Work in progress for peaceful coexistence

AS a developing country, Malaysia is a work in progress towards achieving maturity in physical and mental attributes.

Physically, the nation has progressed with good infrastructure and connectivity. Despite this, we are still struggling to establish a good maintenance culture.

There is still disparity in our mental attitudes towards race relations and religion. And the level of mental acumen varies geographically too. But the educational system attempts not only to close this gap but also raise literacy to a more competitive level.

Having moved from an agricultural to a manufacturing/service economy, Malaysia is still searching for a viable system that could withstand external pressures and internal haemorrhages.

It is still experimenting at minimising its weaknesses and maximising its strengths in its efforts to improve good governance, which is the basis of any good and viable economic system.

That the country is a work in progress is evidenced by the internal and external economic challenges we are facing.

Unlike some emerging third world countries where poverty is endemic and inequality of income is most glaring, Malaysia has been able to contain these two elements to a manageable level.

But it is still in precarious situation with escalating cost of living and the decline in the value of the ringgit, which has drastically reduced the purchasing power of the people.

And this has exacerbated the inequality of income, which will persist for some time to come until we change our mindset and address the core economic and political issues.

A nation that is a work in progress needs to develop a national mindset that reflects the hopes and aspirations of the people. More important is the mindset of the leadership that should galvanise the populace towards achieving the national aspiration.

A national mindset is a construct in which the populace subscribes to the philosophy of existence within their context, that is harmonious living through the unity of thoughts and actions, exhibiting patriotic sentiments to the nation and not to any individual. This national mindset must not be subverted by sectarian ones.

For now, we have yet to achieve the national ethos because of the divisiveness of thoughts and actions that is not conducive to national unity, which until now has been elusive.

We started in 1957 with a concerted effort at forging understanding towards achieving a harmonious existence among the races. Initial progress was encouraging but the May 13, 1969 racial riots put asunder the dreams and objectives of our founding fathers. It was left to Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, our second prime minister, to pick up the pieces and to forge a cohesive existence through social reengineering.

The initiative was moving well as the economic cake was equitably shared among the races. It was really a work in progress to uplift the lives of the poor without sacrificing the rights of the others. Tun Razak did a sterling job of balancing the various needs and aspirations of the people.

But lately, things have become more divisive by way of chauvinistic political parties, a fragmented education system that appears to segregate children according to racial lines and the economic disparity among the populace.

We are still working out the rela tionships between the civil and syariah laws and in some cases it has become adversarial.

The nation is really a work in progress but at times we have to fall back to the drawing board to chart new paths. But tensions keep surfacing, which may rupture, causing irreparable damage if sectarian interests and chauvinistic sentiments are not allayed and neutralised.

We need to chart paths that would take us to a level of maturity in governance and the economy, and an intelligent and intellectual mindset that would elevate us to the status of a developed nation.

Our leadership needs to develop a national blueprint that would coalesce the various elements, both disparate and conjunct, into a cohesive whole.

For the future wellbeing of our nation, we need to strengthen our common denominators by discarding schisms, chauvinism and political adventurism and coming to terms with the reality of our coexistence.