No danger of Malaysia crumbling due to ethnic tension

PETALING JAYA: Persistent talk of frayed ethnic relations in Malaysia may be misplaced, a BBC report says, if one were to look at what actually goes on in the country’s streets.

The report said Malaysia was not in danger of coming apart due to racial problems as everyday Malaysians got along rather well with each other despite many still believing peace was under threat, especially in the wake of several ethnically charged protests and tensions between the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities.

It said the 1Malaysia campaign launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak to bring Malaysians together had petered out and that some believed politicians were stoking ethnic tension.

However, the report also said, little of this was on show, taking Malacca as an example. It pointed out that a mosque, a Chinese temple and a Hindu temple stand along Harmony Street (also known as Jalan Tukang Emas).

These three different places of worship, it said, reflected Malaysia’s ethnic mix, and the good relations that has mostly existed between them.

The report quoted an unnamed imam at the Kampung Kling mosque as saying: “Along this street everyone practises their own religion. Even though the majority of people in Malacca are Muslims, there are still Chinese and Indian temples, and there are no disturbances between each other.”

It quoted Terence Gomez, of Universiti Malaya, as saying that he and an increasing number of Malaysians did not like labelling people according to race. “We’ve reached a point in Malaysia where people don’t like to be asked whether they are Malay, Chinese or Indian,” he said.

And Gomez thinks the country’s leaders, including the prime minister, care less about race than they make out. He pointed out that many of Najib’s trusted advisers were from different ethnic groups.

“I don’t think they look at each other and say he’s Malay, Chinese or Indian. They are looking to how they can serve each other’s interests,” the BBC quoted him as saying.

On the university campus, the report said, many students seemed to share the academic’s viewpoint.

“I feel that in Malaysia unity is very important,” one woman was quoted as saying. “Although we are from different educational backgrounds, cultures and traditions, it’s better to identify ourselves as Malaysian.”

The report said: “In some ways, Malaysia’s different ethnic groups exist in different worlds. Many live apart. Most go to schools that match their ethnicity. But Harmony Street shows they have lived together harmoniously. If politicians do not inflame ethnic tensions, that could be the future too.”

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