.
3. REMOVE IRRITANTS
This is not a ground-breaking theory. It is mostly common sense. I have just organized them into 4 groups. Let me elaborate.
Increasing interaction and contact among difference groups of people produces familiarity. Increased contact fosters a positive attitude, support for integration, and reduces perception of hostility. The information that one learns from inter-ethnic or inter-religious contact leads to more accurate perceptions of the other groups (this is common sense la ….)
This is why institutions that cater solely for one ethnic group or one religious group do not help in national integration. Vernacular and religious schools are good examples. Pupils in these schools have very limited contact with those outside their groups – hence prejudice and the lack of appreciation of the other groups. A Malay student from Gurun, Kedah who goes to a sekolah agama and then joins UiTM could potentially spend the first 20 years of his or her life with almost no contact people from other ethnic and religious groups. Similarly, a Chinese student who attends Chinese primary and secondary school and lives in a Chinese new village would have very limited contact with non-Chinese people throughout his formative years. There are, of course, many other examples.
So we need to come up with programmes that will increase contact between the Malays and the Indians, the Ibans and the Chinese, the Punjabis and the Orang Asli, etc, etc. We need programmes that will increase contact between Buddhists and Muslims, between the Hindu and Christians, between the Jedis and the Siths, etc, etc. We need programmes that will increase contact between the Kelantanese and Johoreans, the Sabahans and Sarawakians with the folks in Peninsular Malaysia.
And it is important that we focus on our youngsters before prejudice get deep-rooted in them.
There has been progress. As more people live in cities, there are a lot more opportunities for various ethnic groups to interact. With cheaper airfares, there have been a lot more travel between Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia (as more Malaysians travel abroad, they too will learn that not everyone is like them and will hopefully learn to appreciate people of other ethnicity and religion).
I am not going to discuss what and how these programmes would be. That’s for another day.
Suffice to say here that INCREASING INTERACTION between various groups is vital. And institutions that cater solely for one ethnic or religious group are not very helpful in fostering racial and religious harmony.
When people have a common purpose, they will work together and ignore minor irritations and problems. Sports is a good example. When you go to the stadium and cheer the Malaysian team, you usually will ignore all the defects and idiosyncrasies of the fellow Malaysian supporters who sit next to you. You could be a thin tall Indian Muslim guy from Tumpat, Kelantan and you would have no qualms cheering together with a short fat Christian Kadazan girl from Kota Marudu, Sabah. She might even hug you when Malaysia scores a goal. Because you have a common goal (i.e. a Malaysian victory), you automatically ignore all the differences between you and your fellow supporters.
So we need to establish common goals. 1Malaysia is well and good – however it is too broad and nebulous which makes it difficult for man in the street to operationalize. We need to create projects and programme with specific goals and get various different groups to participate. For example, get the Selangor Buddhist Society and the Negeri Sembilan Muslims Association (if there are such organizations) to participate in mangrove tree planting programme along the coast of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan with a goal of planting 10000 saplings in 2012 (this is just a hypothetical example but you get my point).
I will discuss potential “COMMON GOAL” programmes another day.
To summarise, we have to bring different groups together to work towards or support a common goal. 1Malaysia is too nebulous. It can be an over-arching vision but people need specific goals that they can easily understand.
We can bring people together, make them talk together or work together. However if there is perception that system seriously discriminates against one group or another, the whole thing will still not work. Throughout the world, in almost all countries, there are people who perceive that some policy or programme discriminates them. And they may be right. No matter how well a law, policy or programme is implemented, some people will feel discriminated against. We need to learn to live with this.
However, it is not too difficult to identify obvious irritants – i.e. policies and practices that are grossly unfair. For example, housing developers have to give Bumiputras a 5% discount for purchase of houses. It is understandable because income levels of many Bumiputras were well below the others and many need help. I don’t think anyone minds if we give discounts to the needy. But asking developers to provide a 5% discount to allow a Bumiputra to buy a RM 1 million bungalow is outrageous (mind you, this practice is still prevalent).
The house discount above is a system-irritant, i.e. an irritant with the formal or government policy. But there are many irritants outside the system. For example, a large majority of Malays find it very annoying that there are many people who simply refuse to learn to speak Bahasa Malaysia. I find it annoying too. Hello this is not 1960’s or 1970’s. We are talking about today, more than 50 years after independence. It is made worse the culprits are politicians – mind you we have many politicians today whose spoken Malay is like a &%$##@ *&^%$% and %$#*@. Political parties could rectify this very easily – all the big boss has to do is to require aspiring candidates to undergo language classes.
There are many irritants in the system and many outside the system. I am not going list them all (otherwise I won’t have anything to blog next time).
Summary : We must identify and eliminate major irritants, policies and practices that are grossly unfair or are major stumbling blocks to national unity.
All the above 3 things cannot happen by themselves (well, some may but not at a large scale). The government must provide support in terms of incentives, funds, legislation, institutions and leadership to encourage inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony.
