Racial Harmony

"Happy Diwali" to all especially to my Hindu friends. It's time to celebrate another wonderful occasion, "the festival of lights" or "all goodness to prevail over the bad". It is also a time to reflect on peace, harmony and especially racial tolerence in this country we all Malaysians of various ethnic and religious backgrounds call "home"!

However lately, I've been alarmed at the amount of bad press based on racial discrimination. I remember the time when race was only a word to distinguish our origins but it never interfered with our lives.

Why are irresponsible politicians harping on this issue nowadays and why are they not stopped from doing so by their party leaders? And who and how qualified are they to make such seditious remarks, all for the sake of gaining self-political mileage?

My heart bleeds when I think how these people never learned from the May 13th incident which affected most of us, either personally or via our loved-ones. Thank goodness my parents were far-sighted enough to have taught me to value people for who they are irrespective of their origins.

Though educated in the chinese-medium (Hin Hua school, Klang & Chung Ling High School, Penang), my father saw the importance of his children being educated in a more racially-condusive environment whereby the student population was less racially-skewed; hence us siblings placed in semi-government schools.

I remembered my teachers and schoolmates coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds and were always there in my times of need. A wonderful sense of "Muhibbah" prevailed then. My best friend was my Malay neighbour. In school. we were judged purely on our academic achievements and subsidies to poor students (eg. books, clothing and daily food coupons) were fairly distributed. Although scholarships were slightly skewed, many of us still had the chance to obtain it from the government or via private corporations.

I can't remember my parents having complained about us being denied but instead, they chose to educate us themselves and were even glad when they found out my Malay neighbour had managed to secure a scholarship.

Of course there were some who deemed they were racially discriminated, but that's fine, because no situation is perfect. I too went overseas to further my education, but chose to come back. After all, this was my homeland. I believe the love I have for my country and its people stemmed from my wonderful parents who were 2nd generation Malaysians.

Thus the question is, does it make me any less Malaysian because my ancestors immigrated from elsewhere? I certainly do not look at a person's race before deciding whether to befriend a person. I sincerely believe the only way for Malaysia to move forward is not by stoking the flames of racism, but by getting rid of racial discrimination in every aspect of our lives. After all, our country's pride is in its main selling point to foreign tourists via our hugely popular "Malaysia, truly Asia" concept.

That's why it hurts when people still choose to discriminate due to ignorance or gaining benefits for themselves.

Personally, I will not let the immature and selfish behavior of others control my personality nor beliefs.

Sarva Mangalam to all!