During a casual conversation with a friend last week, the subject of tolerance came up. My friend insisted that Malaysians are tolerant people, unlike Americans, who only "appear" to be tolerant because it is the politically correct thing to do.

As a Malaysian citizen who has spent considerable time in the US, I was intrigued by his comment enough to examine the word 'tolerance' more closely.

According to the Oxford dictionary, tolerance is defined as: "Willingness to accept opinions or behaviour you may not agree with or people who are not like you"

By this definition, 'tolerance' certainly does not describe my experience of all Malaysians. I can't remember the last time a Malay/Muslim asked me or responded to my opinion about this multiracial country. In fact I have often been warned not to express my opinions when I am in the company of Malays because I seem too "Western influenced".

I have been told that I must be sensitive. I agree that it is important to be sensitive, but why should I compromise on my right to free speech?

I believe that I have something valid and valuable to say, and that it is only fair that the Malay majority encourages and considers my opinions. As the dominant majority in a secular democracy, do not Malays have the first duty to lead all citizens in being sensitive to minority communities that feel politically or socially oppressed?

The American phenomenon of political correctness came about as a result of the willingness of the Christian and White majority to respect the opinions and behaviour of religious and racial minorities.

In time, this respect resulted in meaningful interactions between the various groups, and resulted in real tolerance - tolerance so that people from different backgrounds could in fact engage in substantive conversation without being persecuted or ridiculed for their perspectives. For this reason, I think political correctness is a value that we should create and sustain in our diverse society.

I respectfully disagree with my friend: Far from merely veiling their alleged underlying intolerance, Americans have successfully employed political correctness as a way to allow unbridled free speech while simultaneously being able to hold both majority and minority groups to high standards of mutual respect, sensitivity and tolerance to diversity in the public as well as personal domains.

Propaganda machine

When a non-Muslim in Malaysia talks about tolerance, I suspect he or she talks about being able to freely walk around without being beaten for being a different colour, and being able to engage in superficial banter with the Malay. But how is this different from the US where non-Christian and non-white minorities have those same rights?

There is a tendency in the country to politicise the word 'tolerance' much like 'Western values' is a code-word for Western decadence. This unique spin promotes the underlying message that minorities should be more agreeable and perhaps even less vocal in expressing their views, because after all, they've got it pretty good, living among the tolerant Malays.

It is also part of the propaganda machine to justify the continued support for the New Economic Policy, devised to redistribute the wealth between the Malays and other races. Non-Malays must accept the trade-off of special rights for Malays for the sake of political stability.

My vision for a strong Malaysian identity is based on the democratic and secular values enshrined in our constitution. It involves a much deeper understanding between ethnic and racial groups than mere banter over a cup of tea; it involves the building of a broad national consensus over issues of national identity, secularism and representation in policy matters, both at the national and local levels.

This vision can only be realised through honest but respectful dialogue between racial and ethnic minorities. Indeed I believe that this meaningful dialogue is not only possible, but is also the only way we can realistically and successfully make pragmatic and responsible policy decisions.

Chandra Muzaffar, a long time social activist in Malaysia, in a recent interview said Muslims in Malaysia are afraid of dialogue and interaction which promotes understanding. His prediction that religion would be a major divider is getting more evident, not just in Malaysia but around the world as it becomes an identity marker alongside ethnicity.

Chandra went on to say that Malaysia is a nation of strangers: "We know a few things about each other's culture, religion but in-depth understanding is not there."

I would like to take that one step further, and say that in failing to engage with others who are different, we shortchange ourselves in broadening our perspective and furthermore, run the risk of alienating minorities as we pursue progress. In addition, we put our society at the risk of political instability caused by reactionary anti-social and anti-national elements who act out of a lack of compassion and tolerance.

I would submit that, Muslim or non-Muslim, we do not have to be afraid to engage each other, if we couch our dialogue and interaction in the language of political correctness. Political correctness can help us rise above the suspicion and animosity that may exist between racial and ethnic groups, to get to a point where there is real willingness to accept opinions or behaviours that do not necessarily come from us or those who is like us.

Here is a chance for Malaysia to learn from America something more valuable than 'Western decadence' - how to use political correctness as a tool to promote the universal values of love, tolerance and respect for human rights.

I call upon Chandra and other social/political activists to lead Malaysians in exploring our inherent capacity for tolerance and in-depth understanding of one another using the tool of political correctness, not as a way to deny or cloak our fears but to respectfully listen and interact in a way that will inevitably result in strengthening our national identity as well as our socio-political stability. Political stability is indeed worth preserving.

RATHI RAMANATHAN, a human rights activist, wishes that Malaysians would start taking an active interest in democratic reform.