Assoc Prof Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow
KUCHING (March 20): Malaysians must continue to observe and uphold mutual respect and tolerance or the country might be on its way to destruction, said Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow.
The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia Faculty of Syariah and Law associate professor said Malaysia is a multi-racial country and will continue to be so given that multiculturalism is a fundamental facet of the society.
“Malaysians should be grateful that their society is multi-racial as this enables everybody to know and help each other, and improve themselves to become better persons.
“One of the major benefits of living in a multi-racial society is that the cultural exchange of ideas, values and habits can help people enhance their quality of life,” he said in a statement today.
Muzaffar asserted that Malaysians who live in a diverse society could become more aware of their own cultural identity.
According to him, people living in multi-racial communities feel the need to define their identity besides having the need to understand the differences and similarities among themselves.
“Living in a multi-racial society, we will be surrounded by people with different backgrounds and cultural identities which can encourage tolerance and open-mindedness.
“If people feel accepted and valued, they will have an intrinsic motivation to contribute to the society where they can afford to seek quality of life,” he said.
Muzaffar said every individual irrespective of race and faith has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Stressing that there is no such thing as perfect individual or perfect race, he said Malaysians need each other if they want to see a progressive society and make their country great.
“Everybody must learn to live in peace and enjoy prosperity. We must learn the lesson from the racial tension that happened in the United States few years ago which landed the nation in deep chaos,” he cautioned.
He said Malaysia could introduce and implement laws as well as rules and regulations to coerce its people for observing and practising peace and social harmony.
“However, it would be much better if everybody can take all the efforts by themselves to preserve a peaceful society without being forced to do so through legislation,” he added.