Newspapers and Information

As I step upon my soapbox, I would love to think that the world could be without borders, and everyone was equal. My pie in the sky thinking seems to not be going anywhere. In case any of you are interested, here is an article that was published in a newspaper here. It speaks of racism in Malaysia.  What one needs to understand is that there are three distinct races that live in Malaysia, of course among many others. The three are Malay, Chinese, and Indian.  The rest of us fall into the general mix of' 'others'. As a Canadian, I don't fully understand the racism - we have so many races and cultures in our country, and would be charged with political uncorrectness if we openly dismissed one culture.. We do not have the same issues as here, but we Canucks are not free of guilt in that arena either. We only need to look at Quebec and the rest of Canada, or what we have done in the past to Aboriginals  to experience empathy with Malaysians current issues. We as Canadians cannot walk away from this issue without some guilt of racism or cultural conflict in our past and present.

When you read the article you need to keep in mind that the three groups are all Malaysians. What may be confusing is the term Malay. If you try to find a definition of Malay you will find many different sources of that term. All depends upon the period of history where it begins. It does not matter, in my mind, which group one belongs to, they are all people, so are they not equal? I am not here to change the laws in Malaysia, but I am here as a Canadian, who, I hope, sees everyone equally. And that is what I am doing. Hopefully by example, I can help others to see the world in the same way. At least, in a community sense.

Once again, this article is for information only. It is not my opinion, it is not my article. It is a reporting of a survey. Hope it gives you understanding of life in Malaysia.   It starts off with:

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 22, 2006 (IPS) - Malaysia's first serious survey of race relations, in 50 years, shows that behind the façade of outward unity and peace, racism runs deep in this multi-ethnic 'melting pot'.
The telephone survey of about 1,200 Malaysians also found that the majority of the various races find comfort and security in their respective ethnicity and not in a common ‘Malaysian' identity, as the travel and tourism brochures suggest.
''The findings are not at all surprising,'' said social scientist Chandra Muzaffar. ''This is partly because ethnic boundaries are real in our society and almost every sphere of public life is linked to ethnicity in one way or another.''   By Baradan Kuppusamy

to read more, you can follow this link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32593