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DESPITE some racial tensions occurring in Malaysia since May 13, 1969, to the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple riot on November 27, 2018 – these occurrences should never leave Malaysians in disharmony and disarray.
This was asserted by Gombak MCA division chief Lawrence Yip.
“Malaysians – we are not racist. Yet, racial remarks are made from time to time by imprudent politicians solely for their benefit.
“If we really are racist, we would not have the strength to tolerate one another,” he stressed.
However, Lawrence believes certain quarters are trying their best to paint the country as racist by distorting the policies of the country to foreigners.
“You know there are some groups who would play up and accuse the government’s policy favouring a certain community and neglecting another. But the fact is, they do not understand the history that has caused such policies to be implemented in the first place.
“We cannot assume a certain race, in doing things for their community, as being racist – and then accuse the whole of Malaysia as being divided.
“Policies are made by good people, no doubt. But it is abused by a handful of irresponsible people as they ‘tend’ to forget that we live in a pluralistic society, and we must never succumb to that,” advised Lawrence.
He believes that if Malaysians were not keen on achieving independence or not serious enough in embracing each other’s differences to become a nation, the rakyat would have not stood by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Tun Datuk Sir Cheng Lock Tan and Tun Thirunyanasambanthan Veerasamy, who worked assiduously in negotiating independence from the British.
“If we did not want to form a nation, the Chinese would just think of going back to China and the Malays would only think of having a Malaya state without including other races.
“Obviously, that is not true, as from the start we were never racist.
“Do not stir up anything racial as it is not worth it for our rakyat to go through a negative ‘aftershock’,” he explained.
Lawrence was speaking to The Vibes for the final episode of a six-part series ‘Truly Malaysia?’, which features views on this topic by six humanitarian and political activists, which has been running every Saturday on The Vibes.
While touching on the topic of misunderstanding each other, Lawrence considers that it is a common human error.
He explained that it is human nature to always look at one’s point of view first before considering others’, and never truly opening their hearts to know more about others.
“Mutual understanding is not a noun; it is a verb. When I say a verb, it means an action.
“We need to understand and earn respect from each other.
“So, are Malaysians facing disagreement amongst one another or (are we) being misinterpreted?”, he asked.
Read the previous parts of this series here:
The ‘Truly Malaysia’ Series Pt 1: Syaq Koyok
The 'Truly Malaysia' Series Pt 2: Abang Buzze Azam
The 'Truly Malaysia' Series Pt 3: Christina Ningkang
The 'Truly Malaysia' Series Pt 4: Ronnie Klassen
The ‘Truly Malaysia’ Series Pt 5: Arun Dorasamy
