YOURSAY | Govt can’t continue to be silent on racism

 

YOURSAY | ‘Over 60 years of pretending makes one look foolish'.

Coach wants action against pervasive racism in sports

Steven Ong: Football Coach B Sathianathan said that investigations and actions that “merely exist on paper” would not suffice if the allegations are true. '

The new Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim talks a lot, and most investigations exist only on paper or end with a denial. NFA (no further action) is official and unofficial with silence.

Here are three issues to prove the point. 1) What is the outcome of the investigation on the alleged troll farm operated by the police? 2) Where are the husband and daughter of Indira Gandhi? 3) What is the latest result of the investigation on missing social activist Amri Che Mat, Pastors Raymond Koh, Joshua Hilmi, and his Indonesian wife Ruth Sitepu?

The government cannot continue to pretend that all is well in this country. Over 60 years of pretending makes one look foolish. Furthermore, all believed that judgment day is near now.

‘How can a teacher so brazenly touch on racial and religious sensitivities?’ he said.

There is no need to pretend now that racism and bigotry do not exist in Malaysia. The whole world knows this. It’s an official policy that discrimination is approved and accepted as a special right if they were Muslims. To ignore or migrate away is to say that this country has no future for them and all.

Vijay47: Any call to rid this cursed land of the racism it is shackled with brings to mind the 12 Labours of Hercules, so entrenched in the soil is this blight. Then again, eradicating institutionalised racism is almost as futile as the Sisyphean task where poor King Sisyphus is forced to roll a boulder up a hill repeatedly for eternity.

Of course, in Malaysia, this sick attitude is spiced with religious extremism to lend so-called greater credibility to the sickness.

Racism afflicts every facet of Malaysian life, almost as if without it the country would crunch to a standstill. Take your pick, racism and its Siamese-twin extremism would be there alive, well, and kicking.

Perhaps, Sathianathan, you referred only to schools and not national-level sports so that a start could be made at the root of the evil.

Suddenly, team sports comprise essentially only Malays, with maybe a token non-Malay. Football and hockey, which could once be regarded as a foundation of nation-building, suffered a dearth of talented non-Malays, as though one morning they all woke up and found that they had lost both passion and skill.

Of course, in individual events, the light cannot be smothered under the bushel; to the fanatics, including that Cheras teacher, how infuriating it must have been to see Lee Chong Wei, Nashatar Singh, or Nicole David walk away with a trophy after trophy.

In a way, the Cheras shame following closely the equally shameful event in Johor, has brought this ugly truth to the surface. So, what will be done?

Right now, he is busy playing the immaculate role of universal statesperson in Palestine and Southern Thailand, but the nation awaits to see what, if anything, Anwar “Shakespeare” Ibrahim would do. Or will the evil live after him with nary any good to be even interred?

In the meantime, Mokhtar Dahari, R Arumugam, and Poon Fook Loke would be furiously flashing the red card.

Maya: The New Economic Policy itself is discrimination. Similarly, all else is extrapolated to follow. There is nothing further one can debate about discrimination.

Once that right is the way and cannot be questioned, then obviously many start thinking and feeling similarly. Why not, because most are born much after the NEP was in place. They have already been conditioned on this right and entitlement, and worst still exploited fully by the rich and connected.

Even a party voted in by the people is now side-lined, because it is for all purposes labelled as a one-race party, when it is not, and worst still when we have parties that only belong to one race.

Simply put this element of race as an important decider in any situation is here not only to stay but further conditioned to be that way. So do not blame the lower down people, because surely instructions come from very high up.

OMG: There is only one way to eliminate the official, systemic racism here. That is to amend the discrimination that favours the majority race, irrespective of their economic situation, for concrete programmes such as government jobs, scholarships, contracts and so on.

These must be changed into discrimination based on economic need, irrespective of ethnicity. This will immediately begin to level the imbalance now between bumiputras and non-bumiputeras.

Secondly, it will seriously upend the ability of rich and connected elites to continue greedily feeding at the trough. Because multiracial commissions will determine who is eligible for such government aid, based on economic need.

Thirdly, it will direct public support programmes efficiently to those, of all races, who need it most. Of course, the greatest beneficiaries will be the bumiputera poor.

Sshhh! Don't say anymore. We mustn't upset the gravy train.

Business First: Wow, racism in sports in Malaysia! Who would have imagined such a thing in Malaysia? Come on, Malaysia is rated one of the most racist countries in the world. We have race-based policies all over the place so why should sports and education be different?

Having said that I do think that the young lady who apologised should be given a second chance. Let's move on.

We all make mistakes when young. Who has not made off-colour jokes about race, sex, your classmate, your teacher, your friend's parents and siblings, your best friend, and so on?

Please do not let her be the scapegoat for the venting of our justified frustration on the state of race and religion and how politicians use it in Malaysia.

Cogito Ergo Sum: It’s been going on for years. Why do you think Malaysia has dropped so far down in sporting events like football, hockey, and badminton? Because the best was not picked.

It is an open secret. But I doubt our “Madani” administration will do anything about the matter. In fact, they may even enhance the practice to “green” the “green wave”!

It’s too late. We allowed it to now become an acceptable practice. You want to do well, leave and develop your talent elsewhere. So sad. - Mkini