Thursday, March 29, 2007

On Racial Integration

At the blink of an eye and the week is finally over again! Wow, it's nearing the weekends again! This always got me excited... not tat uni is not fun.. juz yesterday they have a cooking demo rite in the uni! It was exciting!

Today I read a very interesting piece of article on The Star concerning racial integration in Malaysia. At last they got it that Malaysian children are not integrating at all. To quote verbatim from the article:" Only 52% of the teenagers (in a survey of 4400 F4 students) said they had a friend of a different race." Worse still, only 12.8% felt that mixing with other races was something to be concerned about. Their apathy is simply shocking.

And true to the Malaysian spirit, the relevant authorities start to disseminate and tackle the problem by, guess what: Finding something/someone to blame! As can be seen in this article. The guy who is the National Unity and Integration Department director-general said “I attribute the findings to the current education system, which has resulted in lack of interaction among students of different racial backgrounds."

Sad. But I still have hope and faith that there's someone out there who is able to right the wrong someday.

In retrospect, what the guy said hold a grain of truth too. As I had gone through the Malaysian education system myself, I tend to agree with him that the education system is part of the problem. There is a dinstict lack of integration even in National school, nevermind vernacular school. In my class throughout my secondary school years, the majority of my classmates are Chinese. It is not that we don't want to make friends with kids of other colour, but we have virtually no chance to do it. Now the only way we can see Ali, Ah Kau and Mutu play together is on television commercials, for example the NST commercial. How pathetic.

I am sure a lot of people will have a lot of opinions on this issue and react to it diffrently. Some may see it in a more aggresive/violent manner, some may read it with ambivalence, some may just scour over it with a sigh of dejection. No matter how you all react, a reaction is good coz it means that deep down, you still love and care for the country. However, I guess now it's just not worth the energy to criticise the government on what they should had done or give opinions on how to tackle the problem, since we can't control that anyway. I think we just need to focus on what we can do individually. For example, maybe make a resolution to go out there today or tomorrow and make a friend from a different race or religion. Learn more about them. Appreciate them. Tell a friend to do the same. And tell a friend to tell friend to do the same. Pass it on. Let the ripple effect roll!

Guess thats my two-cents worth on that issue.

P/s: can someone advise me on how to save myself from someone that is doing his best to ensure that I contact the common cold that is unfortunately bogging him down now? Help! I dont want to be pulled down by a drowning guy!


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