Unity via education
SinchPublished: Sep 11, 2008 5:16 PM | Updated: Sep 11, 2008 5:17 PM
Has anyone honestly thought about the root cause of our racial strife today? If one were to raise that topic in conversations, the responses would be commonly stereotypical racial profiling, inadvertently ending with the opinion of one race somehow taking advantage of the other.
There's enough ego and blame to go around for such racial undertones to continue for the foreseeable future.
Surely, the future of this country hinges on a singular thing. Racial unity. Without that, no person of any standing would be able to enjoy the true blessings of this country. Would any of us really want to walk around in fear all the time, distrusting each other?
Thus enough of the blaming and finger pointing, it's getting us nowhere. What was done was done. Looking forward, we must surely find a better formula for our country, for the sake of our future generations. Without the proper foundation, mirages of unity will only last so long.
Many people would point out that our racial undertones are essentially caused by economic reasons and an imbalance of wealth allocation. I will not disagree, for much has been said on that topic.
However, I would put forth another reason. Racial segregation has already been occurring for a long time at the primary and secondary schools, depriving Malaysian children the chance to interact broadly and deeply with Malaysians of other races.
Imagine the generations of Malaysians that grew up so segregated, multi-racialism would be such an alien idea to them. Would it be a surprise to anybody that a multitude of racial bigots were produced from such environment?
We cannot possibility hope to correct decades of errors in our education system with a swift stroke of a pen. That much is certain. But it must start today. All that talk about economics will please those in need of a coin, but it will simply not be enough for the future of this country.
The national school system needs to be made attractive or even mandatory to all races, with classes that emphasise teamwork and understanding among all races.
Language classes, with skilled teachers, must be made available so that the Chinese, Indians and others will still get to learn their mother tongues. With such upbringing, our enlightened children will be able to sweep pass all the misunderstandings and bigotry of today with ease, and forge a greater future for Malaysia.
I truly believe that in the dark clouds that hover above us all, there is a silver lining. To end the racial strife that has and still consumes us today, we must address it in our future generations, surely through unity via education.
There's enough ego and blame to go around for such racial undertones to continue for the foreseeable future.
Surely, the future of this country hinges on a singular thing. Racial unity. Without that, no person of any standing would be able to enjoy the true blessings of this country. Would any of us really want to walk around in fear all the time, distrusting each other?
Thus enough of the blaming and finger pointing, it's getting us nowhere. What was done was done. Looking forward, we must surely find a better formula for our country, for the sake of our future generations. Without the proper foundation, mirages of unity will only last so long.
Many people would point out that our racial undertones are essentially caused by economic reasons and an imbalance of wealth allocation. I will not disagree, for much has been said on that topic.
However, I would put forth another reason. Racial segregation has already been occurring for a long time at the primary and secondary schools, depriving Malaysian children the chance to interact broadly and deeply with Malaysians of other races.
Imagine the generations of Malaysians that grew up so segregated, multi-racialism would be such an alien idea to them. Would it be a surprise to anybody that a multitude of racial bigots were produced from such environment?
We cannot possibility hope to correct decades of errors in our education system with a swift stroke of a pen. That much is certain. But it must start today. All that talk about economics will please those in need of a coin, but it will simply not be enough for the future of this country.
The national school system needs to be made attractive or even mandatory to all races, with classes that emphasise teamwork and understanding among all races.
Language classes, with skilled teachers, must be made available so that the Chinese, Indians and others will still get to learn their mother tongues. With such upbringing, our enlightened children will be able to sweep pass all the misunderstandings and bigotry of today with ease, and forge a greater future for Malaysia.
I truly believe that in the dark clouds that hover above us all, there is a silver lining. To end the racial strife that has and still consumes us today, we must address it in our future generations, surely through unity via education.
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