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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Racial discrimination is prevalent in Malaysia, report shows



It appears that instances involving racial discrimination in the country have continued to remain prevalent, at least according to a report by NGO Pusat Komas.
Despite the introduction of the 1Malaysia concept and the formation of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) to promote national unity, racism has instead been increasingly used to divide and rule, Pusat Komas noted in its 2016 Malaysia Racial Discrimination Report.
“Incidents of racial discrimination, racism and strained ethnic relations have increasingly surfaced over the years. This, despite the prime minister’s assurances that the country promotes moderation,” Pusat Komas programme coordinator Ryan Chua said during the launch of the report in Petaling Jaya last night.
The government, Chua noted, seemed to have reneged on some of its promises to promote national unity and social cohesion, especially since the unfolding of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
The emergence of the Internet and social media platforms, on the other hand, have certainly provided more platforms for the expression of hate speech and racial sentiments, he added.
“At the same time, many are also critical of the Malaysian authorities for their lack of enforcement on overt as well as public declarations of racist sentiments, especially made by racial supremacist groups,” Pusat Komas states in its report.
Chua also listed some of the trends of racial discrimination, including instances in the education sector, occurrences of racialising criminality, hate speeches and racial statements made by political groups as well as racial discrimination made in the name of religion.
For 2016, racial discrimination was particularly prominent during election periods, with Chua pointing out that racial politics was used to garner votes in the Sarawak state election, among others.
“Political leaders who often claimed to be opponents of racial politics have also used the racial card to trump their political adversaries,” Chua said when presenting the report.
Meanwhile, G25 spokesperson Noor Farida Ariffin (photo), who was one of the panellists at a forum that accompanied the lauch of the report last night, noted that racism seemed to be “systemic”, citing government institutions which she claimed were covertly in support of racism.
“For example, Biro Tatanegara (the National Civics Bureau) is supposed to promote national unity but it’s the opposite – it’s been used to promote Malay supremacy.
Government institutions aside, the former ambassador is of the belief that the country’s main political parties are also guilty of promoting racism.
“They say things like ‘Malays will be a minority in their own country’ but no one has stopped to think that Malays dominate the government, armed services, civil service and also dominate every sphere of public space,” Noor Farida pointed out.
Supports one-school system
On another matter, while admitting that this was not a popular stand, she expressed her support on the need for a one-school system.
“I don’t think we should encourage vernacular schools. Students have to go to school together,” she stressed.
Noor Farida lamented the current predicament of national schools being seen as “Malay or religious schools”, which had led non-Malay parents to refrain from sending their children to national schools.
On the other hand, some Malay parents were sending their children to vernacular schools with the belief that their children would obtain better education, she said.
Another panellist, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim, noted how, despite the belief that the country’s ethnic minorities were discriminated, the Malays, were similarly being discriminated, citing laws concerning khalwat (close proximity), among others.
“The non-Malays are not the only victims. Bad policies are the culprits.”
Citing the country’s multi-racial composition, Zaid said a particular discriminatory policy for a certain race should not be discounted by the other races.
“We live in a community and we see the impact of those policies on everybody.
“To reduce or eliminate racism is for everybody to take notice and I sense that reluctance,” he noted.
Zaid’s biggest fear, he admitted, was that the Malays were given a false sense of privilege, religiosity as well as ownership of the country and would thus not be able to see this for themselves.- Mkini

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