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Raising a family of true Malaysians

– Prof Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
The Malaysian Insider
27 August 2014

In many senses, it seems funny that Malaysians, particularly the Malays, find great difficulty in the idea of a united, harmonious and happy Malaysia. I am a Malay. All my Malay friends at UTM and other universities and all my relatives and that of my wife are… racist. If I were to invite all of them to a marriage ceremony, the number would easily reach 3,000. Based on a simple sampling of 5% of this population that I engage in socialising, I have established that they know nothing about the idea of “Malaysia”. All they know is the condition of “we just have to tolerate those immigrants and make sure they don’t make us like Singapore” mind set. I have always thought that some of my friends and relatives whom I respect as very pious Muslims would be different, but they too turn out to be racist when political issues are discussed. It came as a shock to me. I thought that Islam would be one of the answers to eliminate racism, but apparently, the “Malay-view” interpretation of Islam always take precedence. Islam is NOT the problem but its racist interpretation is. I know this for a fact because of my vast reading of Islam, thousands of hadiths and many versions of Qur’anic Tafsir.

In this Merdeka celebration, the “idea” of Malaysia seems only in a dream or in a Petronas or a DiGi commercial. The idea of Malaysia does not exist in our schools, in our public universities, at our housing and our cities. But I still remain optimistic. Why? Because my family is NOT racist. My wife who is a retired teacher is not racist. My 28-year-old lecturer daughter educated at IIUM is not racist. My 26-year-old journalist daughter educated at TAR College and Taylors University is not racist. My 23-year-old son in his third year at UCSI University is not racist. My 20-year-old SEGi University daughter is not racist. And my 18-year-old Inti University son is also not racist. How did I manage to form my own small country of “Malaysia”? There are a few simple strategies that I had developed. I will save the most important one for last. Continue reading “Raising a family of true Malaysians”

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Which side are we on?

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
27 August 2014

Are Malaysians willing to stand together as Malaysians, or do we adopt a ‘tidak apa’ attitude as long as we are not affected by circumstances around us? – Reuters pic, August 27, 2014.Are Malaysians willing to stand together as Malaysians, or do we adopt a ‘tidak apa’ attitude as long as we are not affected by circumstances around us? – Reuters pic, August 27, 2014.Every morning, Malaysians awaken to a call: which side am I on?

Do we speak up for the poor, the marginalised, the bullied, the oppressed, the homeless? Or do we just shrug our shoulders and count our blessings that we are not with the disadvantaged?

Are we troubled when the law and the Constitution is treated as an inconvenience, something to be trampled on by the powerful? Or do we happily pretend that as long as we are not directly impacted, a cavalier approach to the law and principles set out by the Constitution is not on our list of concerns?

Do we discard our sloth and apathy when we hear or read about individuals or groups being punished for what is right and for standing up for a better Malaysia? Continue reading “Which side are we on?”