Remember the Titans?

The fragile state of racial unity in our country comes to mind as I watch the movie ‘Remember the Titans’ – a movie about how a white and black high school football overcame the racial tensions of the time to become state champions.

Yes, it is true that we are in a much better state in terms of race relations than 1970s Virginia. Yes, we have not heard of any food outlets in our country that refuse to serve a customer of a different race, like in the movie. But this is the frightening part: we seem to be moving in that direction.

As I watch these feel good documentaries on TV as we celebrate 60 years of independence and 54 years since the formation of Malaysia, in juxtaposition to the reality on the ground, I can't help having a foreboding sense of gloom.

We have cups in a primary school water dispenser segregated based on religion. We have a supermarket that designates halal and non-halal trolleys. We have now a hotel that refuses to refrigerate the milk of a mother for fear it is not halal. We have rakyat denied government services because their attire is deemed unsuitable.

To me, all these are symptoms of a society being segregated. Yes, I will be the first to admit these actions are not institutionalised; yet it is the government of the day that is the driving force behind the Islamisation of our country. It will not be a great leap of imagination to have a zealot or extremist declare non-Muslims persona non grata in an establishment.

The policies in force since the 1970s also play a great part in the segregation of our country. Bumiputeras and non-bumiputeras became not only a matter of policy implementation, but also a source of the current state of racial unity in our country.

So while we may not yet have a business outlet refusing customers based on race, looking at the government's policy of the giving out Public Service Department scholarships, we're not too far away. Look at the discount given to bumiputeras for the purchase of new houses – it matters not if they are multi-millionaires. How can there not be sense of resentment and a feeling of them versus us?

Don't get me wrong, I was and still am a supporter of the New Economic Policy in the spirit it was formulated. But after 60 years, it is time to move towards a needs-based policy. As long as that policy is not corrected in its method of implementation, we will continue to have this segregation by default.

I know the state of our nation's unity may not be a very valid comparison with events in ‘Remember the Titans’ – after all it was just about an American high school football team. Yet, it shows that if there is strong leadership and a common destiny to bind us, cohesion can be achieved.

This again is the curse faced by the rakyat at the moment. We have a national leadership that is using race and religion to divide and rule the rakyat, to cling on to political power.

In the show, Bill Yoast, the white assistant coach rose above self-interest and the promise of personal gain, to do what is right and honourable – to the extent of directly confronting the match referee for being biased.

In our country, at this critical point in our nation's history, we have bumiputeras like Rafizi Ramli, Mariam Mohktar and Fa Abdul willing to stand up for what is right and just. But are there enough rakyat in the rural hinterlands to see the need for change?

In ‘Remember the Titans’, because of Yoast's sacrifice and the right strategy used, the Titans grab victory from the jaws of defeat to become state champions. The right strategy, to me, is the critical issue come GE14.

PKR is coming apart at the seams because of Azmin Ali's continued courting of PAS – apparently with the blessings of Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (and I suppose by default, Anwar Ibrahim). Just when Pakatan Harapan has put up a semblance of coming together as a cohesive coalition against the Umnoputras, we have PAS driving a wedge even before GE14 is called.

Azmin may have his political survival to contend with, but the greater good should outweigh the need of the one. There are none so blind as those who will not see. It is obvious PAS is in cahoots with Umno to play spoiler come GE14. The sooner Harapan deals with this, and draws up strategies to counter this, the better. -Mkini