Sign of maturing racism – Ravinder Singh

Low Yat is a manifestation of the racial card game going awry. Some are denying vehemently it had anything to do with racism.

Some say it is just a simple matter involving a few, that it was a straightforward theft case. The real issue is what followed the theft. How did such a mob gather?

The racist speech that someone made: what was the intent? What did the mob do? If not stopped in time, what more would have happened? Who remote-controlled the mob?

Burying the head in the sand in the face of happenings that are unpleasant or wrong to right-thinking people has become SOP of those in authority. It is as if denial of a fact by someone in authority is conclusive proof of the non-existence of the fact. What a sad state of affairs.

Racism in a multiracial society when not recognised as such and nipped in the bud, or deliberately allowed to grow and mature, becomes the bane of that society. It started creeping slowly but surely into our one-time truly 1Malaya, then 1Malaysia society of yore, i.e. of the 1950s and 1960s. Instead of nipping it in the bud, it was allowed to grow, fester and even nurtured into becoming endemic.

The Low Yat incident is a sign of maturing racism in this country. The small number of bigots who had been speaking and acting out racism were not only not acted against, but were tacitly encouraged on by defending their actions with reasons such as “they are doing it in defence of their religion, and that is not an offence”.

Even threats of physical harm to those of another ethnicity and religion were dismissed with excuses that mere threats are not an offence until they are actually carried out. Mobs demanding that religious symbols be removed from certain prayer houses and schools were excused in the name of feigned “sensitivities”.

Giving in to bigots became order of the day. How some went berserk over the wombat advertisement claiming it to be a pig and got the city mayor to give in to their demand to remove it! I can’t believe there are Malaysians who don’t know what a pig looks like. 

Then what about the drawing of the kris and threatening to bathe it in the blood of so and so? Of the actions of some school heads showing a dislike for the minority pupils in their schools, calling them names and wanting them to hide in toilets to have their food and drink during Ramadan?

What message does the slogan “untuk bangsa dan agama” send to the bigots? Even sermons have not spoken well of those of different beliefs.

It is playing with fire to close an eye to anyone saying and doing things that smack of dislike or even hatred of the targets of their words and deeds. This has been going on openly and with impunity. That impunity was taken by some as sanction and protection from facing the law. It served to embolden the preachers and doers of hate. 

It is not as if there is no law that could deal with racism. The Penal Code has a whole chapter on offences relating to religion. But the authorities refused to apply this law, instead saying that the deeds and acts did not fall under the Sedition Act.

Why divert attention from the Penal Code to the Sedition Act? Why try to placate people by blaming the law when that law is not applicable in the first place? It is not as if our law enforcement personnel are not competent.    

What consequences can be expected when the few troublemakers are made to feel their racist acts are supported by the very authorities that have the power to act against them? The words of the retired judge that the “dendam kesumat” of the Malays who have been offended knows no bounds were a powerful excuse made out for the bigots to show their anger.

He made it look like “dendam kesumat” is something inborn and you just can’t do anything about it when it is exhibited, and anything done under cover of “dendam kesumat” will not be an offence.  

Racism in a multiracial society is like cancer which if not acted against in its early stages, will be difficult or impossible to reverse when it has reached stage 3, 4 or 5. Racism should, therefore, never be used for political purposes.

It mutates the minds of some people who then become the destructive forces in society, just like mutated cells in a body. People of different colours and beliefs in a society are akin to the different types of cells in a human body that work together to keep the body fit. When one cell mutates and becomes cancerous, it starts killing others and if not checked in time, it kills them all.    

The Low Yat incident is writing on the wall that the cancer of racism in our society is real and beginning to rear its ugly head. No amount of denials will change this reality.

If there is sincerity in rebuilding the bridges of peaceful multiracial co-existence, then it is not enough to arrest some of those involved in the Low Yat incident and punish them with a fine or even imprisonment. This would have no meaning if the deeper disease is left to fester. A lot more needs to be done.

For a start, could we start hearing words of peace and love in the sermons – words that tell people to love thy neighbour as thyself, immaterial of the neighbours’ colour or beliefs.

Could we stop calling people “kafirs”, “infidels”?

Could we stop the dramas about “sensitivities”?

Could we stop giving excuses that words and actions “in defence of one’s religion” are legitimate and should not be questioned?

Could we stop preachers and academics spewing words of hatred?

Could we stop being paranoid that the sight of others’ religious symbols will make us lose our faith?

Could we allow non-Muslim children to use school canteens for their meals during Ramadan?

Could we stop demanding “respect” for Muslims by not eating in their presence during Ramadan?

The list can go on.

* Ravinder Singh reads The Malaysian Insider.