YOURSAY | 'We are a tolerant society, and do not need discriminating acts and signage...'

Discrimination has always existed here, says lawyer

Cogito Ergo Sum: Lawyer Syahredzan Johan is absolute right. Why are we picking and choosing the types of prejudice that suits one group over another's? They are all the same: a shallow education that fears the unknown.

We have lived too long in our own self-built cocoons for 60 years and complain when it hurts our own bigotry.

Fair Play: All I can say is this. Lumping all three examples together only clouds the issue further.

The truth is Islamisation is slowly but surely creeping into the Malaysian way of life. It takes a visionary and strong leader like His Majesty the Sultan of Johor to see it and put a stop to such a practice in his state.

Fair&Just: I disagree. The discrimination raised by Syahredzan are minuscule issues. The serious issue of discrimination is our government-institutionalised discrimination. Go chew on that.

Don't pretend with such small issues as renting a room to a Chinese not to an African; who would like to invite potential trouble into their homes? They are entirely different issues.

Anon1: The difference is, nobody lives together at a laundrette, whereas in a private dwelling, the choice matters. Going by this idiotic reasoning and justification of the laundrette owner, we will soon have exclusive car washes, fuel stations, cinemas, grocery stores, etc.

This is a multiracial country and not a single race country, and even if it were, someone would be able to find some reason to discriminate among themselves.

Anonymous_3f49: Syahredzan is not comparing like with like. Where it matters is when Joe Public is inconvenienced because someone demonstrated a racist or religious preference towards one against another, thereby possibly engendering social cohesion and disharmony in a multi-ethnic society like ours.

Kudos to the Sultan of Johor, a true leader who is able to see the negative social reverberations resulting from the unpleasant laundrette episode. But he is not exactly going to order someone who's not sharing with the 'right' roommate, is he?

Hamzah Paiman: Discrimination by itself is negative. There cannot be a discussion on which discrimination can or cannot be accepted. It should not be accepted at all.

Unless you were living in the US pre-1960s where the blacks sat at the back in buses and the whites were in front. See how much they have progressed over time.

If you allow such things in this country, be prepared to be treated like a pariah when you go overseas. And then, do not ever complain about Islamaphobia because nobody is going to take pity on you.

Fairnsquare: Sadly Syahredzan is not able to differentiate between prejudice and discrimination. We are a tolerant society and we do not need discriminating acts and signages to further divide.

Sadly, the colonial masters' divide-and-rule strategy seems to still be a strategy of the politicians in this country today. We need to move away from this and live together appreciating, celebrating and respecting one another's beliefs and customs, as we did in the past.

Let us not let misguided and divisive religious or racial teachings destroy the harmony of this country.

His Majesty Sultan of Johor apparently saw the discriminating effects of the actions of the Muar launderette, and in his wisdom took positive action. We fully respect and admire our ruler, who constantly works to keep the people together, thwarting political manoeuvres by some to do otherwise.

Perhaps the launderette owner did not realise the impact and his apology should be accepted, and we should move on rather than micro-analyse it.

Appum: Syahredzan, are you saying "discrimination" is correct, acceptable since it has been there? We all know Umno has been discriminating against all other races in order to fulfil their misguided and much-abused New Economic Policy (NEP) policies.

That is why Malaysia is what it is today, a more divisive society racially and by religion. What the Johor sultan did was perfectly correct and should have been done by BN-Umno as the ruling party.

But they have a gutless and poor leader who is unable to recognise and nip such actions in the bud so to speak. He cares about his own position rather than the people's position. Perhaps Syahredzan, you are confused between the terms "stereotyping" as opposed to "institutionalised discrimination".

The former happens in all societies, even in America today. But those are not formal and "legalised" views, and can be ignored. Can we ignore "legalised and institutionalised discrimination"?

It's high time we get rid of all religious and race-based political parties as a first step. They are the root cause of it all.

Abasir: Syahredzan is correct in his analysis of this condition he calls "institutionalised discrimination".

But were Malaysians always like this, or have they been systematically programmed to be this way by Umno's ‘ketuanan Melayu’ and now ‘ketuanan Islam’ policies?

More importantly, can this ever be reversed by the types of politicians the country is saddled with?

Anonymous 697961505377718: Like it or not, Malaysia is thriving on a culture of discrimination, thanks to government's policies since independence.

Anonymous #70881335: Two wrongs do not make a right. When and where it occurs, it is up to the good citizens to voice out and continue to do so...

Not Convinced: No need to debate this further. To stop all forms of discrimination, we should have a law which bans such practices with hefty punishment for those who break it.

What happened to the so-called National Harmony Bill? It was mooted three years ago and nothing much has been heard about it since.

It would have been a first step towards the elimination of bias based on religion, race, descent, place of birth, gender or disability. There was even talk of a Racial and Religious Hate Crimes Bill.

But we all know why the proposed bills were put into cold storage. They would be a death knell to both ‘ketuanan Melayu’ and ‘ketuanan Islam’.

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