Why race matters – Wenger Khairy

If there is one issue that is sure to get people worked up, it’s the issue of race.

In Malaysia, as race and religion separates quite nicely, with Malays being Muslims and non-Malays being non-Muslims, it is sometimes difficult to characterise an issue as being either a racial or religious issue. Mathematically, we would say that race is highly correlated with religion. We could also make a stronger mathematical statement, that race causes religion as under the Malaysian constitution, all Malays are by definition Muslims, and non-Malays could chose to profess any faith they want. Technically, to test the latter hypothesis, we could use tools like Granger's test of causality.

But aside from the mathematics, people outside Malaysia may be at a loss to explain why so much time and effort is spent on focussing on the racial and religious issues. For example, we have an issue of a Hindu temple / shrine that was demolished in downtown KL and the issue of students being racially segregated when sitting for the matriculation examination. We also have another issue of a Malay billionaire being the subject of much negative press write up, which quite reasonably provoked a reaction from Malay Muslim bloggers who felt that this had its roots in racial profiling.  To add to this issue, we also right now have the question of whether Malaysia should boycott CHOGM , following the actions of several other countries, who are protesting the Sinhalese - Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka.

In fact, we can state unequivocally that racial (and thus by definition religious) issues will continue to grab the headlines. This statement should not be looked at lightly because there are many other issues which deserve public attention, the murder of a tourist off the seas of Sabah being a prime example as it touches on the issue of national sovereignty and Malaysia's capacity to protect its own borders.

The question still remains - why?

One answer is that Malaysians are a highly pious lot, who are so stooped in religious fervour that issues concerning faith suddenly makes everybody wake up and listen. The argument behind this is that since race is highly correlated with religion, the fundamental issue is not racial, but rather a religious issue.

Our conclusion would differ.

In fact, by any measure of any of the tenets preached by any of the major faiths in the world, Malaysians by and large would fall way short of those. From practising basic safety for oneself and others by driving properly to treating the poor, the weak and the defenceless with dignity and respect -- all these values are ignored on a national level. In fact, given a choice most Malaysians would put money above many things, but surprisingly the same do not profess belief in the pursuit of money and wealth as their primary religion.

If it is not religion, then maybe its race.

Race perhaps has a much stronger traction than religion. Race is a strange kind of animal. We cannot choose our race - it is in fact chosen for us. So after race has been chosen for us, we then spend the rest of our lives trying to fit this racial mould. It seems that race is the defining characteristic that separates Malaysians neatly into Malays, Chinese, Indians.

But the above statement is perhaps misleading. Malaysia includes other races such as the Iban, Melanau, Kadazan, Bidayuh and the orang Asli - the Senoi and the like. We rarely hear of their issues with each other, maybe its because our East Malaysian cousins live in a sparsely populated country and do not have to face each other, or perhaps maybe because they were born into a laid back culture that doesn't give a shite if your black, blue, green or yellow.

However in West Malaysia you would be foolish to take racial differences lightly. In fact, we ourselves put on a thinking helmet when dealing with other races in Malaysia, so that we do not offend the other party because we look different or have different sounding names. Inter-racial interaction must be a carefully managed affair akin to to when warring tribes of nations try to negotiate a peace settlement in the UN. In fact the quicker this episode of interaction ends, the better it is for everybody. Talk too much and you are bound to offend or be offended by the other party.

This is because racial stereotyping and racial identity is enforced since childhood and the current population is highly polarized that there exists almost no common identity among the major races. To paraphrase, it is like chicken and duck talking to one another.

Now, please do not get us wrong.

We are not advocating a utopian Kum-ba-yah society where race does not matter. Neither are we even remotely suggesting that Malays, Chinese and Indians forget their cultural programming and interact with one another as citizens of the same country. At the same time, we are not proposing that the culture of racism which is programmed into citizens be adopted. We believe that the decision on whether to stick to the programming or to reject it is a decision that should be made by each individual.

We would however add to those who chose to reject the programming should not suddenly think that all Malaysians are their brothers and sisters. Instead, we would strongly advise that those who reject the racial programming should immediately view with extreme suspicion each and every other person who holds a Malaysian identity card. Rejection of the racial programming does not mean that one should suddenly be accepting of everybody else.

On the contrary rejection of the racial programming should just mean three simple words – don’t trust anybody. That is something we 100% advocate to each and every one who professes to be a citizen of this country. - rembautimes.blogspot.com,