Race is a common column in Malaysian official forms, but calls have grown in recent weeks to do away with the column. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 26, 2015.In the wake of Sabah and Sarawak’s decision to drop the “lain-lain" (others) category in official forms, experts want Putrajaya to consider abolishing the race category altogether, saying it serves no purpose except to perpetuate racial divisions.
Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam (pic, right), chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Insititute (Asli), said the race category was initially introduced to help the Bumiputeras, but it was now no longer relevant.“Originally, it was important for political and economic reasons in that there was this NEP (New Economic Policy) which wanted to identify Malays and Bumiputeras in order to give them a head start. But the basis for that argument is not so strong today.“Because, whereas the Malays were neglected in the past, over 55 years they have been given preference, and they have done very well. Even the NEM (New Economic Model) focuses on helping the bottom 40%, regardless of race," he told The Malaysian Insider.Saying the race category created artificial divisions that went against the national grain and caused disunity and polarisation, Ramon urged the government to phase out the entire practice.“Measure the pros and cons and see where we can start selectively to slowly phase out race and religious categorisation. After all, we are all Malaysians. What is the need to divide us?"He said there were cases where such categories were necessary, such as for research to identify ethnic groups that required policy changes to improve their quality of life.“But for passports and other documents, there’s no need for race or religion for that matter. Your race and religion are your personal matter.“When we have race and religion categorisation all the time, then our mindset is also racial and parochial. When are we going to stop this?"
Dr Lim Teck Ghee (pic, left) of the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI), said “very few countries" practise such racial distinctions in official forms, and Putrajaya should have very concrete reasons to continue this practice.“If you’re looking at international practice, it’s really unusual to have this. So I think it’s realistic to do away with the race category. It’s a reasonable request, going by international standards."He said if Putrajaya was concerned about instilling national unity and patriotism, abolishing the race category was a good step forward.“Once we put labels there, we are basically perpetuating racial divisions. So I think the onus is on the government to explain why it’s doing this. If exceptions need to be made, they must be justified."He added that some people may see the government as having sinister intentions for continuing such a practice.“They will ask, is the government wanting to be partial, biased on the basis of race? Why should race come into, for example, vehicle ownership, or when applying for licence?“Unless the government has some kind of agenda, there appears to be no good reason for this practice to be continued."On Wednesday, the Sabah government decided to drop the “lain-lain" category in official forms, after Sarawak did away with the category on January 18.Sabah State Reform Party chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan lauded the move, but said he preferred if the race and religion categories were taken out of government forms altogether to stop discrimination.He questioned the need for people to specify their race and religion, such as for employment-seeking purposes."If it is for a job application, shouldn’t one be judged by his or her merit, his or her education and working experience? What does religion or one’s race have to do with his or her ability to handle a task? It is irrelevant," he told news portal The Rakyat Post.“Why not go beyond this? We should start eliminating the two items from forms to reduce the existing racial and religious tensions affecting Malaysia," he said, adding that people should be encouraged to call themselves “Malaysian" in respect of the 1Malaysia concept.But state Speaker, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said doing away with the race and religion columns would not solve the problem, and said it was more important for people to accept their differences and respect each other. – January 26, 2015.
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