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Striving for 1Malaysia If this country wishes to forge ahead and compete, we have to stop placing importance on the race of a person.

WHEN filling up any official or unofficial forms, there is always a column for race and another for religion that comes soon after the Name and IC Number columns.

I have never been able to comprehend the importance accorded to such columns.

In my humble opinion, such columns would only lead to racial segregation, and unless they are abolished, the concept of 1Malaysia or any other similar slogans will never work because we are still invariably defined and institutionalised by race and religion.

Being a child of Indian-Chinese parentage, I have always felt “forced” to identify myself as one of the identified races (Indian), especially so when the official forms come with the usual identified racial components; Chinese, Malay or Indian.

It is one thing to have such a column/space in official/unofficial forms (although it has been beyond me to understand the importance or need to know this information) if it is just for official records such as statistical purposes.

But when the people around you, who are supposed to be your role models in teaching and guiding you about life in this world, are placing importance on race and that you be identified by it, this to my mind is unacceptable.

An educator once told me (in a class filled with students), that it was shameful that I was unable to speak Tamil, my supposed mother tongue, and repeatedly preached to me on how children from mixed marriages often grow up “confused” – that is, growing up, like me, without a fixed religion.

With due respect, I was truly aghast at his closed-mindedness and coming from an educator certainly adds salt to the wound; and it made me wonder what kind of brainwashing he had been subjected to.

Asked how I would identify myself ethnically, I would say that I do not identify myself with any particular race; I identify myself proudly as a Chinese and an Indian.

Both are my heritage and it would be a pity if I had to choose between either.

To me, if this country wishes to forge ahead and compete – or just to stay in place while the rest of the world is forging ahead – we have to let go of this importance that we place on the race of a person.

It is hard to understand this race situation when our Constitution allows for a quota system to be practised.

In my humble opinion, narrow policies should be abolished and the fact that our fellow Malaysians are asking for equal treatment among all Malaysian citizens, without undue preference to any particular race/ethnicity, should not be seen as a race-related request.

I wish Malaysians would embrace cosmopolitanism and not see the necessity for any racial or gender connotations.

The concept of having to register one’s name on the birth certificate with “a/p” for those of paternal Indian heritage is completely unnecessary.

I am glad that this was not practised in my family.

Far from implying that we are not proud of our heritage and our roots because we do embrace both Chinese and Indian cultures equally in our daily life, the fact that we can all pray together as a family in a church, a Chinese temple or an Indian temple is something that, although amusing to many of my friends, I am proud of.

Another criticism that I have, with regard to the importance accorded to race or religion, is the racial stereotypes.

The stereotyping associated with each race – the most common examples being “Malays are lazy, Chinese are greedy and Indians cannot be trusted” – has to stop as it serves no meaningful purpose other than to widen the racial gap.

Such racial stereotyping is man-made and should be done away with. Lastly, I also wish all the politicking over our country’s education system would stop.

The recent policy change/discussion on our education system causes students to be treated as mere lab rats and the PPSMI issue, for example, was somehow turned into a race-related issue when it should have been regarded as a noble intention and solution to move the country forward.

Although there are valid arguments for both, I personally prefer single stream schools to vernacular schools which, I believe, create racial disunity and destroy relationships among the different races.

This, to me, can be easily solved by never forgetting the myriad of races in this country and by encouraging and allowing diversity to be part of our national school system without compromising the roots of each ethnicity.

In this way – all races can learn and understand the culture of each ethnicity.

Only then can we truly say we are “1Malaysia”.

> The writer is a member of the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Bar Council.

Putik Lada, or pepper buds in Malay, captures the spirit and intention of this column – a platform for young lawyers to articulate their views and aspirations about the law, justice and a civil society.

For more information about the young lawyers, please visit www.malaysianbar.org.my