“Kami sini orang Cina jarang cakap Melayu. Anak-anak belajar Bahasa Melayu di sekolah tapi untuk periksa sahaja.”

Working in a Chinese-majority area for the past few months as a locum doctor has opened my eyes to the huge chasm that exists in our society.

There have been too many cases where a parent has to translate for their adolescent son/daughter (with a Malaysian IC) who does not speak a single word of Malay or English.

Some even chide me for my lack of knowledge in the Mandarin language.

“Doktor kerja sini banyak orang Cina, jadi kenalah belajar sikit cakap Cina.”

I do not claim to be a patriot. But I do love my country, despite its glaring weaknesses.

Language brings people together. A common mother tongue is crucial in uniting a population that is coloured with many races.

I am not solely targetting the Chinese community. In fact, the recent uproar about a certain individual who refused to be treated by a ‘keling’ only proves to highlight the dire situation we are in today.

Back in my childhood years, which was not too long ago, there were no qualms about hanging out with other races. The fact that we lived in an urban area probably helped a lot.

The segregation factories such as the ones we see in the Felda estates, the all-Malay MCKK/MRSM colleges, Malay-dominated religous schools/madrasahs, the Indian and Chinese vernacular schools, raced-based political parties, etc, etc, etc, are all beginning to bear its fruit. Its contribution toward producing these bad apples that exist in our society today cannot be denied.

The argument that each race wants to preserve their culture, language and ‘best interests’ through these media is fine, but at what cost?

‘Bapak borek anak rintik’

And when the rulers themselves only look out for their own race, then there should be no surprise that the rakyat would be influenced to do the same.

I do believe that the majority of our people are not racist. Yes, it is only natural that most feel comfortable within the confines of their own ‘community’.

The hatred and resentment stirred up (especially on social media) has put us all on defensive mode.

2015 has been tough. Relationships have been strained due to the many racially driven tensions that have arisen. The Low Yat fiasco will forever remained etched in our nation’s history as a racially-fuelled battle which neither side can claim victory.

Thus 2016 will therefore be a crucial year for us. We can choose to remain in our cocoon, and brace for even more destruction, of which we can only blame ourselves.

Or we can choose to rise above it all, look past these trivial matters, and work together to get through these challenges.

Towards a better Malaysia.