LETTER | I was inspired to write this after reading a Malay writer's article entitled Malaysia for Malays. She used her Malay privilege to criticise her community, highlighting all that she feels is wrong with them. That is a rather admirable way to use the privileges one has, as, being a Malay herself, she was entitled to self-reflection. I believe such conversations should be encouraged. Therefore, taking her lead, I would like to use my Malaysian privileges to reflect on some issues I observe we are currently facing as a nation.

The concept of a nation is one that is quite tricky to define. Despite the ideology having been developed since the 18th century, scholars continue to debate what defines a nation. One of the more elegant attempts to define a nation was forwarded by Benedict Anderson, who proposed that the nation is an imagined political community […] it is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the mind of each lives the image of their communion […] it is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.

To put it another way, their common experience and the amiably competitive comradeship of the classroom gave […] a territorially specific imagined reality which was every day confirmed by the accents and the physiognomies of their classmates.

In less academic language, this means that a nation can only exist when the population (members) can perceive (imagine) themselves to be connected to each other (communion, comradeship) through common experiences.

And this is where we are failing as a nation, currently. The sense of comradeship that we had during independence is steadily eroding. We are less willing to understand, empathise and accommodate the grievances and concerns of fellow Malaysians we consider less worthy than ourselves. While I admire the writer’s boldness in criticising her own community, I see little wisdom in blaming just one community for the mess that we are currently in. Clearly, and undeniably, we all had a part in making this mess. Some spoke too much, some spoke too little. Some did too much, some did too little. And all suffer the consequences.

We are such a polarised society. Some of us gladly die defending the Jalur Gemilang. Yet some others think nothing of disrespecting the flag by painting it black and turning it upside down. Some of us want all Malaysian children to have the opportunity to learn Jawi, so that they can read the Pemasyhuran Kemerdekaan straight from the original document. Yet some others are threatening to pull their kids out of school, denying them the ability to read such important documents directly. Some of us never fail to honour Hari Pahlawan and teach our children about the sacrifices of our soldiers. Yet some others think nothing of insulting the armed forces, claiming they only eat and sleep. We can’t even unite to demand justice for a firefighter who died in the line of duty.

How did it come to this? Divisive politicians, self-proclaimed preachers, bad parents, rabble-rousers and passionate ignorami had actively sabotaged the peace and harmony of our country. We, Malaysians are guilty of being too forgiving. Each time these saboteurs fumble, we demand an apology. What is the use of demanding an apology? If you have to ask someone to apologise, the apology is meaningless. We should just allow them to expose their true colours, and rub it in their faces at opportune moments.

So, now that we are less in denial, how do we tackle this problem? The writer wrote: Equality only feels like oppression when we have been privileged for so long. Receiving the same treatment only feels like discrimination when we are used to preferential treatment.

I totally agree with her, equality is the key. It hurts Malaysians so much to have jobs and rental adverts with conditions such as “(insert race) only”. It irks us to read an academic study that revealed certain communities had preferential treatment in certain job markets and promotions

Therefore, it is high time we teach our children that this is unacceptable. All children must receive equal, quality education. Therefore, Malaysians must demand a unified education system, where our children study in the same schools, are taught the same syllabus, interact with each other on a daily basis, go through the same exams and aspire for the same goals. We have endured this divisive education system for far too long. We need to create an environment where our children can share common experiences, which will lead to a strong sense of comradeship. We cannot afford to wait any longer.

Give the children a chance. Give this nation a chance. I challenge patriotic Malaysians to fight for this cause.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.