Malaysia: Racist Attack on Eve of Independence Day

In 2009 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had come up with the 1Malaysia unity concept, which was popularized by the media.

Blogger OutSyed The Box highlighted a news report that explains the 1Malaysia concept:

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) — Malaysians should discard their ‘ethnic silo’ mentality, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.The Prime Minister said Malaysians must “stand together, think and act as one people under the ‘1Malaysia concept’.”

“Lets break away from operating in the ethnic prism as we have done over so many years. This is also the meaning of the ‘1Malaysia’ concept.

“We must respect each other, go beyond tolerance and build trust among each other and build trust between various ethnic groups,” he told a press conference here, Wednesday.

However, since the introduction of this concept, it has been criticised by many who believe that racial tension still exist in the country. Blogger Calvin Chew had told the story of another blogger:

I’ve heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don’t need to be told to be united. We’ve come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united.

Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders.

Yet, on the 30th of August, 2010, on the eve of Malaysia's Independence Day, this view was further strengthened when a story surfaced on social networking site Facebook about an alleged racist attack by several teenagers:

As we walked past them, suddenly one of them turned around and started to make a flying kick (sic) to my friend. Noticing the ‘fun’ he is having, his other friends started to do the same to me. It was so sudden and all I was thinking at the moment was, “What the hell did we do to them?”

Both of us ended up kneeling on the ground for a moment before more kicks and punches came flying in. Even though both of us had our tripod strapped across our shoulder, we were too shocked to react to it. Eventually one punch landed right on my right forehead and I started to bleed profusely. Seeing that they eventually stopped and walked away.WALKED AWAY, damn it. They were not even afraid to run but just WALKED AWAY like winning a game or something.The last thing I remember hearing from one of them was “Baliklah ke negara asal” (Return to your home country in Malay).

While it seems that the 1Malaysia concept is not making much progress, blogger Khoo Kay Peng weighed in on the issue:

What is lacking is the political will to implement the real spirit of 1Malaysia e.g. offering equality, sense of belonging, fairness, socio-economic justice and mutual respect to all Malaysians regardless of race or creed.

For the concept to be successful, the BN (Barisan Nasional) government must not continue to play its race supremacy game. If a particular race is seen as more supreme or privileged than others, the concept of 1Malaysia will remain a mere concept without a soul.

2 comments

  • moulana saleem ebrahim

    salaam Islam is beyond race,creed,caste,language barriers,nationality and a class society .So were do we find such zenophobic or racist tendencies ? Is this in the Quran or Traditions of Muhammad [pbuh].We have unknowingly embrace the idea of western nationalism and because of nationalism we do not have a Khaliphate system .In my country we know best what racism is and we have fought against it. So you fight against it espescially if you are the perpetrators of such an unislamic practice. I always held the view that Malaysia was the most practical Islamic country , please prove me right . wassalaam

  • Bangsawan Malaysia

    We, Malaysians were all ONE at ONE time in the not too distant future. We worked together for the betterment of this country regardless of our race and religion. We fought together for the independence of this country. But someone told the Malays that they are weak and they cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with the other races. Someone told the Malays that they need to be protected from the other races. Someone told the Malays that they need to be helped to come up on par with the other races. Now that same someone is talking about OneMalaysia. There can never be OneMalaysia as long as there is a segregation of races. There can never be a OneMalaysia as long as there is a race called “Bumiputra”. We only lying to ourselves if we believe that there can be a OneMalaysia as long as that Someone is in Power. Of all the races in this beautiful country, the race that lost most are the Malays. And they did not lose because of the other race. They lost because they were robbed by their own so called “protectors”. They got robbed by the very people that said were standing for their rights. The Malays have to stand up and fight for the Independence from these people who are suppressing their freedom, their intellect and their dignity.

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