THANK YOU, RPK

RPK, I hope you believe that I do not want to be a racist, a radical nor an extremist as what you labeled me.

Michael Chua

Dear RPK,

Looks like my letter has generated some interest from your readers. I don’t remember seeing so many readers taking part to debate an article before. 

At first I was quite worried that the debates will get out of hand and some maniac will run amok due to it. Now that it’s over, I am relieved that nothing untoward happened. Although some personal attacks were thrown around, which I am guilty of myself, I feel that overall, the debate was fruitful and mind opening. We now have some inkling of the Malay’s and Chinese’s inner mind, and what they think about each other rather than from listening to what politicians tell us.

Generally, I find that there is not much bad blood between the races that will result in civil strife unless we are manipulated or instigated by politicians. Some are just misunderstandings which I think could be due to living segregated lives. Most of us are rational and level headed even after some provocations. Below are some of my observations.

Firstly, I found that a number of participants have a lot of misconceptions about other races. Whenever someone of another race says something which they do not agree, they will take it negatively and turn it into a racial issue. They seem to have this belief that they are being targeted due to their race rather than as an individual. They will start being defensive and resort to personal attacks and accuse their opponent of being racist. This is a good sign though, it means they understand that being racist is not a virtue.

Secondly, many Malay participants seem to think that all Chinese are rich. Some even seem to believe that there is a secret short cut to success in business which the Chinese are keeping away from them. Others seem to be angry that the Chinese employers refuse to employ them because they can’t speak their language which I find childish. If they can learn English, I can’t understand why they can’t learn Chinese as well.

Thirdly, the non-Malays seem to be frustrated that there is no end in sight to the decades old affirmative policies which are blunting Malaysia’s competitiveness. They are more receptive to affirmative policies which are need-based rather than race-based.

Actually there are more issues but I dare not bring them up for fear that you might hang me out to dry again. Once bitten twice shy.

RPK, please follow this up by writing some articles to pacify your readers concerning the issues that I mentioned above. Like the Chinese say, strike while the iron is hot.

Thank you again for publishing my letter on your blog and giving your readers an opportunity to debate on this sensitive issue. My opinion is that this kind of debates is necessary for the people of different races to air their grouses and let off steam, eventually to better understand each others’ predicaments.

To all readers of Malaysia Today, let’s SAY NO TO RACISM. Our country will be a better place if we treat each other as fellow Malaysians rather than Malay, Chinese, India DLL and wasting our time being suspicious of each other all the time. Do not forget that we are in the same team. Remember, our opponents are the foreigners, not among ourselves, otherwise we will end up scoring own goals.

RPK, I hope you believe that I do not want to be a racist, a radical nor an extremist as what you labeled me. I hope Malaysians can prove you wrong about your prediction of May 13 version II. If it does happen, I believe it is more likely to be between the haves and have nots, not between races.

Ayuh Malaysians, let’s for once prove that RPK IS WRONG. Then we can tell RPK, WE TOLD YOU SO instead of having to listen to his I TOLD YOU SO all the time, muaklah.