For example, NGOs promoting such causes should be supported with funds or assistance by the government (for example free use of dewan serbaguna, swimming pool or even vehicles). Say NGO XYZ is organizing a tree planting programme for a group of Muslim and Christian children, some government agency should let them use their bus for free.
The government could make available RM xxxx that various NGOs could bid for to run any programme that would contribute to three 3 things above. Of course proposals need to clearly define the outcomes in relation to improving harmony and be measurable.
So.
Most importantly, national leaders need to fully embrace these concepts. Everything will fail if leaders at the national level blatantly use us-against-them rhetoric, then all of us are screwed. I think some of this problem can be overcome if political parties and the cabinet have clear guidelines for their members. It is pretty stupid to call someone “metallic black” and pretend that DAP is a multiracial champion. Or the BN goons who calls other pendatang or make degradatory remakrs. It is surely not that difficult for example, for Najib, to issue clear instructions to his Cabinet members what is clearly wrong.
The 4 things above must be executed in parallel. I imagine some can be tricky (e.g. eliminating irritants) but other tracts won’t work effectively if there are major irritants in the system. We need to work on all 4, beginning with the low hanging fruits (there are many…. coming soon).
There will always be detractors (and in Malaysia there are many frustrated and disgruntled people who will require major persuasion). Napolean was quoted as saying “I won’t reach my destination in time if I stop to throw stones at every dog that barks at me”. So, we need to start somewhere and plod along until we achieve success.
There you go folks. 1 INCREASE CONTACT. 2 ESTABLISH COMMON GOALS. 3 REMOVE IRRITANTS. 4 PROVIDE SUPPORT. (actually you can use this framework to improve harmony within your own organization)
Yes, it is easier said than done. But what is the price of not doing anything ?
Almost without fail, everyday there is something on TV, newspapers and blogs about inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts. From time to time, you also get to hear about inter-regional frustrations (i.e. Sabahans and Sarawakians voicing their dissatisfaction over many things). UMNO accuses DAP of being anti-Malay, PAS says MCA is anti-Islam, Gerakan says PKR is anti-Chinese, PERKASA accuses the whole world of various things, HINDRAF says everyone is bullying the Indians, the cats accusing the dogs, the monyets accusing the porcupines, etc, etc, you get my point. Almost everything is turned into racial or religious issues. The amount of energy wasted on these matter is HUGE, the energy that otherwise could be used to develop our nation.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that we all need to work towards improving inter-ethnic, inter-religious and inter-regional relations. When I say we, I mean we. WE ALL. Not only the government. Everyone. NGOs, individuals, private companies, political parties, EVERYONE. It is a very difficult task.
The King and all the inhabitants of the Planet of the Monyets say that we have to do these 4 things to address the matter :
1. INCREASE CONTACT
increase interaction among people from various ethnic and religious groups
2. ESTABLISH COMMON GOAL
provide common goals that people from various ethnic and religious groups can pursue
increase interaction among people from various ethnic and religious groups
2. ESTABLISH COMMON GOAL
provide common goals that people from various ethnic and religious groups can pursue
4. PROVIDE SUPPORT
provide institutional support to encourage the above 3.INCREASE CONTACT
We need to increase the amount of contact and interaction between various groups.Increasing interaction and contact among difference groups of people produces familiarity. Increased contact fosters a positive attitude, support for integration, and reduces perception of hostility. The information that one learns from inter-ethnic or inter-religious contact leads to more accurate perceptions of the other groups (this is common sense la ….)
This is why institutions that cater solely for one ethnic group or one religious group do not help in national integration. Vernacular and religious schools are good examples. Pupils in these schools have very limited contact with those outside their groups – hence prejudice and the lack of appreciation of the other groups. A Malay student from Gurun, Kedah who goes to a sekolah agama and then joins UiTM could potentially spend the first 20 years of his or her life with almost no contact people from other ethnic and religious groups. Similarly, a Chinese student who attends Chinese primary and secondary school and lives in a Chinese new village would have very limited contact with non-Chinese people throughout his formative years. There are, of course, many other examples.
So we need to come up with programmes that will increase contact between the Malays and the Indians, the Ibans and the Chinese, the Punjabis and the Orang Asli, etc, etc. We need programmes that will increase contact between Buddhists and Muslims, between the Hindu and Christians, between the Jedis and the Siths, etc, etc. We need programmes that will increase contact between the Kelantanese and Johoreans, the Sabahans and Sarawakians with the folks in Peninsular Malaysia.
And it is important that we focus on our youngsters before prejudice get deep-rooted in them.
There has been progress. As more people live in cities, there are a lot more opportunities for various ethnic groups to interact. With cheaper airfares, there have been a lot more travel between Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia (as more Malaysians travel abroad, they too will learn that not everyone is like them and will hopefully learn to appreciate people of other ethnicity and religion).
I am not going to discuss what and how these programmes would be. That’s for another day.
Suffice to say here that INCREASING INTERACTION between various groups is vital. And institutions that cater solely for one ethnic or religious group are not very helpful in fostering racial and religious harmony.
