Kick the racists out — Mohsin Abdullah

FEB 26 — Of late, we come to know of many racist remarks being made. Like Chinese ladies came to this country long ago to sell their bodies. And Indians came to be beggars.

And we were also told that remark like “do not let these foreigners step on the heads of us Malays” was also made. Sad. And level-headed and sombre Malaysians are angry too. Malays included. But the sadness and anger are felt more by Malaysian Chinese and Indians. That is understandable. When you’re hit directly with such racist statements you are bound to feel hurt. In fact you’re entitled to feel hurt and angry.

What is worrying is that racist statements and remarks continue to be made. Like there’s no end to it. In fact they have become more frequent and bolder. After all these years we still have racial problems despite a lot of talk of togetherness and being Malaysian. Yes we are not naïve to believe racism does not exist in our country anymore.

We know it happens everywhere. But we are worried, concerned and afraid that racists statements are made by people who should not be making it in the first place. It’s not that some people can make the remarks while some cannot. All should not be racist. But these people I am talking about are the ones we least expect or suspect. Whatever the word may be. I am lost for words actually. These people are in positions to make a difference in our society. And I am not referring to politicians alone.

Recently there was a letter sent to The Star newspaper from a reader identified only as “JB”. And JB we were told is Indian Muslim. The letter was about an incident in school related to JB by JB’s 12 year old son. I have to quote JB verbatim here as what was written in the letter: “His teacher had given out the UPSR registration forms to all pupils in the class to let them check their personal particulars. When it came to my son, the teacher announced to the whole class that my son is an Indian but he is ‘special’ because he is a Muslim.

“I can’t say for sure what she meant by special but what I am sure of is that this sort of statement is totally uncalled for. There are other Indian pupils of Hindu religion in his class and I wonder what kind of message the teacher has sent them. Is the teacher implying that the Indian pupils of Hindu religion are less special?

“The success of 1 Malaysia seems really elusive with the presence of such insensitive teachers at the national primary schools.”

I totally agree with JB. And although JB’s son was not hit directly by racial slur and racist statements, JB felt hurt. In fact JB’s son was praised by the teacher who I presumed was Malay/Muslim although JB made no mention of this. JB is Indian Muslim but felt the hurt and pain of the Indian Hindus.

If there are many Malaysians like JB then there’s hope for all of us in this country. And I think there are. Like JB, many of us are hurt and angry whenever other Malaysians become victims of racism, of racial abuse.

In football in Europe, they have a campaign to “kick racism out of football.” Let us all kick out racism from Malaysia. And say enough is enough. — mysinchew