Looking back at my class photos, I can see
that when I was in Standard 1 (Tahun 1 Limau, 1984, Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan
Taman Seaport), out of 45 students in that class, only twelve of them were
Malays. I had 20 Chinese classmates, eight Indians while the rest were Kadazan-Dusun, Ceylonese and Eurasians. And my Standard 2 class (Tahun 2
Durian, 1985) was the same. There were 44 students in the class, 15 of them
Malays, 21 Chinese and five Indians.
Those numbers sum-up quite nicely my
childhood environment. My friends and I,
we were truly '1Malaysia'. In fact, my best mate in primary school was a
Chinese boy named Oliver, and in my first three years of secondary school in
Kelana Jaya, my closest friend was my Indian buddy, Thanaraj.
I was conscious about my race and religion,
and I'm sure all my friends in school were conscious of theirs too. That, however, did not stop us from playing together. We knew we had
different cultural-religious beliefs and practices. We talked about them at
times and from these conversations we learned to respect one another.
Occasionally, there were misunderstandings.
I can recall one specific occasion when we were all tired and thirsty after playing
football, a Chinese friend refused
to drink water from the same bottle with me, not because he thought my bottle
was dirty or anything but because; as what he said "aku makan babi" (I eat pork)". He was genuinely
concerned that if his lips touched the bottle, the bottle would instantly
become haram (forbidden) for me to
drink from.
I can see from those old class photos too
that back then, all of us Malay boys wore shorts to school while the Malay
girls all wore pinafores. One or two Malay girls started wearing baju kurung in
Standard 4 while the boys started wearing long pants in Standard 5. Even in
Standard 6, there were still more Malay girls in pinafores and skirts (prefect
attire). Now, all Malay boys in primary schools right from Standard 1, wear
long pants to school, and all the Malay girls wear baju kurung with tudung or headscarves as well.
The Malay-Muslim society in Malaysia has
certainly become more Islamic over the last three decades. The influx of
Islamic television programmes in recent years is a stark reminder of that too.
Back in the early 1980's, the only regular religious programme was Muqaddam, a basic Quran reading
programme hosted by Ustaz Hassan Azhari, aired on RTM1 every afternoon. Friday
sermons were not even shown live on national television. There were recorded
and aired after the evening news at 8.30 pm on Fridays. I remember this because what came immediately after was Tayangan
Minggu Ini, a programme which aired old Malay movies of P. Ramlee and his
contemporaries.
The ‘Islamic Malaysia’ that we live in
today is a country were 'Islamic' content penetrates into all spheres of life;
in education, entertainment, medicine, finance, fashion
and others. A Muslim, like me, certainly has no problems with this for Islam is
my religion. But for non-Muslims?
I can understand their concerns. More so if
I imagine myself in a reversed situation, i.e. a Muslim minority living in a non-Muslim
majority society. If, for example that I live in the UK, and the British people
suddenly became more religious that all public schools suddenly revert to
routines and practices of mission schools in the past; with prayers read and
hymns sang in student assemblies, the BBC begin to air more religious
programmes; live coverage of mass on Sundays, Christian talent shows etc, and
the British Prime Minister announcing a national policy of insertion of
Christian values in public service, as a Muslim living in the UK, I would
definitely be very concerned.
Coming back to the reality here in
Malaysia, I disagree with the popular assumption that the person chiefly
responsible for the Islamization of the society was former Prime Minister Dr.
Mahathir. Yes, he was indeed the man who introduced a national policy of
insertion of Islamic values (dasar
penerapan nilai-nilai Islam) in the 1980's, and the Islamization wave that
hit the country coincides nicely with his premiership. But really, that was
pretty much what it was, a coincidence. Anyone who became prime minister at
that time would have introduced some form of Islamization, one way or another.
Not to say that Dr. Mahathir was insincere.
He was indeed the country's first practicing Muslim prime minister. And I do
believe he is genuinely religious in his own way. But more than anything, Dr.
Mahathir was a cunning observer of political trends. He recognised and
understood the Islamization wave that hit, not only the Muslims here but
Muslims all over the world. He knew that if UMNO did not try to 'Islamize'
itself, it might lose its position to PAS as the major political vehicle for
the Malays. So he went on executing a deliberate political strategy’ to
Islamize’ the government and his party. And getting the then ABIM president,
Anwar Ibrahim, to join UMNO was undoubtedly part of that strategy.
As far as winning the hearts and minds of
the Muslims is concern, that strategy worked. Except for his last general election in 1999, UMNO and Barisan Nasional garnered the majority of Malay votes in every
general election held during Dr. Mahathir’s tenure. But when it comes to race
relations and national integration, that strategy has certainly caused great
consternation.
Many non-Malays now refer to national
schools as 'Malay schools' precisely because almost all the students there are
Malays. There are hardly any non-Malays. The situation is particularly acute in
urban areas. I live in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and the local national
primary school here has not had a single Chinese student enrolled for more than ten years.
Non-Muslim parents, especially Chinese,
have overwhelmingly refused to send their children to national primary schools.
This has been going on for almost two decades now, hence, as a result, we have
an entire generation of Malaysians growing up in a more-or-less homogeneous environment;
growing up interacting only with those of the same race with very little
interaction with others.
When you don’t interact with others, what
would be the most likely effect? Tolerance and acceptance, or prejudice and
discrimination? You don't need a PhD in social psychology or sociology
to know the answer.
The situation today certainly does not look
good. The dream for a ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ and ‘1Malaysia’ looks increasingly more
like a pipe dream. But I believe there are still ways to salvage that dream. It
requires commitment and sacrifices from all; Muslims and non-Muslims, Malays
and non-Malays. For the sake of genuine peace and harmony, each of us needs to accept
some changes and let go some of our long-held opinions.
For example...
