Recent spate of events in Malaysia have raised alarm about the state of ethnic relations in Malaysia. News of race and religion has almost become a common thing today.
The dispute over the usage of the word Allah by Christians, followed by the attacks on religious places, irresponsible racist remarks by politicians and more recently the controversial debate over the setting up of an interfaith committee by the Government has led the public to ponder and ask, where is our country heading to?
Are we really at a crossroad in terms of ethnic relation? If so, what are the causes? To begin with, how well do we Malaysians, especially the younger generation understand our fellow Malaysians from other different ethnic backgrounds?
To dig deeper in understanding the complexity of Malaysia's ethnic relations from a historical point of view toward present time, Klik4Malaysia spent about an hour with renowned academician, social activist and 1Malaysia Foundation Chairman Professor Dr. Chandra Muzaffar to share his thoughts and views about the matter.
Ethnic Relations
The very first question we asked him was on Malaysia's ethnic relations which was said to have gotten worse over the years. To this, Dr Chandra offered a frank and balanced view of the issue. He admitted that in some areas things have gotten worse, but some other areas have become better.
One of the more significant aspect that he pointed out was there were less segregation and more interaction among the various ethnic groups in the 1960s compared to today. Dr Chandra also spoke about the present civil service workforce and lamented how it used to be more multi ethnic in the 1970s compared to today.
Nevertheless, on the other hand, Dr .Chandra said that there are a lot of improvements in other areas. Some of the cases in point were on the state of the Malaysian middle class today. According to him, unlike in the 1960s where a vast majority of the middle class were dominated by the Chinese, today's middle class is positively much more multi ethnic.
Secondly, he highlighted the fact that those who were classified as the "absolute poor" in the 1960s were mostly Malays, with most of them - 49% - lived under the poverty line. Today, he said, even though there are Malays, Indians, Chinese and the bumiputras in Sabah and Sarawak who are still poor, the total percentage is very much smaller.
Lack of Understanding?
Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak has recently called on Malaysians to "accept one another" and said that "the time for tolerance is over". Noble words indeed. Then again, before we can start accepting one another, the most pertinent aspect is to understand one another first. We Malaysians used to pride ourselves as a multi ethnic and multi religious nation, but ask ourselves; how well do we really understand each other? Dr Chandra agreed that there is a certain degree of ignorance and lack of understanding.
"I think there is a ‘live and let live attitude'. In terms of understanding each other, having empathy is even more important than understanding. We are nowhere near what I would regard as a desired level, really understand, knowing how other communities feel" said Dr Chandra, adding that the lack of empathy is still a major problem among different communities in Malaysia.
Elaborating further, Dr. Chandra explained that, at the heart of the problem, many non-Malays do not understand how Malays feel about certain issues such as its historical background and social identity which are so important to the Malay society; of which he referred to the Malay Sultans, the Malay language and Islam which are part of the history and "very much part of their collective memory".
And likewise, on the Malay side, he argued;
"Many Malays do not understand how the young non-Malays who have been born and bred here for generations and how they feel about their land... About how they empathised with things surrounding them and wanted to be treated as equal and part of the land. A lot of Malays don't understand that.
"We need to take care of both sentiments" he said.
So how do we address the problem? Dr Chandra regards the lack of understanding between the Malays and the non-Malays on the "very fundamental to both community" as the root cause of the problem. He believed that education and awareness building of the Federal Constitution as the most important aspects in order to foster better understanding among various ethnic groups.
1Malaysia
1Malaysia today is very much a vague concept. It could mean different things to different people. Despite all the critics and controversy, the term 1Malaysia is self-explanatory, according to Dr. Chandra.
"It is a way of creating oneness and unity. It is a slogan which embodies the meaning itself... You are talking of one nation, one people to be brought together. But the important question is how you do it. That is the important question." said Dr. Chandra.
He added that 1Malaysia will strongly be guided by the Constitution, Rukunegara and Vision 2020. These are three main elements that will be the guiding light for Malaysia.
Dr. Chandra said that 1Malaysia cannot be divorced from these main elements, as it was these concepts that unites and brings the people together.
Stay tuned with Anas Zubedy in Part II...
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