JUNE 10 — I watched a movie on Astro recently, where a group of men were going to great pains to determine the purity of an individual’s identity, and had to consider factors like, what if the individual had one grandparent with mixed blood? Two? Three? What if an individual married and had children with someone who was half mixed? A quarter? An eighth?

Of Mudbloods and murder

These were not wizards discussing Mudbloods. This was a recreation of the Wannsee Conference, where a group of German officials gathered in 1942 to discuss the “final solution” of “the Jewish problem”. (I’m sure there are many here in our own country who would like to discuss their own version of such a solution/problem, but that’s a sad story for another day.)

In my limited experience, the only people who love to nitpick about ethnic origins are people who are either trying to determine why a model has such exotic looks, or people who intend to do some serious harm.

Wars such as those in Rwanda and Yugoslavia were never about race or about “ancient hatreds”, they were about expert manipulation and manoeuvring by individuals who were willing to sacrifice millions of others to gain power (perhaps not unlike some dark chapters in our own history).

People do not spontaneously wake up and decide to butcher neighbours with whom they have been living peacefully for decades — they do the unthinkable when incited to do so by people who use racial differences as a means to bloody ends.

Racially divided politics = Racially divided nation

Which leads to the question — what’s with Malaysia’s obsession with race? I believe that while our neighbours also have problems with race, none of them have it quite so bad as we do. I also believe there’s a very simple answer for this.

This answer is not the fact that many of our neighbours embarked on a very different path of national integration. Every Thai/Indonesian/Filipino speaks Thai/Indonesian/Filipino and has a Thai/Indonesian/Filipino name. Whether or not this is the best approach again is beyond the scope of this article.

What you will find however, is that none of these countries have had to suffer rule under a single race-based, race-obsessed political entity for every single year of its existence as a nation.

I will forever continue to play the broken record until there is change: domination by race-based parties will result in a racially-divided society. In the many years where the only real competition is between Umno, MCA and MIC, everything is a Malay, Chinese, Indian issue (sorrylah, stepchildrened East Malaysians).

Fifty years in, I fear the damage that is being done is nearing irreparable. I have never forgotten this poignant story by an editor of a Chinese news website, about how she saw things sadly polarise in her faraway kampung over the years — how once acceptable interactions slowly but surely became unacceptable. 

In two recent outings, one to Kiara Park and one to the Dinosaur exhibit at the National Science Centre, I noted sadly how the sight of a multi-racial group of kids playing together was by far the exception, and not the norm. In the latter, it seemed like all the organised trips seemed to be monoethnic in nature — chattering in Mandarin, or decked out in songkoks and tudungs.

Shay

Amidst all this division, we have a lovely young couple who want nothing more than to have their child be seen as Malaysian before anything else. This has never been to me a case of politicisation, but a heartfelt attempt by parents who do not want their child to be subject to the same racial pigeonholing they had to suffer.

Is Hannah Yeoh and Ramchandran Ram’s attempt to have their daughter considered “Malaysian” instead of “Chinese” or “Indian” part of some subversive plot to slowly erase ethnicity and “steal what belongs to the rightful owners of this land” as part of some neo-colonial scheme that seeks to displace natives? If that sounds like hogwash to you, it’s because it is.

The mother in question belongs to a political coalition that has said time and again that aid is a good thing. Every poor Bumiputera should -- nay, must -- be helped by the state to break from the bonds of poverty. The only question that remains is why is the state helping rich Bumiputeras (perhaps more accurately Umnoputeras) at the expense of poor non-Bumiputeras?

Shouldn’t aid be given to all poor Malaysians, regardless of race? There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that such a policy properly enforced would result in indescribably more Bumiputeras rising up from poverty and making a better living.

After all, why on earth are we continuing to choose a policy and a government that has failed so very miserably to improve the economic well-being of the Bumiputeras after 50 long years?

One’s cultural heritage is something that must, beyond doubt, be cherished and protected. There are many things Chinese, Indian and Malay that I love and personally feel is part of my own culture (I certainly feel cooler in a songkok than any funny Chinese hat).

At the same time, we cannot be force-feeding people our definition of what their cultural heritage is. If this beautiful child’s own creators say she is neither Chinese nor Indian, just who the hell are we — or for that matter, the government -- to say otherwise?

Hannah is about my age and of similar background — we both can’t speak Chinese convincingly (although if there is any doubt as to my Hokkienness, let me state that I can sing this song EXTREMELY convincingly — anywhere, anytime, babeh), and instead studied Malay for 11 years and use it professionally on a daily basis. She’s mentioned being to China and feeling totally unable to relate, while I have never even been — we both have only one place that we could rightfully call home.

So what exactly is it that is so Chinese about us that it is compulsory to call our kids Chinese if we don’t want to? This illogical and unreasonable obsession with putting us into boxes can only result in bad things, not good.

Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia

I think another major concern or perception raised is that the notion of being Malaysian will eventually supersede and eliminate being “Malay”, “Chinese” and “Indian”.

I do not support this notion for the same reason I believe Hannah and Ram should be allowed to put whatever “ethnicity” they like for their child: because everyone should be able to determine for themselves which ethnic heritage they choose to identify with and consider important.

I believe that it is the inalienable right of every Malay who wants to identify as a Malay to do so, and to forever perpetuate their distinct cultural heritage. There is nothing wrong at all with the notion: “Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia”. The same goes for any other group.

In choosing to identify their child as Malaysian, I rather doubt it is the intent of the couple in question to erode or eliminate anything — least of all the notion of Malay identity. On the contrary, I feel it is to create — to create an alternative identity that others may or may not choose to take on as well as their hearts desire.

Not wanting to identify as “Malaysian” certainly does not in my book make anyone less patriotic or committed towards loving one’s neighbours and being a good citizen. It all boils down to a simple, personal choice in what is a very personal matter.

In the state of our country today, I think even the blind can see that what we need are avenues for us to heal the wounds and come together, not cling to archaic options on registration forms that will only keep us apart to the point where will one day completely forget what it is like to be good neighbours. I say let parents put whatever they like — or, better yet, eliminate the need to put anything at all.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.