On Saturday, I had an opportunity to share my humble thoughts on protest trends and political change in Malaysia in a forum jointly organised by the Penang Institute and Gerakbudaya Penang.
Sharing the stage with me was Steven Sim, the Bukit Mertajam MP.
The forum was held at the right time as we just had our fourth Bersih rally the week before.
The attendance was overwhelming and overall, it was a wonderful yet thought-provoking session.
One key thing that keeps popping up during the two-hour forum was the racial issue.
As extensively debated, it was argued that unlike previous rallies, which witnessed a large Malay presence, the Chinese has dominated Bersih 4.
This issue was raised repeatedly by the ruling government to further undermine the capability of the Bersih movement.
Several groups or individuals insist that this so-called racial imbalance is a major problem.
With regards to all the recent public discourse on race, as I have shared in my previous column, I view Bersih 4 as beyond racial composition.
I admit I struggled to firm up my stand on this particular issue. So what I did last Saturday was to avoid mentioning anything about race during my sharing session.
But clearly, I failed as the very first question that was posed to me was on ethnic cleavage.
It is a fact that we are living in a heterogeneous society. The question is, does it matter?
Well, if I were to look at the issue from an academic point, yes, it does matter.
But if I were to look at the issue from the perspective of just being a Malaysian, it doesn’t matter.
In the time where our political climate is so vulnerable, what we should focus at here is not about ethnic identification.
We should instead emphasise the awareness of shared experiences, and our struggles against the deteriorating political system in the country.
It is only through dismantling the narrow politics of racial identity, and by going beyond racial gridlock that only may we construct new values and visions for the betterment of our country. – September 7, 2015.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
Comments
Please refrain from nicknames or comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature, or you may risk being blocked from commenting in our website. We encourage commenters to use their real names as their username. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments