According to a survey carried out recently by a bunch of academics from the University of Malaya (UM), racial integration among the youngsters have still quite a ways to go. The survey was conducted in 44 schools across Malaysia involving only the Form 4 students and once tabulated, only 52% of them said that they have friends of a different race. Is this surprising at all to hear? Is it?
How much integration do we really want to have if we continue to allow schools and neighbourhoods of specific ethnicity to exists? If we want to be really racial integrated, we have to do away with all that but saying that than of course opposition will come saying that the government is hindering a certain ethnic group from growing and knowing their cultural background. Now that just not do-able. Thats bad publicity what it is and that's the last thing that we ever want. And then there's the question of double standard. The Bumiputra status. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumiputra). Do the Malays really wanna let go of their status as Bumiputra so that Malaysia can truly be a nation of just and fairness?...perhaps until these things are being done and some more than only can we be truly integrated.
The thing is as much as we Malaysians want to say that we are a nation where people of different races live in complete and ultra harmony, we all know its not true. Yes, the world see us like that. From the outside. But then everything seeing from the outside is better than whats going on in the inside. Malaysia- a nation who people of different races live in perfect harmony? No of course not. A nation of racial understanding? To a certain degree. A nation of racial tolerance- Yes it is.
And that what it really is in the end: tolerance.
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