Religious Intolerance

The recent attacks on churches and mosques in Malaysia should serve as a wake up call for both our countries. Like Malaysia, Singapore has a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society.

Whilst the attacks on places of worship in Malaysia only happened recently, the undercurrent of religious and ethnic intolerance has been seething for decades now. As a result of divisive and racially defined politics, the country’s multi-racial community has become more polarised than it was prior to the country’s independence in 1957. Despite over 50 years of independence, the founding fathers, and subsequent leaders have tried but failed to promote national integrity. They have also failed to create a single national identity that Malaysians of all racial and religious backgrounds could associate with.

This resulted in the racial clash of 1969, which like the reformasi movement of 1997 in Indonesia, saw racial tension and street rule, with thousands of people of all races killed, and the fabrics of the nation changed forever. Due to the rapid economic growth of the country in the 80s and early 90s under the rule of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, religious and racial differences were set aside, as better lives, prosperity and general content sweeped across all strata of society. But still, the underlying racial and religious differences remained.

When Dr. Mahathir retired in 2003, these differences resurfaced, leading to the political tsunami in 2008. Many believed that the first unprecedented loss of 5 states by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition was due to general apathy against the coalition’s perceived arrogance and widespread corruption.

The real reason for BN’s electoral setback in 2008 could very well be the rising racial and religious intolerance. For example, many policies and political actions enacted prior to the 2008 elections, such as the relocation of Hindu temples and Chinese schools, turned the ethnic Chinese and Indian Malaysians against the ruling coalition, which they perceived to be Malay supremists and therefore, represents everything they could not agree with. The Malays, on the other hand, felt that UMNO, as the senior party within the ruling BN coalition, were giving away too much leeway to the Chinese and Indians, and hence voted in droves for the Islamic party, PAS. The net result is Malaysians of all races rising against the ruling coalition, ended its historical dominance in the parliament, and gave five (out of 13) states to the opposition. The opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition immediately took credit for the advances, when it was luck and fate, and more importantly, the strong undercurrent of religious and racial divide, that gave them those limited victories.

Racially based organisations, including those purportedly are umbrella organisations of the Malays, Chinese and Indians, did not help at all – and continued to make racially lopsided demands. These are large and powerful organisations, and I shall not name them, but one thing is sure – they are about as racially divisive as can be possible.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak recognised the problem, and introduced the 1Malaysia concept, with the hope that Malaysians of all races could see past their differences and work towards building a single nation with a single identity. But it will take years, decades even, to undo the ingrained racial and religious polarisation that has gradually built over the past five decades.

BOILING OVER

This is where Indonesia under the Suharto regime has done better than Malaysia. Despite the much criticised authoritarian rule of Pak Suharto, one of the right thing I felt he has done is to ensure assimilation of the minority, including the Chinese, into the mainstream by ensuring the widespread usage of a singular language, and diminishes the importance and usage of minority language and culture.

In Thailand, this process of integration has achieved almost complete success, and today, whilst some Chinese Thai still speaks and writes in Chinese, everyone could speak and understand Thai. The right to religion remains, with the Chinese Thais having a different set of deities and religious practices than the ethnic Thais. Most importantly, Chinese Thais (and to a lesser extend, Chinese Indonesians) identify themselves as Thais (and Indonesians, respectively). The same integration has happened in the Philippines, where any conflict between the races, is more of a wealth-divide issue, rather than on the basis of religion or ethnic background.

In Malaysia, do not be surprised to meet a Chinese Malaysian who could not speak Malay. Tune in to the local stations and you will get programmes of various languages. Very few Malaysians have close friends who are of a different ethnic background. Every race has their own racial jokes about the other races. That is how polarised Malaysia has become. In the absence of a unifying theme and assimilation, it’s a racial time-bomb waiting to explode.

LESSONS LEARNED

In Indonesia, we have seen in the late 90s some of the ugliest episodes of racial unrest. Many of us have learned from it. And since the downfall of the Suharto regime, and the better institutionalisation of the democratic system in Indonesia, they have managed to steered themselves away from further racial clashes.

What needed to be done here, in both Malaysia as well as Singapore, is to promote further inter-racial and inter-religious understanding. Tolerance itself is a misnomer – for to tolerate means you find the other side to be wrong and obnoxious. We need to move from intolerance to tolerance, and from tolerance to understanding and acceptance.

All of us, regardless of our racial or religious background, believe in harmony, peace and justice. Let us now use those common ideals, and common beliefs, in our dealing with fellow citizens who are of a different background. History should serve as a lesson, not as a reason to further our own interests.

Those of us in the business community, and as leaders of our own enterprises, need to set the right tone and examples, to enable those we lead and those who see us as examples, to move towards this goal.

The alternative is simply unimaginable.

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This article first appeared in my column in SME Magazine February 2010 edition. For more information, visit www.smemagazine.asia