Boogeymen of Malaysia

We celebrate the 52nd anniversary of Malaysia this week.

For such a young nation, I believe we have come a long way in some respects.

But in others, I believe we have slid so far back, if our founding fathers were alive today, they’d probably apply to migrate elsewhere.

As we progress and embrace modernity, our roads and public transportation have made us geographically closer to one another.

Yet racially, religiously or politically, we have never been further from each other. The bridging of the digital divide gives us more communication channels and quick information.

Yet our understanding of our neighbours have never been shallower. Could we, in our hurry to make ourselves known to other nations, forget to remember each other in the process?

In the case of certain politicians, could their own desire to survive as a party, neglect to take into consideration, our collective survival as a nation?

We have so many things in common. And of course, a few things that sets us apart. But we should not dwell on the latter and focus on the common goals we have – something that many people simply refuse to.

Things like children’s rights. How many more kids need to fall off escalators or get stuck in cars before we realise this is a real problem?

How many more 12- and 13-year-olds are we going to read about in the paper getting abused?

How many 14-year-olds are we going to see get raped and 15-year-olds getting married, sometimes to their rapists? How many people are we going to let off the hook for all this because they have “bright futures”?

When will we stop putting a racial or religious spin on issues that affect us all? Corruption has no race.

A corrupt person is hated not because of his or her ethnicity or religion. If anything, that person should be shunned by his or her community because of his or her actions, not defended despite it, simply because of race.

Likewise, abuse of power, unethical business practise, political stupidity and economic problems do not belong to, neither is it caused by, any one particular race, but the effect is felt by all.

But no one cares about the truth anymore.

We have come to a point where the truth no longer matters. It has become an inconvenience because it stands in the way of how we perceive people. With so much hate.

How did we get here? Years and years of subtle racism, perceived unfair government policy and our own social conditioning.

What social conditioning?

However, we are led, often, sadly by our own community leaders, to believe in two things- first that we are an oppressed race in our own country.

Second, because of this, we are superior to the other races, because we are “survivors”.

Why?

So that we “stick together” and so that the “others” won’t be able to bully us. Amazingly, all of us bought this crazy idea that everyone was bullying everyone and getting bullied at the same time.

This is the same strategy used since the Portuguese landed here 600 years ago. It’s a simple strategy, one that works – as long as someone else is running the show.

It gets a little tricky once you’re the ones running it because now you have to convince your own people you’re in charge, while trying to convince the other communities you’re not trying to encroach into theirs.

So many of us compartmentalised people according to race and religion and gave them general attributes.

Some of our grievances were real, some exaggerated, others completely made up, but more importantly, we now have someone to blame on why we didn’t make it in life, or why our kids failed school, or why the nasi lemak auntie always gave you less sambal.

We made ourselves each other’s boogeyman.

Of course, this was mostly done in the closed doors of private homes,party meetings, churches, temples, mosques. In front of everyone else, we were a united, strong, country.

So while we were building grand towers and 50 new highways, our “real” foundation as a country- our trust, respect and love for one another, was corroding.

But who is at fault?

The opposition will cry government.

The government will cry opposition.

Maybe. Probably. But we played a massive role in playing along. Perhaps we even made it worse.

But how do you undo fifty two years of this? How do we get better? Change the government?

Perhaps we should start with the simple things. We may not be able to affect major policies, but we can take some steps.

Hate less. Love more. Regardless of what we’ve been told about the other races. If you don’t already, include some friends from other communities into your daily activities.

Not to fill out the “multi racial” quota, but sincerely. It’s harder to hate someone you know than don’t. Maybe we should all be a little less sensitive about our own race and religion and a little more sensitive to our fellow Malaysians.

And the harmonious Malaysia that once was will no longer be a nostalgic memory of the past, but a guaranteed future for our kids. Let’s be truly Malaysia once more. – September 16, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.