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e    d    i    s    i         1   3
TINTA SAHABAT
  Keluhan seorang pro
  Take what comes
  Di kala hati bercahaya
  Discrimination from within
S A L A M   D A R I   E D I T O R
F O K U S
F I Q H
R E F L E K S I   D I R I
S U D U T    B A H A S A
K O L E K S I    S I N A R

Discrimination From Within
        
         Well here we are again 42 years of independence. That is not a short period of time. Many things have been achieved. Alhamdulillah, all praises be to Allah. Malaysia truly is quite a unique, fortunate country. We are made up of many races that enjoy the riches of Malaysia; equally or not, that is up to one's judgement. I am not trying to be a controversial writer like Shanon Ahmad is; I am just writing from and for myself. If you readers are able to benefit or learn something from this writing, Alhamdulillah, hoping for good social benefit too.

        The question of racism and discrimination has always been a controversial one. In Malaysia itself, history has proven this with the 13th May tragedy. When we came to Australia, we are exposed even more with this notion. One elective subject I do in uni deals with international management; in recognising the need for a global business environment in today's world, and in order to do so successfully, everyone would have to understand other people's cultures and let go of the irrational discriminatory and racist thoughts in them. When this topic came during the course, I, like everyone else, tried to learn and share to my utmost. In the tutorial there were so many positive 'vibes' coming from my fellow friends, all from different walks of life. And suddenly it struck on me; "I am not learning something new. I had always known this [that racism and discrimination is irrational]." Being a Muslim, this is almost the essence of the religion; that everyone is the same in the eyes of Allah, and the only distinguishing feature that will elevate or lower ourselves is our taqwa (love and fear of Him).

        During the lecture on the racism and discrimination topic, the guest lecturer said that "the only way we can overcome racism is by realising that there is no race". I did not have the chance to ask her what she meant by that, but should she define 'race' as anyone of us would, then I would disagree with her. There are races, and we belong to at least one of them. We usually associate race with culture, language, and sometimes religion. The real problem does not lie in this fact; it lies in the way we deal with it. We tend to stereotype and base our judgements on these stereotypes rather than the facts. Using stereotypes too, some people think they have the right to dominate other people with the intelligence or other 'superiority' that they have.

        When we relate a certain race to a certain religion, we are inevitably being racist. The Malaysian constitution itself, I might say, is being discriminatory. If I can recall correctly, it stated quite explicitly the criterion of a Melayu is using Bahasa Melayu and having Islam as his or her religion. This is the kind of thing that encourages stereotyping and discourages diversification between races. Thus the education system conveys the message to the citizens. Melayu being the main, and native race in Malaysia, has always been protected in one way or another, but without realising it, we have been imposed with this idea of 'exclusiveness' of Melayu, and this is evidently racist. If we Melayu are to be associated with the religion Islam, this can never happen. The beloved Prophet s.a.w. himself said in his last sermon, that "no Arab is superior to any non-Arab, and no white man is superior to any black man". Again, no one is being discriminated in front of Allah except by his taqwa. Another evident discrimination that has been going on probably since the dawn of humanity is sexism. Even Ally McBeal acknowledges this in her famous quote, "We're women, we have double standards to live up to." When the western women were crying out for justice and equality about half a decade ago, the Muslim women have already been granted a well-deserved place in the society more than a millenium ago.

        Now you may say "What the hell is this guy talking about? How can he relate the various races, which in turn can be synonymous with various religions, with the perfectness of Islam?" We must remember that Islam is the religion of fitrah. As the hadith says "Every child is born with true faith of Islamic Monotheism, and his parents convert him to Judaism or Christianity or Magianism, as an animal delivers a perfect baby animal. Do you find it mutilated?" (Related by Bukhari). But then again, Allah is the ultimate Decision-maker, Who enlightens anyone He chooses and damns anyone He chooses too. On our part, it is our duty to give dakwah to everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The idea of Islam and Muslims as given by the media today is a distorted one. It is up to us now to live up to the name of Islam and show it to the world. The basics that we need are the Holy Al-Qur'an and the Prophet's sunnah, with constant invocations of help from Allah the Almighty.