The Malaysia for Our Children

A couple of weeks ago, a friend told me (rather swore) that very soon our dear Prime Minister for all Malaysians will launch a crack down and arrest citizens using the dreaded the ISA (Internal Security Act). I was not sure what to believe until the news today. Yes, at this point RPK, Teresa Kok and Sin Chew journalist, Tan Hoon Cheng were all detained. There may be more in the morning. Seems like 1987 all over again. Perhaps time it may be different, who knows? One thing for sure, these are challenging times for Malaysia.

Challenging it may be, depressing is another way to describe how blatant racism goes unabated, at times glorified. How do we explain to our children that people who makes racists remarks are allowed to continue doing that while others who report them are caught and jailed? This is going to be a painful lesson to unlearn. Painful as it is, we must unlearn them for the sake of our children.

It is very tempting to tell how bad the people are, especially those in the corridor of powers. It is easy at a time like this to vent anger and frustration. It is this anger that blinds and clouds our judgment. It is difficult not talk about about a person deemed as racist without associating this person to a particular race. In this situation, what will be the state of Malaysia our children inherit?

How do we reverse the discrimination that children seem to automatically inherit, just as we did? If we do not take care, children by the age of four, will be able to identify racial difference. Soon after, they are able to accurately identify the stereotypes associated with specific groups.

Let us put effort to release ourselves from the limitation of our own mindset and begin to truly celebrate differences. Our schools are not doing that enough, we need to do more at home with our friends, neighbors and especially within our own community. Let us work for peace and teach our children that anger does not solve the problems - we do not need to take to the streets all the time, there are other, more effective ways. I do not have all the answers, I have a lot of the questions. Let our children play and have fun with anyone and celebrate diversity. What we do now with our children will be the Malaysia they will inherit.