A Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) lecturer said racial polarisation on campus was a serious issue despite a survey claiming otherwise.

The ongoing study by USM's Institute of National Higher Education Research said ethnic polarisation could be "more of a manifestation of a coping mechanism involved to facilitate settling into new life experiences".

According to the survey, students form ethnic cliques in studying, socialising and eating out but these decisions merely form a transient social statement.

"It persists among first year undergraduates, but gradually diminishes when they are in the second or third year," said the survey which was published in the Institute's inaugural bulletin and distributed via e-mail to the university's staff recently.

Lifelong mentality

However, lecturer Dr Rohana Ariffin disagreed with the findings.

When contacted, she said students do not adopt a 'polarised mentality' while in campus but the attitude has been a part of them since childhood and will continue to stay with them for the rest of their lives due to their inability to accept those from other cultures.

She added that students often complained about not being familiar with other cultures, races and religions, and preferred to mix with those from similar backgrounds due to the entrenched perception and prejudice towards one another.

The lecturer revealed that Chinese students were sometimes insensitive to the feelings of others, excluding them from interaction, especially when they converse in their mother-tongue.

According to her, Indian students were most alienated and discriminated, leading them to feel marginalised and some of them resort to gangsterism to have a sense of belonging.

.Rohana blamed the students themselves for the above situation and accused them of not taking the effort to mingle with others.

Policies to blame too

"Students do not want to compromise, no one race should think they are superior to others. This attitude from one race would generate the same consciousness in others as well," she said.

The lecturer also acknowledged that government policies - which imposed a certain culture on others - had also compounded the problem.

Over the years, the university has initiated several policies aimed at de-polarisation but these met with harsh criticisms even from parents and student groups.

Some of the policies, which were vehemently opposed, include the sharing of hostel rooms between students of different races, which was implemented in 1999.

Another policy that prompted an outcry was the directive to use only Bahasa Malaysia during meetings and gatherings of extra-curricular activities.

It is learnt that this policy has since been relaxed for certain organisations such as the Chinese Language Society.

NEP factor

According to several students and lecturers, the root cause of polarisation was the New Economic Policy - implemented in the wake of the 1969 racial riots to bridge the socio-economic divide between the races.

Many claimed that this policy merely enriched a small group of elite Malays

Others cite the rise in religious fundamentalism and the continued process of Islamisation in the country since the 1980s as another contributing factor.

Meanwhile, former USM student Choo Chon Kai said the situation was a sad reflection of the country's racial politics and the leadership's 'divide and rule' policy.

He added that despite their good intentions, integration programmes by the university failed to forge genuine understanding between the races but had only created more unrest.

"If at all, racial unity among students is taking place at an extremely slow pace and continue to face many setbacks because no matter how many programmes the university plans, it has not dealt with the root cause of ethnic polarisation," he said when contacted.

"We are never able to deal with the root cause of the problem because we are often warned that these are sensitive issues to talk about. We are prevented from having a healthy debate on the issues that matters most," added Choo, who is now a coordinator with human rights group Suaram.