Are our ethnic relations bad? Do we feel fearful of the other ethnic groups? There are the pessimists that think our ethnic relations are fragile.
Malaysia is, thus, aptly described as a plural society with ethnic and religious divides which will inevitably exploded into ethnic riots.
Lessons learned from the May 13 1969 ethnic riots show that good ethnic relations must be nurtured and strengthened to pave the way for the eventual goal of national unity.
Studies show at the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, that ethnic relations cycle begins with encounter, accommodation, enculturation, segmented assimilation, assimilation and amalgamation.
In these stages of ethnic cycle, physical appearance, clothing, language and religion are the dimensions often employed in identifying ethnic acquaintances.
However, identifying another’s ethnic origin is not that simple. Students standing in a long queue to register their residential college and faculty of study may have an embarrassing moment in striking a friendship.
Let’s examine the following scenario. The next student in the queue does not look Indian or Chinese in appearance; she is wearing baju kurung, speaking the Malay language and introduces herself as ‘Lina’. The Peninsula Malay girl who is wearing tudung and standing next to Lina, is happy to strike a conversation with Lina.
After finishing their registration they have lunch together. Later, the Malay girl invites Lina to go to the mosque to pray. With a smile, Lina says she’s a Christian from Mukah, Sarawak. Nevertheless, she says her own eldest brother and uncles are Muslims.
Lina’s diverse religious family experience helps their initial encounter to accept the differences. The two become the best of friends while studying in the university.
Malaysians believe that foods are the best medium to strengthen friendship. The pasar malam, pasar tamu, bazaar Ramadhan, Ramadhan buffet in hotels and nasi kandar restaurants, among others, bring people together where one’s own ethnic tastes are not the dimension but sharing other ethnic preferences bind them together subconsciously. These eating places not only provide the choices of food but like sports events are crowd pullers as the games bring people of various races together.
Of late, the Suzuki Cup final has been galvanising Malaysians to eateries and city centres where there are big screens to watch the match. Many others are glued to their home TVs to watch their national football team, the Malayan Tiger, play.
In the first leg of the final game, when the Malaysians were down by two goals to Vietnam, the crowd was urging their team to keep on fighting. When they began scoring, the roars of the Malaysians drowned the stadium and eateries.
When they equalised, even our Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and and his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah could not hide their joy, and together they stood tall with the people.
These moments of unity among Malaysians mean that Malaysians are not motivated by ethnic and religious divides that define their behaviours. Their ethno-religious boundary is thinned and they relate to one another not on the basis of differences but motivated by personal choices and gains.
This shows that ethnic relation cycles have reached a higher order –accepting, sharing and celebrating their ethno-religious differences.
These moments of unity are observed to take place not only during normalcy and happy times, but in times of disasters such as incidents of fire in the neighbourhood, accidents on the roads, child needing public donations for surgeries and during natural disasters like floods.
We see Malaysians voluntarily coming forward to provide assistance in the form of their time, materials and money to alleviate the sufferings of victims.
The best example was the Manik Urai big flood in 2014 in Kelantan that submerged many buildings and caused untold sufferings to dwellers of the areas. That flood broke the hearts of all Malaysians.
It galvanised Malaysians and NGOs to supply food and water to the affected areas using helicopters. Truckloads of water purifiers, medicines and other necessities were dispatched to the affected people.
The roads from Kota Bharu and Gua Musang were jammed with vehicles queuing to provide aid to the victims. Even in times of disasters, victims can feel proud that the whole nation is supporting them to overcome their sufferings.
Scholars should do more research on the moments of unity so as to identify their patterns and explain the sparks that light our national unity and keep Malaysians together as one big group.
We can take pride in the fact that whatever challenge and obstacle that we come across, Malaysians, as one united people, will overcome them.
