Merdeka, National Integration and Polarization.

Last month, our beloved nation turned 53 years old. The watershed date of August 31st marked the occasion where on that very date, 53 years ago, our nation achieved it’s independence from the British.

It was an important event for our nation however, aside from having a free nation, our nation building stalled there as many of the problems facing us as a nation then remained with us now at best, at worst things are actually better of than compared to now, economic consideration aside. One of the main hindrance of national integration in our country is the state of polarization among the races that persisted from pre-independence until now, 53 years later.

Most of the way things were then, remained now despite we achieving independence like the social order that caused polarization during the colonial time due to the divide and rule policy they used against us. It's ironic then that now, the same policy is still in force and are administrated by our own government now claiming it as ''acuan sendiri".

An example of such problem in national integration among the different ethnic groups, we remain as divided as a nation despite being together for a long time. The Malays, Chinese, Indians and East Malaysians have their own communal interests at heart instead of having the Malaysian interest. Efforts in integration have been hampered by those yelling racial supremacy and racial togetherness.

Our Deputy Prime Minister Muhyidin Yassin himself led the charge of ethnicity over nation when he proclaimed he is a Malay first, Malaysian second. Many of our top leaders when press whether they are Malaysians first, either decline to comment or claim that they identify with their race first. That shows what we are having here is not nation building but ethnic ‘’building’’ within these nation which is not the effective way to go.

Having touched the issue of separation among the races among the leaders, let us look at among the common people. We remain as polarized as ever as we can see we are separated in different sector or groups.

The public sector consist of mainly Malays and the private sector is dominated by the non-Malays. In education, many Malays will go to national schools while the non-Malays will go to their respective vernacular schools and when they go to pursue higher education, majority of the Malays will be in public universities or colleges and most non-Malays will be in private ones. There are also specific industries which are race-dominated like the Chinese in the car workshop business.

Even when we are born, we are already divided into the Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera with each group having different benefits from the other. So it’s difficult to have a common interest and values, an essential ingredient for nation building, when we are polarized like this.

Furthermore, our political and social system are designed to ensure the continuation of such polarization as any effort to change the way things work by any means will most likely have serious consequences on the individual or group that are doing so. We have laws such as the Seditious Act and Internal Security Act to stop anyone from preaching against the current norm as they are deemed to sensitive and can disrupt the harmony among the races.

So we swept the problem of national integration under the carpet and assume ignorantly that there is no conflict among the races despite the writing on the wall such as the Namewee video clip, the Hindraf condemnation of the Malays and the “pendatang” tag given to the non-Malays by the Malays. Anyone caught questioning it will be incarcerated so the norm with it’s many problems persists.

We live in a nation of make believe where national integration is only manifested in the many commercials where we ‘’makan’’ together despite mentally and emotionally there is some serious discontent among us and there is now way of solving it as we are deemed to sensitive based on the absolute discretion of the powers that be.

In conclusion, as stated above, we are independent but we have not build our nation state(Negara Bangsa) of Malaysia where we our salience and loyalty is to the nation and not race, instead we have in Malaysia, many states with different interests competing with each other, each placing their interests above the interest of the nation as a whole. What we have is instead, a ‘’ state-nation”.

Therefore in conjunction with the 53 years of our nation’s independence, let us ‘’ask not what our nation has done for us, but ask instead what we have done for our nation”. That famous remark by President Kennedy is the cure to our cancer as many of our leaders are asking what their community deserves from the nation as being the sons of the soil ( Bumiputera), being a small minority, being the largest economic contributor and what not, instead of what the communities should do for the nation as a whole.

Let us change our paradigm and think as a Malaysian and what we can do for our nation so that we can put our past and self-prescribed sensitivities behind and begin the construction of our nation state where we all belong irrespective of our differences. That is my dream, and I think it should be part of the still non- existent Malaysian dream.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY MALAYSIA!...:)