Layout BK3 final.indd - USM

BERITA KAMPUS SELASA 2 SEPTEMBER 2008
Before proceeding with the
following content, let us all take
a walk down memory lane to
recall the days when we were
still seated behind tiny tables
and chairs that were custom
made for primary school goers.
A little sense of nostalgic does
not hurt nor does it cause mental
fatigue. And that little sense might
be just the thing to allow reality to
dawn on oneself after being misled
by certain essentials for years.
By the age of seven, most of
us would have definitely learned
our ABCs well enough to read.
Some of us might even have
begun reading the encyclopedia
or even questioning the philosophy
of life we read from just
anywhere, probably the wall.
For example, we question about
the blue skies, plants, our parents,
our teachers, our friends, school,
animal behaviours and so on.
Even at a tender age, we question
about just anything that crosses
our mind. The word, ‘Why’, just
seem like a large part of our life.
Yet, we never question about
what we were taught back in school.
For example, the ‘Kajian Tempatan’
subject that we were all made
to study for in primary school in
which contains a whole chapter on
ethnicity and its various cultures.
In this case, we never question
about the cultures that we
were made to believe to have
belonged to a specific ethnicity.
Does that ring a bell?
We were, then, taught how to
categorize various widely practiced
cultures in Malaysia namely the
Malay, Chinese and Indian culture.
Therefore, it has been instilled
in our mind that it is exceptionally
important to develop
an intercultural understanding
in order to live in peace among
the different races in Malaysia.
Again, we have forgotten to question
the exact meaning of ‘Race’.
Does it mean ethnicity as well?
We have even forgotten
to question the redundancy
of filling up the ‘Race’ column
in an application form.
Therefore, we have been
made to believe that intercultural
understanding is the bestof-the-best
solution in overcoming
certain issues that have
been raised and dwelled on.
For example, polarization. We
always thought that polarization
made its way through the society
because there was not enough intercultural
understanding among
ourselves and that it is only natural
that polarization existed.
However, when Berita Kampus
met with Senior Fellow at the
S. Rajaratnam School of International
Studies Dr. Farish A. Noor
at the 3rd International Conference
on Inter-Asian Culture, Communication,
Conflict and Peace in Uni-
versiti Sains Malaysia (USM) recently,
it was told to be otherwise.
According to Farish Noor, intercultural
understanding is a completely
different phenomenon that
takes place on a societal evolution
whereas polarization is engineered
by a ruling party of the country.
“The first thing we have to reject
is the idea that polarization is
a natural process because it is not.
Polarization, especially ethnic,
communal, religious or linguistic,
is engineered politically. It exists
on the level of the political whereas
cultural interaction exists on
the level of the societal. These are
two very different things,” he said.
When asked about the root
of the problem that leads to polarization,
Farish Noor believed
that it rooted from the political
sphere. And, therefore, requires
a political solution to it.
So as to say, the solution of
this problem that had been lingering
around for five decades has got
nothing to do with intercultural understanding
as most of us thought
would have been. (Remember how
we use to write that as a solution
in our essays back in school?)
“I don’t believe cultures are actually
polarized because on a dayto-day
basis in all mix plural societies,
people do interact and there is
already a lot of cultural overlapping.
“And the aim of polarization
is actually to prevent that overlapping
or to make it more difficult.
So, for instance, let’s look at something
very simple. The Malaysian
language is already plural, complex,
mix and hybrid,” he added.
In addition to that, Farish Noor
said 40 percent of the words in
our national language are made
up of Sanskrit words whereas
another 40 percent are Arabic
words while the remaining 20
percent are made up of Chinese,
peribumi and European words.
“From the beginning, the
Malay language is already
a cosmopolitan language so
there is nothing wrong with it.
“It is when politicians start identifying
the Malaysian language as
the language of one specific ethnic
community i.e. the Malays, that is
when they cause polarization. They
are making an essential, something
which is actually complex
and non essentialize,” he added.
When asked about how the
political engineering process
has affected the development of
culture, Farish Noor added that
cultures have already interact
and that they are all hybrid and
cosmopolitan no matter what
the communitarians have to say.