• Prof Dr Mansor Mohd Noor is the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
KCH-analysismansor-1512
ANALYSIS
Malaysians relishing together the moments of unity
By Mansor Mohd Noor
Are our ethnic relations bad? Do we feel fearful of the other ethnic groups? There are the pessimists that think our ethnic relations are fragile.
Malaysia is, thus, aptly described as a plural society with ethnic and religious divides which will inevitably exploded into ethnic riots.
Lessons learned from the May 13 1969 ethnic riots show that good ethnic relations must be nurtured and strengthened to pave the way for the eventual goal of national unity.
Studies show at the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, that ethnic relations cycle begins with encounter, accommodation, enculturation, segmented assimilation, assimilation and amalgamation.
In these stages of ethnic cycle, physical appearance, clothing, language and religion are the dimensions often employed in identifying ethnic acquaintances.
However, identifying another’s ethnic origin is not that simple. Students standing in a long queue to register their residential college and faculty of study may have an embarrassing moment in striking a friendship.
Let’s examine the following scenario. The next student in the queue does not look Indian or Chinese in appearance; she is wearing baju kurung, speaking the Malay language and introduces herself as ‘Lina’. The Peninsula Malay girl who is wearing tudung and standing next to Lina, is happy to strike a conversation with Lina.
After finishing their registration they have lunch together. Later, the Malay girl invites Lina to go to the mosque to pray. With a smile, Lina says she’s a Christian from Mukah, Sarawak. Nevertheless, she says her own eldest brother and uncles are Muslims.
Lina’s diverse religious family experience helps their initial encounter to accept the differences. The two become the best of friends while studying in the university.
Malaysians believe that foods are the best medium to strengthen friendship. The pasar malam, pasar tamu, bazaar Ramadhan, Ramadhan buffet in hotels and nasi kandar restaurants, among others, bring people together where one’s own ethnic tastes are not the dimension but sharing other ethnic preferences bind them together subconsciously. These eating places not only provide the choices of food but like sports events are crowd pullers as the games bring people of various races together.
Of late, the Suzuki Cup final has been galvanising Malaysians to eateries and city centres where there are big screens to watch the match. Many others are glued to their home TVs to watch their national football team, the Malayan Tiger, play.
In the first leg of the final game, when the Malaysians were down by two goals to Vietnam, the crowd was urging their team to keep on fighting. When they began scoring, the roars of the Malaysians drowned the stadium and eateries.
When they equalised, even our Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and and his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah could not hide their joy, and together they stood tall with the people.
These moments of unity among Malaysians mean that Malaysians are not motivated by ethnic and religious divides that define their behaviours. Their ethno-religious boundary is thinned and they relate to one another not on the basis of differences but motivated by personal choices and gains.
This shows that ethnic relation cycles have reached a higher order –accepting, sharing and celebrating their ethno-religious differences.
These moments of unity are observed to take place not only during normalcy and happy times, but in times of disasters such as incidents of fire in the neighbourhood, accidents on the roads, child needing public donations for surgeries and during natural disasters like floods.
We see Malaysians voluntarily coming forward to provide assistance in the form of their time, materials and money to alleviate the sufferings of victims.
The best example was the Manik Urai big flood in 2014 in Kelantan that submerged many buildings and caused untold sufferings to dwellers of the areas. That flood broke the hearts of all Malaysians.
It galvanised Malaysians and NGOs to supply food and water to the affected areas using helicopters. Truckloads of water purifiers, medicines and other necessities were dispatched to the affected people.
The roads from Kota Bharu and Gua Musang were jammed with vehicles queuing to provide aid to the victims. Even in times of disasters, victims can feel proud that the whole nation is supporting them to overcome their sufferings.
Scholars should do more research on the moments of unity so as to identify their patterns and explain the sparks that light our national unity and keep Malaysians together as one big group.
We can take pride in the fact that whatever challenge and obstacle that we come across, Malaysians, as one united people, will overcome them.
• Prof Dr Mansor Mohd Noor is the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
