Why do we fear anything ‘other’?
Our education system does little to produce humane citizens able to live harmoniously in a pluralistic society.
AMONG the major political party coalitions in Malaysia, I believe one particular coalition falls all too easily into using religious fear and a narrative of hate. And what devastates me is that it is that very coalition that is being backed strongly enough by one race that it is a serious contender in forming the new government.
After almost 70 years of independence, is this what we have to show for education in this country?
I know of one research centre that is said to be the “best” in ethnic relations but since its inception, race relations have only continued going downhill.
This centre boasts an international standing with many papers and publications to its name.
But funnily enough, though I have tracked more than 30 incidences of hate speeches and race or religious narratives over the last two decades, this centre’s name does not appear in any statements attempting to counter any of the hate and fear-stoking.
My concern here is, when is enough, enough? The authorities seem to turn a deaf ear or blind eye to hate speech and writings and to fear-mongering in society using religion.
And none of this is hidden, some of it is right there in Facebook accounts of political personalities and in widely-circulated videos on social media.
Of course, how the enforcement people do their work is something I am not qualified to comment on, so I will leave it to others more learned in legal matters to do so.
What I do want to raise – and what I am certainly qualified to comment on after decades as an academician – is what kind of education led millions of Malaysian voters to favour a party in which religion is the main driving force? Why did they not reject its propensity to use religion and fear of everything unlike them to muster support?
The answer, of course, lies in the sort of education we have in Malaysia, a lack of socialisation, and of silence in the face of hate speech.
Firstly, our education teaches us all to be nuts, bolts, screws and nails. We are all educated to fit perfectly into the cogs of industry, nothing more. With that, any element of humanity in treating others with respect, dignity and humility does not exist.
This is made worse by a system that teaches only one religion in schools.
And that teaching focuses only on rituals and a history of religious wars and misdeeds of those from other religions.
The humanistic values of that religion are ignored, they are not given equal weight with the rituals. Surely our hearts would be empty after going through this kind of schooling all the way up to university level?
In Indonesia, I heard that the government requires the teaching of all major religions in its religious curriculum – Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam. Remarkable. On the other hand, here in Malaysia, I have been accused of being “an agent of Christianity” because I attended a Christmas gathering or gave a talk in a church. Susah lah ini macam!
The other problem is that our youth in schools and universities lack socialising in different cultures and faiths. This results in people becoming lecturers and teachers who do not encourage socialising with “others”, with anyone outside their “own type”.
And university managements and school administrations don’t give a damn about this as long as their quota of marks and total number of academic publications are met.
The acceptance of hate speech and fear-mongering using religious narratives is testimony to our disastrous university education. Institution leaders either don’t care or do not know enough to care about this. They are managers of things and not builders of humanity.
The third problem is the silence. When a politician from this troubling coalition made references to Jewish conspiracies and the supposed “Christianisation” of Malaysia, he was not rebuked by the muftis or clerics (who, by the way, are salaried through taxes paid by all the peoples of Malaysia). No academician stepped up to advice the politician and clarify the issue.
Silence when a politician behaves in this manner results in a perception of acceptance, and later on the behaviour is even reinterpreted as courageous. This person is labelled a hero to his people – but not to all people in Malaysia.
Election after election has taken place, government after government has led the country, and PM after PM has come and gone, but the narrative of hate has simply worsened because it has been “encouraged” – by a bad system of education, by a lack of socialisation, and by silence.
Producing humane citizens has never been acknowledged as a prime criteria of education in Malaysia.
How long are we going to ignore the elephant, the hippo and the wild boar in the room?
Democracy, it seems, not only grants citizens the power to appoint a good government but it also allows us to choose a bad one. A government is only as good as the people who voted it in, and if the government is callous and driven by a narrative of isolationism and non-inclusiveness, well, the fingers point both ways.