YOURSAY | Hard to wean oneself off institutionalised racism

 

YOURSAY | ‘We are not merely heading towards misfortune but are actually in the midst of it...’

For change to happen, Malays must break silence on racist system

Echo: Excellent insights into the issue of institutionalised racism and how such an insider culture thrives while protecting and promoting the interests of select groups of self-serving nationalists.

We are not merely heading towards misfortune but are actually in the midst of it and have been for some decades now.

Just have a close look at certain indicators of development or lack of development including in the civil service, GLCs (government-linked companies), political parties and their leadership personalities, public education from primary up to tertiary levels, the distribution of income, especially undeserved incomes and unearned wealth, and one will get a staggering sense of despondency.

And imagine the prevalence of an irrational psychological sense of superiority and inferiority bred wittingly and through propaganda and other instruments of persuasion and terror and the despondency ends in a moan ‘cry my beloved country’.

Oriole: When it is an institutionalised nurturing of racism, you need to address the institutions and the racists who maintain these. How do you do that?

Young people are nurtured in these institutions among racist "nurturers" who sow seeds of paranoia, distrust and twisted histories. So how do you address that?

Racism is nurtured at home and in the various educational and religious institutions by powerful elites. How do you address that?

It is difficult when you are battling hate and ignorance and greed for power.

Jagara: Now there arises author and think-tank founder Chandran Nair to save Malaysia from institutionalised racialism. I pray that he succeeds and will happily donate to his cause.

Institutionalised racialism is the scourge and bane of Malaysia. The elite Malays, aided and enabled by their equally corrupt non-Malay cronies, have taken the Malays - a gentle and kind race - for a ride. The time for waking up is long overdue.

JusticeNow!: Chandran is talking about "the long run", I think it is already too late. The young and middle-class Malays are already indoctrinated. This is clearly seen in social media comments.

The institutionalised racism needs a reset from the top rather than from the bottom. It’s hard to imagine the masses of Malays rising up against themselves.

What we need is a Malay champion who cared not only for Malay but also Malaysia to put policies that will begin to change or disempower these institutions. One who can articulate the 'doomed' direction that Malaysia is heading and reverse it or set it on a corrective and progressive tangent.

They are around but they have been severely suppressed. As it is, there is not much hope of any change.

Hang Babeuf: "For change to happen, Malays must break silence on the racist system," said Chandran. "The government, being an instrument of institutionalised racism, is responsible for splitting Malaysia apart.

“The sad truth of this entrenched racism is that someone like me cannot change things, as I am non-Malay. I can speak about it, I can organise MARI (Malaysian Anti-Racism Institute), and hopefully contribute some constructive ideas. But the people who can make a change are the Malays."

All true. All well known, and for so long... The question is:

How is this change - how is this fundamental transformation of the private consciousness and public attitudes of the majority - to be brought about, enabled, achieved?

That is the big question. If MARI can work that out, there is hope. Hope for everybody. For Malaysia. For all Malaysians.

And, perhaps first of all, for the Malays, all Malays - who may at last manage to liberate themselves from their intellectual and psychological fealty to a bastardised neo-feudalism.

Headhunter: Chandran hits the nail right on the head even though most of us who face the discrimination he mentioned are in familiar territory.

The majority of Malays just don't realise that racism by their own elites is depriving them of their fair share of the nation's wealth and opportunities to a better life. They are being used as cannon fodder by the elites so that they can continue to plunder in their name.

When are they going to wake up? I hope Chandran succeed in his endeavour to educate and change the mindset of Malaysians but it's a gargantuan task that has little chance of success if Malay leaders and the elites do not support him.

It’s unlikely and unrealistic to think they want to lose their privileges of being pampered from cradle to grave.

OrangePanther1466: Chandran, what can I say except that I share your views. However, I am unfortunately not so sanguine about the prospect of getting middle-class Malays to spearhead the abandonment of the current race-based policies as many of them have benefitted from it and they do not want to be labelled as "pengkhainat" (traitors).

This is a very difficult and sensitive subject to redress. Sixty-plus years of effective brainwashing would need decades and generations to even come to terms with the negative effects of such a policy.

May I make a humble suggestion that you seek out former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and have a heart-to-heart discussion with him. Get his perspective and see if it makes sense.

Cogito Ergo Sum: This is an in-depth look at the problem of institutionalised racism. Unfortunately, it comes from a ‘pendatang’ (immigrant) himself.

Good and fair as it is, no one is willing to let go of the current advantages and privileges which are seen as a right. You take away one iota of these privileges, you will have internal strife within Malaysia.

This initiative should have come long before 1MDB was allowed to germinate. Unfortunately, we had Mahathir, the architect of the elite class, in power for 22 years. He has set up an elaborate system of bolstering this elite class which has fail-safe measures for failures.

You can’t dismantle all of it, some visible, a lot more invisible. It’s a humongous exercise. - Mkini