ESTABLISH COMMON GOAL
We must provide common goals that people from various ethnic and religious groups can pursue together. When people have a common purpose, they will work together and ignore minor irritations and problems. Sports is a good example. When you go to the stadium and cheer the Malaysian team, you usually will ignore all the defects and idiosyncrasies of the fellow Malaysian supporters who sit next to you. You could be a thin tall Indian Muslim guy from Tumpat, Kelantan and you would have no qualms cheering together with a short fat Christian Kadazan girl from Kota Marudu, Sabah. She might even hug you when Malaysia scores a goal. Because you have a common goal (i.e. a Malaysian victory), you automatically ignore all the differences between you and your fellow supporters.
So we need to establish common goals. 1Malaysia is well and good – however it is too broad and nebulous which makes it difficult for man in the street to operationalize. We need to create projects and programme with specific goals and get various different groups to participate. For example, get the Selangor Buddhist Society and the Negeri Sembilan Muslims Association (if there are such organizations) to participate in mangrove tree planting programme along the coast of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan with a goal of planting 10000 saplings in 2012 (this is just a hypothetical example but you get my point).
I will discuss potential “COMMON GOAL” programmes another day.
To summarise, we have to bring different groups together to work towards or support a common goal. 1Malaysia is too nebulous. It can be an over-arching vision but people need specific goals that they can easily understand.
REMOVE IRRITANTS
We must eliminate policies and practices that are widely perceived as unfair or unpatriotic by certain groups. We can bring people together, make them talk together or work together. However if there is perception that system seriously discriminates against one group or another, the whole thing will still not work. Throughout the world, in almost all countries, there are people who perceive that some policy or programme discriminates them. And they may be right. No matter how well a law, policy or programme is implemented, some people will feel discriminated against. We need to learn to live with this.
However, it is not too difficult to identify obvious irritants – i.e. policies and practices that are grossly unfair. For example, housing developers have to give Bumiputras a 5% discount for purchase of houses. It is understandable because income levels of many Bumiputras were well below the others and many need help. I don’t think anyone minds if we give discounts to the needy. But asking developers to provide a 5% discount to allow a Bumiputra to buy a RM 1 million bungalow is outrageous (mind you, this practice is still prevalent).
The house discount above is a system-irritant, i.e. an irritant with the formal or government policy. But there are many irritants outside the system. For example, a large majority of Malays find it very annoying that there are many people who simply refuse to learn to speak Bahasa Malaysia. I find it annoying too. Hello this is not 1960’s or 1970’s. We are talking about today, more than 50 years after independence. It is made worse the culprits are politicians – mind you we have many politicians today whose spoken Malay is like a &%$##@ *&^%$% and %$#*@. Political parties could rectify this very easily – all the big boss has to do is to require aspiring candidates to undergo language classes.
There are many irritants in the system and many outside the system. I am not going list them all (otherwise I won’t have anything to blog next time).
Summary : We must identify and eliminate major irritants, policies and practices that are grossly unfair or are major stumbling blocks to national unity.
PROVIDE SUPPORT
We must provide institutional support.All the above 3 things cannot happen by themselves (well, some may but not at a large scale). The government must provide support in terms of incentives, funds, legislation, institutions and leadership to encourage inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony.
For example, NGOs promoting such causes should be supported with funds or assistance by the government (for example free use of dewan serbaguna, swimming pool or even vehicles). Say NGO XYZ is organizing a tree planting programme for a group of Muslim and Christian children, some government agency should let them use their bus for free.
The government could make available RM xxxx that various NGOs could bid for to run any programme that would contribute to three 3 things above. Of course proposals need to clearly define the outcomes in relation to improving harmony and be measurable.
So.
Most importantly, national leaders need to fully embrace these concepts. Everything will fail if leaders at the national level blatantly use us-against-them rhetoric, then all of us are screwed. I think some of this problem can be overcome if political parties and the cabinet have clear guidelines for their members. It is pretty stupid to call someone “metallic black” and pretend that DAP is a multiracial champion. Or the BN goons who calls other pendatang or make degradatory remakrs. It is surely not that difficult for example, for Najib, to issue clear instructions to his Cabinet members what is clearly wrong.
The 4 things above must be executed in parallel. I imagine some can be tricky (e.g. eliminating irritants) but other tracts won’t work effectively if there are major irritants in the system. We need to work on all 4, beginning with the low hanging fruits (there are many…. coming soon).
There will always be detractors (and in Malaysia there are many frustrated and disgruntled people who will require major persuasion). Napolean was quoted as saying “I won’t reach my destination in time if I stop to throw stones at every dog that barks at me”. So, we need to start somewhere and plod along until we achieve success.
There you go folks. 1 INCREASE CONTACT. 2 ESTABLISH COMMON GOALS. 3 REMOVE IRRITANTS. 4 PROVIDE SUPPORT. (actually you can use this framework to improve harmony within your own organization)
Yes, it is easier said than done. But what is the price of not doing anything ?
Monyet King says
I have actually posted this article before. An Orang Utan told me to repost it with a little editing.
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