Speak and hold your Ground!

Bernard and Day Dreamer, I like both your comments. They show that you are both thinking about your place in this country. That is really encouraging to know.

You know, despite all that is happening around us, there is great good in this country. We live a decent life here, albeit with a lot of sacrifices and stomaching of inequalities. And the prospect of a future society built out of multi-culturalism is extremely attractive -- if we lay the foundations for it now.

That is why I feel the solution to these problems is not to pack up and leave for better pastures. Yes, migration is an option, but, I think, it should only be a choice after we have given our all to make this country our home.

What we should do is to fight for our rights to make Malaysia a better place to live for all. By "fight", I don't mean take up arms or take to the streets in anarchic protests. I mean we should make our politicians work for us. We should first and foremost express ourselves and make ourselves be heard whether in the classroom, the media or the electoral process.

For example, when a lecturer introduces a topic like "1Malaysia" and asks for opinions, students should speak up like Joshua Phua. But, learn to speak your mind logically and without intent to hurt or offend. Speak up and say your piece but say it intelligently, clearly - backed with good points - confidently, and respectfully -- always respectfully because it is important to let the other person know that although your views may differ from his or hers, you will still respect him or her as a person.

On any issue, if you feel strongly about it, let it be known -- in the newspapers, to your elected representatives but let them be known.

Then, participate in the electoral process. If our leaders are not adequately representing us, throw them out and give new ones the chance to lead.

Change can happen only when a majority of the people are willing to make a stand for what they believe in and hold their ground -- as it happened in the March 8 election.

If we want a stake in this country, we must also be willing to give and take. Integrating as a society would mean that some of the things we want need to be given up for the greater good. As an example, we may need to give up on vernacular education and pool those resources to raise the standard of national schools so that all Malaysians -- not just some -- get a sound education.

We must be willing to do such things, then, I think we would have earned the right to be truly Malaysian.

I hope more people will express their thoughts on this subject.

1Malaysia Rings Hollow

I have been hearing the phrase 1Malaysia bandied about for quite a while, and, frankly, to me, it rings hollow. It does not reflect reality; in fact it exposes everything that is wanting in Malaysian unity. The most basic definition we can give to 1Malaysia is racial integration, but, tell me, how on earth are we to achieve it when every institution in the country is associated by race and by that very characteristic diametricallly opposed to the concept of racial integration?

The Police is Malay-dominated, the armed forces is Malay-dominated, the judiciary is Malay-dominated, civil government is Malay-dominated, the petrol industry is Malay-dominated, the commercial sector is Chinese-dominated. The plantation sector used to be over-run by Indians but now it is taken over by foreigners.

Education, the one place where integration can take place, is also run by divide and rule. Public education veers in favour of Malay priorities; private education is led by the Chinese who pour millions of Ringgit Malaysia into their extremely well-supported and developed Chinese schools and additional millions in ancillary services to give their children the competitive edge in nearly every aspect of life. In addition, private colleges and university colleges are nearly all owned by the Chinese and run for the ultimate purpose of profit.

Divide and rule -- that has been BN polictics since Merdeka. For a semblance of peace, and to stay in power to spearhead Malay interests, UMNO carved out the nation, apportioning a few areas to its BN partners and entrenched the rule of divide and conquer into the fabric of Malaysian life.

No where is this more obvious than in the media. The New Straits Times is owned by UMNO, the STAR is owned by the MCA and now nearly all the Malay papers are also owned by UMNO or companies linked to it. The leading Chinese newspaper, Sin Chew Jit Poh, is MCA-owned. Nearly all the broadcast stations are owned by UMNO or companies linked to it. All present the government line because if they didn't they will lose the licence to operate.

Against this scenario, what place does 1Malaysia have? It is just a PR gimmick, at best, a slim hope that Malaysians will strive for oneness against the surging tide of partisan politics. But, seriously, when the country is racked by divisive rule and institutions identified by race, where do we start to integrate? People -- without being told -- have always tried to integrate where possible. But, when at every turn you come up against race-based politics that has smeared every aspect of Malaysian life, how do you integrate?

UMNO's rule has brought this nation to the current state of volatile and unmoored politics -- a politics that every thinking individual regards with utter contempt. Yet, changes have been resisted, and superficial where they were implemented.

I think we must forget 1Malaysia and Vision 2020 and all those PR pieces at supposedly unifying the people. Instead, we should put our heads together and come up with well thought of and executed policies that will eventually -- hopefully in the near future -- lead to integration and a win-win situation for all.

I, personally, feel there are only two things to do to get on the track of real integration. Firstly, make it illegal for political parties to own companies. Secondly, revamp the entire education system so that Bahasa Malaysia is the medium of education for all. But at the same time, set in place very strong English learning and pupils own languages programmes from the kindergarten level. If the latter programmes are well implemented, our children will become bi- and tri-lingual and, I believe, will be able to compete with each other irrespective of race. And, they will learn to grow and live together.

If only we have the will to do what is good and right........ !