese to vernacular schools? It was not the learning of Bahasa or the desire to be racially segregated as espoused by the writer but because of the gradual introduction of religious practice which was absent before. In addition all the teachers were replaced with only one race and many of them were religious bigots. I suggest the writer examine what I have said and see if it is true. I rest my case.
rick teo For someone who can write so fluently and I surmised an educated gentleman, I feel sad that the writer can twist and distort racial discrimination in this country. I dont know the age of the writer but I was educated in the National school during our Bapa Malayisa era., Tuanku Abdul Rahman, our first P.M I have witnessed the degradation of our education system through five P.M. I enjoyed my time in the National school then but what I saw in the slow islamisation of the National schools made me decide to send my children to vernacular school not because I ddnt want my children to mix with malay or indian boys or learn Bahasa Malaysia but but because I was shocked at the disrespect I saw happening in National schools towards other race and religion. They recite doa during class and assembly and whenevr they feel necessary and expect the non malays to accept them. That didnt happened during my time in National school. Whatever religion we prayed, it was always done at home,not in school
Anonymous_3f15 who make our education system so fragmented? ask Dr M..
DontPlayGod What Umar Mokhtar failed to point out, or he failed to realize is that racism and discrimination by the Malays against the non-Malays is official policy and institutionalized. Just look at the federal, state, and GLC's scholarships handed out for the last 40 years. Just look at the Pengarah's, deputy pengarah's of Government departments, the ministers, the mayors of K.L. from day one, etc. Just look at the billion ringgit projects...... etc. etc. The examples are too glaring. Yes, there is also racism against the Malays by the Chinese, but this is on a societal level, just like there is racism in every level of society in all communities all over the world. But it is only here in Malaysia in the whole wide world where racism is official and institutionalized. Over to you, Umar.
Guest Dear Umar Muhktar, I think you are missing the point. What John Mallot suggested was that the Government lacked the political will to mitigate racial tension by quoting specific examples. On the other hand, your letter implies a 'tit-for-tat' approach and launch a broadside against one particular community. If I may add, perhaps your letter was a shallow attempt to justify without any real 'conviction' as forum participant Equal had put it.
Pemerhati All forms of racism by all ethnic groups need to be highlighted (as Umar has done) and condemned. Only then can Malaysia change and improve for the better. Raja Petra Kamarudin, who was the victim of Chinese private sector racism, sees the big picture and highlights the serious defects in the present BN Government (e.g. the massive corruption and the apartheid like and Nazis style supremacist policies) and the urgent need for change to a different leadership which would lead to the establishment of a two party system of Government. Once a change in Government (say to PR) takes place there would be an immediate savings of tens of billion ringgit due to the elimination of blatant corruption by BN and a reduction or elimination of capital flight which in 2008 amounted to a few billion ringgit per week. The new leadership should then look at the other crucial problems and find ways of creating an excellent school system with which all ethnic groups would be happy as in Singapore.
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ksn If we have national schools like S'pore where mother tongue is taught(Ido not know it is compulsory) without fail, then there is no problem. That will be a good start towards checking racism. Who is going to garantee that requirement and need? The Chinese have no faith in the UMNO govt unless it is in the Constitution. Even constitution like Article 153 is abused! Going one step beyond, what about other areas like employment in the civil service, business opportunities, scholarships, places in the Us, meritocracy, poverty eradication, skills training etc. Every aspect of our life is racially biased against non-Malays. That is racism, briefly, in Malaysia. So getting rid of vernacular schools is not going to help at all. Other garantees must be in place, monitored and enforced without discrimination by race. See what happened under NEP? It does not look good. Even UMNO, assuming it has the back bone and foresight to overcome racism, the ultras will not permit it.
Blogsmith Encik Umar, tahukah dalam sekolah kebangsaan, ada cikgu Melayu yang diskriminasi terhadap orang bukan Melayu. Lagi, ada oleh kerana dasar NEP ada ramai cikgu cikgu yang tidak cekap mengajar Bahasa Inggeris, Mathematics dan Sains. Kami yang ada pengaruhan yang bagitu nipis boleh mengubah keadaan itu kah? Itu alasan kami tidak hantar anak anak kami ke sekolah kebangsaan. Encik Umar. Walaupun mungkin ada overt discrimination (harap tidak luas) tapi itu bukan dari orang bukan Melayu sahaja. Tanpa NEP dan lain lain, pun ada diskriminasi orang Melayu terhadap orang bukan Melayu. Itu malang kejadian seluruh dunia. itu boleh jadi sebab kenapa harus ada diskriminasi RASMI terhadap orang bukan Melayu kah? Supaya hampir tak ada peluang orang bukan Melayu menjadi kakitangan kerajaan dan lain lain.
Not convinced I think the best way out of this is to pass a Race Relations Act or an Equal Opportunity Act. It will make discrimination based on race, gender and sexuality illegal. A number of individuals and groups have mooted this intiative, the latest being Chinese education group Dong Zong. See http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/140751 But I guess Malaysia, for obvious reason, is not ready for it. So the blame game, from both sides, will continue.
SusahKes What you say has bearing in real-life situations in Malaysia. The sad truth is man's heart will always accomodate some form of discrimination - whether it's race, gender, disability. Some things are hard to legislate. Having said that, the creation of equal opportunities in areas mentioned above, is not above the government of the day. Eg, the gov'n can make it mandatory that jobs do not stipulate racial preference. I agree, it's not easy to put rules & determine a man's value system, but with some rules & enforcement, we can probably eliminate 50% of race based actions. Nevertheless, we must not disregard the main issue, & that is UMNO/BN USE race as a means to simply stay in power & get rich - not cos they care for the Malay race per se. Consider that the income gap in this country is widest among the Malays. That itself tells you of the failure of UMNO. If there are those who practice sublime racism, then UMNO ought to have taken the bull by the horn, instead of perpetuating it.
NuckinFuts Our education system and sekolah kebangsaan system have gone to the dogs. Malaysian education policies are not founded and backed by statistics. Education policies change at the Menteri's whim. Changes are put in place but they were not announced or debated in cabinet but during Perhimpunan UMNO. With the education ministry making flip flop decisions year in year out that are like Russion roulette with our children's future, do not blame parents for finding other better places to educate their children. When you know that your drinking water is contaminated and stale would you keep forcing it on your children and family?
Equal A very shallow attempt to cover up a stink with a piece of tissue paper.
Blogsmith Encik Umar, Saya Bangsa Malaysia walaupun kerajaan kami anggap saya orang Cina. Apakah logik ini, tak fasir cakap Bahasa Malaysia atau Bahasa Melayu bermakna tak setia atau racist? Hantar anak ke sekolah Vernacular dan bukan sekolah kebangsaan bermakna tak setia atau racist? Sejak tahun 70 puluhan yang lepas, kami pun sedar bahawa negara Cina akan menjadi negara penting dan dengan penduduk penduduk yang bagitu ramai akan menjadi pasaran yang bagitu besar. Itu sebab kami hantar anak anak kami ke vernacular school oleh dengan pengenalan bahasa Mandarin mereka akan ada peluang kerja yang lebih luas. Itu bukan racist. Lagi, lama dahulu, saya hantar anak saya ke sekolah nasional. Apa berlaku. Di sana, cikgu dia sebulum mula kelas akan berdoa secara Islam. Orang beragama Islam memang takut anaknya dipengaruhi oleh agama lain dan akan bantah kalu Cikgu Kristian bermula kelas dengan berdoa secara Kristian. Sama juga kami yang beragama lain. Itu racist kah?
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