A Place in the Sun for Everyone

A Place in the Sun for Everyone” is the speech given by Tunku Abdul Rahman once upon time ago. A person of any race can be racist and that person can even be racist against their own race. Of course society is to blame for racism. Race is a social construct. Sure, racial differences - like skin color and religion - are real, but they do not in and of themselves determine anything about who a person is or their life course. Society and culture do those things. The thinkers think that racist as openly acknowledging the difference in culture, religion or skin color.

A deeply racist society would not admit to being racist,’ A deeply racist society would never even allow the question to be asked and the answer to be published.’ There are pockets of racism amongst us, there is no doubt about that, (but) a lot of racism is motivated by fear and ignorance and on political motives. Racist, it all depends what you mean by it. If we go by traditional definition of superiority of one race over another then we have a problem. It usually put down the Indians, sometimes I make fun of the Chinese and sometimes my own race, the Malays too.

Besides that, Racism has been part of Malaysian political, economic, social and cultural realities ever since colonial times. Today, race has been so deeply institutionalized that it is a key factor determining benefits from government development policies, bids for business contracts, education policy, social policy, cultural policy, entry into educational institutions, discounts for purchasing houses and other official policies. It always held the belief that human beings will always stereo-type ideas so that we can organize our view of the world better. So if its not religion, its must be a race. If it is not race than it is territory and finally clans. But guess what? Brothers, sisters, parents and children fight too. Then what can we attribute the problem to?

So why fight it? As long as we respect each individual it will not course any problem. It is not directed at you personally, unless you feel that your association with your race compels you to feel insulted. Then you are just being racist yourself. Just because the Malays have NEP does not make them racists. The NEP is there to protect not to overcome other races. When I talk NEP, it is at macro level, not micro. And at macro level, it is no different from other affirmative action policies.

After 50 years the Malays are still lagging behind other races. The Malays are after all 'tuan rumah.' Look what happened to Singapore when the Malays left it to 'laissez faire.' They ended up giving it to the Chinese and the Malays there are still no better off. Singapore is a mistake the Malays do not wish to repeat. So you people on the net say its time to throw out racialism. It was admit that a lot of us are born to undeniably care more about our own race. But this is natural, and people with different races sure can live together (in fact, the differences should actually be a positive thing as it would produce better results when different races work together).

Therefore, it think like for now, people between races in Malaysia should discuss more about racism rather than trying to stay away from the topic, because I'm optimistic that as long as we work together, nothing is impossible. Let racialism and race-based system carry on. They are designed to be negotiated at a macro-level. On the micro side, if we see another human being as just that, then we have no problems. But if we start to associate the same human being as part of problem because they are part of a race or religion or political affiliation, then we have a problem.

So, for the conclusion we have to be united in one country so that the history will not appear again. We should learn from the past. It does not mean went we are look at the back we are not move forward and being greater.