Pride and Prejudice

It is difficult to overcome ancient prejudices in matters of race and culture but if one makes a conscious effort to disassociate one's mind from overly simplistic generalizations and avoid giving in to that temptation (because thinking is hard), it is rather doable. As philosophers ponder on whether laziness or fear is the biggest obstacle to human progress, in this alley at least, i believe intellectual laziness is the cause and effect of our innate prejudices. But wait, how about one's past bad experiences that reinforce one's prejudices against a certain race/culture? If say, a Chinese Landlord had a tough time with his defaulting Malay tenant or a Malay customer gets cheated by a Chinese towkay selling counterfeit goods/gets overcharged or an Indian man drunk on alcohol physically abuses his spouse/partner, do any of these experiences justify and should they reinforce our ever lurking prejudices and preconceptions? The answer is NO. 

One must always remain vigilant and alert but especially with focus on the INDIVIDUAL and not to give in to easily stereotype an individual belonging to a certain race to a group of misbehaving miscreants based on the color of their skin or their cultural association. 

In Malaysia we still have some ways to go before we graduate from merely tolerating each other into open arm acceptance and embrace of our racial and cultural differences. Some of us are already there but the rest of us still have some catching up to do. But if the truth matters to you, that little effort in objective thinking is well worth the sacrifice.

Politicus Minimis

When No Politics is Good Politics

I've always believed that in life politics is inevitable. Like Bernie Sanders, one needs to get into politics so as to steer life clear of its ugliest excesses. However, i also believe that too much politics is bad in any given situation. Our country has been embroiled in endless politics for what seems like forever. From the Perak state government ouster to the stripping of titles of the incumbent Terengganu Menteri Besar, the casual observer can be forgiven to feel an overwhelming sense of nausea at the direction that this country is spinning towards. Instead of a sleeves-up and let's-get-down-to-work attitude, our people seem to favour indulging more and more in political play mostly of the petty and egregious type. I admit, politics cannot be avoided. But surely it can be moved away from always hogging the limelight? We have more important work to be done. Our educational system is still stuck in limbo, our system of checks and balances have mostly given way to a system of governance under the thumb of the executive branch of government, our judiciary appear trepidatious and afraid to stand its ground on matters of Principal. Granted that this country is still peaceful at least, we can count our lucky stars for that. But as Shakespeare's Julius Caesar co-conspirator Cassius said, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars But in ourselves, that we are underlings".   

Book Review: "The Chinese Dilemma" by Ye Lin-Sheng

I'm about 12 years late to review this book which was first printed in Feb 2004. I had seen its title and my initial reaction was: "Oh no, not another Dilemma book." And so i didn't give it a second glance back then. But having just finished all 197 pages of it, I can say that Malaysian Chinese businessman Ye Lin-Sheng has done an admirable job of summarising the concerns and common grouses of the Malaysian Chinese and non-Malays especially in regards to the New Economic Policy (NEP) and its 1990 successor the National Development Policy (NDP) or the Affirmative Action program of the Malaysian Government. From its inception to implementation and the public reception and the mainly (according to Ye) positive results through all these years. Ye who grew up in a rural environment with Malay neighbours and friends and has worked in the civil service during the colonial era, struck a conciliatory tone with the merits of such government policies. He lays out the pros and cons of affirmative action policies in Malaysia, compares it with American experiences, lists the Malaysian Chinese' largely lukewarm reception to it, its social and economic impact, the nett effect on outwards migration of the Malaysian Chinese and whether it truly is as bad as it is made out to seem. 

He ends the book on a positive note with this piece of advice: "Make it work or lose it all here".