ZAINUL ARIFIN: Enrol in SK Race Relations

By: Zainul Ariffin

THE proposed Race Relations Act, one would assume, is an attempt to get us to watch what we say or do, and not to get fellow Malaysians of different races all riled up.

An act suggests regulatory and prosecutorial functions, with elements of penalty or punishment to curb our excesses, or when we get all hot and bothered, talking about race.

We are a country of different races and, even in the best of circumstances, are bound to have tensions. Most of the times, we have learned to manage them well. This time, it seems, we are different.

The intention of legislating such an act is obviously good; no one in his right mind would not want better race relations. But isn't policing race relations as tricky as trying to instil fashion sense? Can we make racism a crime? Can we jail someone for making racist statements?

We need something more than an act of Parliament. We need a set of policies aimed at making us understand and appreciate each other more. The fact that we love each other's food and have been living with each other for decades offer us a great start.

Now consider the phenomena of people of a certain age who have the tendency to bore young people with stories of how great their childhoods were, and how they had friends for life of different races. It is true, of course. I can attest to it, though I am resisting the urge to name all the non-Malay friends I had in school, lest I bore others, too.

These people also tend to write letters to newspapers and tell everyone the same stories, over and over again. Why? Perhaps they are trying to tell our politicians and policymakers the solution to our race relations issues is staring at us all.

It was the schools then, and it should be the schools to put us back on track.

It was the schools then that taught us comradeship and fed us the formula for good race relations.

I would surmise that the various schools available to our children these days are inadvertently taking us further apart. Our education policy is failing us in the national unity and race relations departments.

We now have national schools, Chinese and Tamil schools, religious schools, private schools, international schools, and for some people, home schooling. For most of the school types, enrolments are predominantly race-based.

It cannot be denied that Chinese, Tamil and religious schools are not helping the national unity agenda. Similarly, the creeping Malay-ness in national schools is also working against the cause.

Now I believe if we, and that includes our politicians and policymakers, are really serious about the unity and race relations thing -- we must be, since we now want to legislate against racism -- we have to look at ways to make our national schools better, a school for all.

What do national schools need to serve everyone? Make really serious attempt at pupils' own languages? Recruit more non-Malay teachers and administrators? More emphasis on English, perhaps? Swimming pools to make them more desirable?

Like the shoe company says, just do it. No hee-hawing this way and that way, nor testing the political climate.

How can any of our children develop a meaningful understanding of the other races when they have not shared food with each other during recess? How would they know about camaraderie beyond the colours of their skins if they have never played on the same team, or fought alongside each other against "enemies" from another school?

Politics, invariably, gets the better of us. It is convenient to blame politicians for all our problems, and although they could be responsible for many of them, we are nevertheless as guilty.

Our nation is in danger of the various races making individual demands and pursuing their own agendas. We keep on driving the wedge between us with endless posturing on issues of race, language and culture, not stopping to think what kind of country our kids will inherit when we are dead and buried.

And yet, at the end of the day, we moan about national unity and race relations. At the rate we are going, it is unlikely we can improve the situation, no matter how many laws we enact.

We should ask ourselves, in our own small ways, what have we done to improve race relations? What would we be willing to give up so that our children, like their elders before them, get to know each other better?

Now the proposed Race Relations Act may stop the declaration of racist ideals, but it would not help race relations.

It is only through interactions that we can understand each other. The answer is, I believe, in a new and improved national school system.

Source: New Straits Times