KOTA KINABALU: LDP Youth chief Tsang Hieng Yee wants Malaysians to reject racism and religious extremism but instead to always practise moderation, mutual respect and acceptance.
“It is my hope that we stop racial and religious division now, for freedom of religion is clearly provided for in the federal constitution. Our aim is to bring Malaysia to greater heights in the global map and we seriously need collaboration and understanding of the concept of commonness among all Malaysians in order to achieve that. Don’t look backwards but move forward,” he stressed.
Tsang in a statement yesterday lamented that racial tensions in the country seemed to have reached unprecedented high recently, particularly owing to the contribution made by Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA).
“We have seen that ISMA had gone as far as alleging that Malaysian Chinese were immigrants who had trespassed into the land of the Malays by being here in Malaysia. I believe such an allegation is totally irrelevant in the era where Malaysia is now, after having gained independence from the British for more than 50 years through the collaboration of the three main ethnic groups in the country, namely the Malays, Chinese and the Indians,” he said.
According to him, Malaysian Chinese and Indians are now in their fourth or fifth generation in Malaysia and they were born, bred and grew up in Malaysia under the Malaysian education system.
Since birth, they have been exposed to the various cultures of the various races that made up the nation, and some of them even no longer speak their mother tongue, only Bahasa Melayu and English.
In terms of social life, they have no problems sitting together with their friends from other ethnic backgrounds and to enjoy food that is not of their own culture.
“Such has become part and parcel of the social life of the young generation of Malaysians, and I think it is very positive and praiseworthy, which ought to be carried on and even enhanced. I would say that it is unfair to claim that these young Malaysians are immigrants, trespassers, intruders or in some other similar derogatory labels.
“For those who may have not already known, Malaysians are also blessed with another great virtues which are becoming more famous in the world arena. I shall tell you this special virtue that has caught the world’s attention.
“For those Malaysian parents whose children are studying overseas, whether you are of Malay, Chinese, Indian or other racial descents, have your children ever told you that they would receive positive comments from time to time from their friends from other countries about their ease and effortlessness to get along and befriend people from different countries?
“I personally have received numerous such comments before, and believe me, receiving such compliments are one of the proudest moments of my life being a Malaysian,” he said, adding that it was understandable as to why Malaysians have such advantage when it came to getting along with foreigners because we all grew up in a multi-cultural environment.
Tsang stressed that mutual respect and accepting different cultures had been our way of life since we were born.
“This way of life may even have been in existence before independence, but only seeing it begin to vanish through the many attempts of the various extreme religious groups to divide the different multi-cultural societies in Malaysia,” he opined.
“We must not succumb to such attempts by these irresponsible people. We must not lose sight to the benefits that are offered by the multi-cultural Malaysian society to us. For instance, don’t you think that a Malay youngster, who can write and speak Chinese perfectly, because he had taken Chinese subjects in school, is very impressive and stand a better chance to compete successfully in Asia? Sure I would think so. There are many more advantages that we are enjoying being a multi-cultural society which are too numerous to list out here.
“Malaysia, being a multi-cultural country, is a fact that cannot be changed.
“But why do we need to change it if we are heading in the right direction? Instead, we ought to constantly enhance our Malaysian spirit of loving and caring for each other without regard to race.
“Religious and racial extremism will destroy our country. It is too late to turn back the time and Malaysian history cannot be rewritten. Nobody can ignore the contribution that has been provided by the respective races in Malaysia. We all have our role to play and we all form a big family. Without any of the race, our family will become incomplete and Malaysia will never be the Malaysia again,” he said.