Icerd not the only solution to race relations issue

 I imagine a good number of people are disappointed about the fate of plans to accede to the Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination). I can definitely empathise and understand.

Obviously, though, it’s not as if the quest for greater national unity has been dealt any kind of death blow. The fight goes on, and maybe this whole saga has offered us helpful insights and lessons.

Perhaps now is a good time to revisit race relations in Malaysia in a larger perspective.

Our situation here is a little unique.

In Western countries that we’re a little more familiar with, it’s traditionally a little more straightforward, with few disputing that white majorities hold most of the power (unless, of course, you believe in all the Jewish conspiracy theories and so on), and the minorities are the ones demanding their rights.

In some countries like South Africa, we had the minorities also clearly in power, and the majority demanding their rights.

In Malaysia, we have this odd situation where the two largest ethnic groups (where one is a clear demographic majority) is constantly accusing the other of holding all the power.

I imagine it’d be a little confusing to an outside observer.

How we see one another

The main reason I have never been personally particularly enthusiastic about the Icerd is that to me, it never seemed to offer much in terms of actually addressing the core problem of race relations in Malaysia.

Yes, it could have started more public or international discourse about policies that discriminate based on race.

In my humble view though, those problems are symptoms, not the cause, of racial problems in Malaysia.

The core problem is how the different races in Malaysia see one another.

For decades we were taught by BN that it is in our own interests to see one another as separate, competing entities, when in fact this was only in their interests - a scam that perpetuated their own political dominance.

Trying to impose top-down laws or guidelines, especially foreign ones, seems to be attacking the problem from the wrong end.

I believe that if you focus on nurturing more positivity in the way the different races view each other, the other problems will take care of themselves from the ground up.

Segregated canteens a bigger problem

In this regard, it seems ‘misguided’ that all our attention is focused on Icerd, Dec 8, and so on, while the real battles are being fought much more quietly.

A recent development that jumped out at me was reading about segregated school canteens in Malacca.

My family is from Malacca, and it pains me deeply that the home to arguably the biggest melting pot in the entire country would witness this unconscionable attempts to divide Malaysians even more.

Honestly, I would rather ban segregated canteens than sign a hundred Icerds. I would rather ban segregated canteens than make a hundred amendments to the Federal Constitution.

I don’t think the education minister is disingenuous in his interest in swimming lessons at hotels or different coloured shoes, but honestly, what could be more important to a truly New Malaysia than ensuring our children do not grow up even more segregated than they already are?

Most important fights often hardest to notice

So, we didn’t sign the Icerd. Yes, some would argue that the Icerd would have given us an international platform to discuss things like canteen segregation.

Is that the platform we really need though?

Is accession to the Icerd the one thing that has been holding Malaysia back from undoing the things that are truly ripping our social fabric apart?

I think not.

I believe the government already has all the power it needs to make the changes that actually matter.

I believe that it is our duty as well, to speak up in our local parent-teacher organisations, to find allies across races to reverse this trend of worsening segregation at so many levels of Malaysian society.

Sometimes it’s easier to fight for a discrete, tangible and shiny goal - simple to identify and rally around and attractive as a gateway to the rest of the world that we sometimes relate better to.

That doesn’t make it the most important thing to fight for.

Sometimes the most important things are more nebulous, popping up inconsistently in our day to day, week to week lives.

It’s harder to rally around to fight those, harder to build momentum and hype things up; but sometimes, it’s the hardest things that make the biggest differences.

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NATHANIEL TAN is looking forward to next week. - Mkini