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Recently, my daughter placed an advertisement at Mudah.my for her house to be let. She got a call from a Malay man and the first question he asked was: “Do you rent your house out to Malays?”
Despite knowing that such episodes are pretty common, she was pretty upset and sad as a Malaysian. This happens in many instances when owners try to rent out their houses, with some blatantly saying they do not want tenants of a certain race.
We are all guilty of such practices. Many also refrain from renting out to foreigners from African countries. Well, it’s their property so it’s their fundamental right you might say.
As for job ads, most are guilty of looking for “their kind”, meaning someone from their own racial group. In the private sector, some firms owned by Chinese Malaysians specify that they want only those who are proficient in Mandarin.
Their argument is that they deal mainly with Chinese firms or those owned by Chinese Malaysians. So proficiency in the Chinese language is vital for their communication. While they may have a point, wouldn’t this be overcome if a common language like Bahasa Malaysia or English is used more often?
Still struggling with Bahasa Malaysia?
After about 50 years of the Malaysian education system having been converted to the Bahasa Malaysia medium, are we still struggling to communicate in the national language? Something is not right then.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned in his last National Day speech that some firms in the republic are asking for only Chinese applicants saying this is because they are dealing with Chinese firms only. But he did say some may be doing this as a cover to ensure only workers from that race are employed.
Then came a recent job advertisement by the UiTM hospital for administrative posts asking for only Bumiputera applicants. Of course this went viral with the others asking if this is fair in Malaysian society.
The critics argue that the posts should be open to all, since this is a government-funded teaching hospital and thus uses taxpayers’ money from everyone for its operations. It’s the same with several other sectors in the government.
As for the Indian Malaysians, the number of major entities they own and operate is limited, so there is not much of an issue. But I have heard of certain accounting companies with Indian owners who employ staff mainly from their own community.
In search of the ideal life partner
One thing I find hard to fathom is the anger among the Malaysian Indian community against racist practices that affect them while openly preferring a fair person as a life partner, and one from the same or higher caste or clan.
They are willing to make a life-long effort to find that “ideal” partner. But these same people will be in the frontline condemning the Malaysian government for certain policies which they say smack of racism.
These examples are a microcosm of the serious problems that seem to affect Malaysia’s growth as a whole. We are so deeply entrenched in our differences, by practice or by legislation, that it appears to be impossible to extricate ourselves out of this system.
Some wonder if having schools in three language mediums has contributed to the current situation.
This is a highly contentious issue which can turn the most liberal Malaysian into a fanatic all of a sudden in a discussion. It is common for many Malaysians from all races to pretend to be liberal on the outside but be unbelievably narrow in their views when discussing matters in their own racial or religious groups.
On supremacy and race-baiting
It is so bad that even a recent incident where a dog owned by an Indian bit a Malay girl made Malaysians put on their racist blinkers, like they do when a house is burgled or when a fight takes place in public. Or when a drunk driver causes an accident on the road. The list goes on.
Then come our politicians, who push their agenda of racial and religious supremacy like it is their God given right. The race baiting by certain parties can really get to you sometimes.
There was a recent message that went viral and blamed Indians and Chinese for the situation for not standing up for their rights when many policies were not in their favour. Well, try getting into the shoes of the B40 group, or even M40 for that matter, and you will know that nothing matters more than putting food on the table for their families.
Obviously, going to the streets simply cannot be a solution.
One possible answer appears to be Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s push for Keluarga Malaysia or the Malaysian Family. But after Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia and Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bangsa Malaysia under Vision 2020 failed miserably, this is likely to head the same way.
Unless the government has the political will to correct the racial imbalances sincerely based on needs and not ethnicity, Keluarga Malaysia will surely be a flop even if Ismail shouts about it in every speech he makes until he is hoarse.
We must be honest with ourselves first. Maybe we should exorcise ourselves of the deep-seated racism within all of us before we condemn the government and its policies that favour one ethnic group.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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