For example, the Malay culture
has strong Javanese, Indonesian,
Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese
and Indian influences while
the Chinese culture is largely
influenced by the Persian, Arabian
and European culture.
As for the Indian culture, it is
so much indented to Central Asia,
Southeast Asia and Europe as well.
However, Farish Noor said
that this aspect of cosmopolitanism
is being diminished
by political strategies that are
aimed against polarizing Malays
against non-Malays. And, the
same thing is happening among
other communities in Malaysia.
“I think we have reached the
point where we should completely
reject all these essentialized
categories like Malay, Chinese
and Indian as these are completely
untenable ideas. There is
no such thing as an Indian culture,
Malay culture or Chinese
culture. They are all hybrid, plural
and cosmopolitan,” he said.
He added, however, the prevailing
political logic in Malaysia
is one gear towards racial polarization
by adopting and perpetuating
the myth of racial difference.
It was a shock to finally learn
that the idea of ‘Race’ is a completely
new concept that was introduced
during the colonial period
and had been maintained till today.
“This concept (race) does not
exist. It is completely fiction, because
scientifically, a scientist
will tell you that there’s only one
race which is the human race.
“It is not as if the different racial
groups here are like horses,
dogs or chickens that we cannot
breed because if we could not then
we could not have interracial marriages
and children. Obviously, everyone
is mix,” said Farish Noor.
He once again stressed that the
root of the problem is that the politics
in Malaysia is based on a set
of ideas that have no scientific basis
to them and based on a fiction
on racial difference resulting in a
very weak politics with no principles
and epistemology of its own.
Thus, the reason we are always
running into this crisis (polarization)
because we plan to sustain ideas
that cannot be sustained actually.
“Polarization is the thing that
attempts to prevent cultural dialogue
or cultural borrowings and
cultural cross-fertilization. For
five decades, we have uncritically
accepted the idea that there
Rencana B K 25
Polarization in a Multiracial Society
By: Chan Siang Ling
Polarization is aimed at preventing cultural overlap
When people of different groups interact, there are
already differences thus resulting in complexity.
is racial difference,” he said
Farish Noor then added that
the comfortable little zone of
ethnic homogeneity that we all
believe to exist is not as homogenous
as we think. This is because
when people of different groups
interact, there are already differences
thus resulting in complexity.
When the current reality of
race-based societies in local universities
was brought up, he stated
that it is very rare for members
of these group to actually engage
in a real internal historical critiques
of the mix origins of their
own ethnic groups.
“It is important, for instance,
to demonstrate that in the true the
societies what you call the Malay
culture is actually plural and the
same applies to the Chinese culture
and Indian culture,” he said.
Meanwhile, Farish Noor
also said that the idea of accepting
that all of us are plural and
cosmopolitan can cause anxiety
within some people because they
are quite comfortable in living
in a very homogenous monocultural,
monolinguistic, monoreligion
and monoracial universe.
“This, brings us back to politics.
The fear of cosmopolitanism
itself today has a lot to do
with the fear that if we “dilute”
these cultures then the political
hegemony of the ruling parties
in Malaysia would be threatened.
“For 50 years, the conduct of
our politics has been really on
the basis of race politics. So, they
need these fictions,” he added.
After being drown in the whole
idea of racial differences for years
as was taught in school, this is a
whole new perspective that we
could consider looking at. Maybe,
it is time for us to start being critical
and to start exercising those
brain cells we are gifted with.
There is redundancy after
all to insert a ‘Race’ column
in an application form.
On another note, the Canadian
application forms would
be a good example of equality
as they do not require stating
one’s race, gender or age in
order to avoid discrimination.
Allow me to use a common
slang, how cool is that?
Conclusion, the next time I
have to fill in forms that contain
the ‘Race’ column, I am just going
to write the word ‘Human’.
We are from the human race
after all. Dr. Farish A. Noor is
presently a Senior Fellow at the
S. Rajaratnam School of International
Studies; where he is also
director of research cluster ‘Transnational
Religion in Contemporary
Southeast Asia’. He is also Affiliated
Professor at Universitas Muhamadiyah
Surakarta, Indonesia.