Stop Racialism Supremacy
Written by gkm2020
What is Racism?
Definition: The American Heritage Dictionary lists two definitions of the word “racism”:
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
There is great confusion and argument over the terms “racism” and “racist” – some groups are classified as “racist” while others are considered “incapable of racism due to power difference.”
The first definition can be evidenced when we consider the views of White Supremacists and Jim Crow Laws (which legislated the belief that Whites were entitled to more civil rights than others). The underlying assumption is that one race – the white race – is superior to all others. Laws based on this belief (e.g. Apartheid in South Africa) reflect racism. People who ascribe to this belief are then, racist.
The second definition leaves greater room for discussion and debate. This broader definition tells us that “discrimination” (treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit) or “prejudice” (a preconceived preference or idea) allows that people of any race can be labeled as racist and any biased (def: an unfair act or policy stemming from prejudice) acts to be categorized as racism.
Also Known As: racialism, racial discrimination
Examples: The teen who verbally or physically attacks another simply because he is of a different race can be considered to be engaging in a racist act, whether he is White or Black, Asian or Latin. Beliefs that all people of another race (be they White, Black, Latin, Asian, etc.) are bad, evil, less than, reflect racism. Of key importance is the idea that racism and racist behavior is not owned by any one group.
I am a racist
I happened upon a thread of comments that had morphed into a discussion on racism. I was typing my own articles and response when it occurred to me that it was, in and of itself; worthy of its own dedicated post. So here it is acknowledgements to……..
Quotes:
1. Peen Keening on January 24th, 2009 11:08 pm
“Dayakbaru is very much Ibanbaru. Please do not pretend to be Dayak when you are actually Iban only. An Iban will always be an Iban. You can’t even pretend to be a Dayak. Don’t try too hard to be Dayak because it really make you even more Iban. Or why don’t you just focus on Iban ONLY issues. Ibans have far different issues from other races.
All your proposed Dayakbaru ideas are racist ideas that others and I cannot accept. I say NOOOO to any racial approaches to any issue.
Can’t we ever think and act beyond racial lines? When can we ever stop fragmenting our nation? I say NOOOOOOO to dayakbaru. And I say YESSSS to one Sarawak!”
2. Tun Dr. Mahathir’s blog www.chedet.com dated 19-06-08.
PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has exposed his own deep racist sentiments by sympathising with Hindraf, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
The former prime minister said that by calling for the release of Hindraf leaders, Samy Vellu was supporting a group who represented racist Tamils who still looked to their old masters – the British – to protect them, and didn’t believe in Malaysian institutions.
“They speak not just of Indians, but of Tamils as a separate race. They and their apologists are racist to the core.
“Seeing the death and destruction inflicted on Sri Lanka by the Tamil Tigers, they threaten to bring this kind of violent racial politics to Malaysia,” Tun Dr Mahathir.
So much already said, so much more to say.
Firstly, I’m a racist. I try not to be, but I know I am. Yet, when I look around me at everyone I know in real life, I’m the least racist person I know!
In today’s society, multiracial marriages are becoming more common. Let me tell you from personal experience that a multiracial marriage is not an easy road to walk. The difficulty comes from the prejudice of the people around us.
I never knew how racist my own family was until I saw by sister-in-law met and married a man of Indian descent, my other sister-in-law married a Bidayuh/Dayak descent, my brother-in-law married a woman of Chinese decent, my uncle married to a Malay woman (my auntie) and convert to Islam, my first cousin married to a woman of Kayan/Dayak descent, my other cousin studied and residing in Canada married to a white American woman (urang putih), and so it goes on. There, for the first time, was all the prejudice and wrong thinking of my family exposed. It was an eye-opener for me to see how a thing as insignificant as a mindset could impair the rational thoughts of an otherwise intelligent human being.
Before, I’ve always talked or imagined Muslim are very extremist peoples but what happened when everyday of my realworld life today working very closely and in business partnership with my fellows Muslim brothers/sisters all surrounding? We eat nasi lemak or nasi dagang; we drink teh-tarik or air-sirap; we joke, rub shoulders and hug each other; we call, sms, email and chatting over the internet for hours; we visit each other during our festive holiday like Hari Raya, Gawai Dayak and Christmas Day; they visited me while I was stranded sick in the hospital and vice-versa I visited them too; and so it goes on? Now, my own good uncle is a Muslim with four kids who are my beloved cousins…Wow! I must say. I couldn’t believe how stupid I am thinking of my yesterday…..”for being an racist and fanatic”…It is this kind of irrational reaction that makes inter-racial anything extremely difficult. By the way, all the political parties in Malaysia be it in the BN or PR, they’re all multiracial Political Parties.
What is Racist?
It is interesting to me how people will instantly convert a generalization into some form of racist remark.
I believe there is presently in the world about a 80 percent correlation between.
Islamic and Terrorism
When I hear of a Terrorist attack and the war between Hamas/Palestine and Israel attacking, killing and bombing each other, I have an 80 percent chance it was done by some Islamic group that has hijacked their religion. My personal belief is this problem will disappear when the religion has had enough. They are making some enemies of their somewhat tolerant groups. Now Indonesia, Jordan and Egypt are becoming tired of the killing.
Bigotry and racism is about illogical and irrational beliefs, like a person is bad because of the color of their skin.
However much I do not like to hear the comment that Americans are fat, I have to agree they are fatter than the rest of the planet.
It is rational to see the correlation between the Islamic Religion and Terrorism. It is terror to keep our mouths shut or feel afraid if we say what we believe is true. I do not think Islamic people as a whole believe in Terrorism; however I do feel the put a blind eye to what then know and could stop. What are the different of Jews Extremism, Christian Extremism, Hindu Extremism, Political Tyranny, Chinese Dynasty, Cultural Extremism, Japanese Imperialism, Cronyism, Nepotism, Ketuanan Melayu, Melanaunism and/or Dayakism for that matter?
I think this type of comment is about the same as saying I am stupid because I have bad grammar.
Remove Racist References From Kamus Dewan
All of us, homo sapiens, human beings, individuals, irrespective of nationality would have one time or other uttered or made derogatory remarks which are racist. We cannot deny that each of us, either in a fit of anger, or in our thoughts, or even in daily conversation, have silently insulted or jokingly spewed terms which, depending on the situation, listeners of the intended race would have been severely slighted or laughed it off in good faith.
Australians of Greek and Italian descent have been called wogs, whilst British migrants Down Under, or British citizens in United Kingdom have been referred to as pommies. Native aborigines won’t take too kindly to being labeled as abo. Worldwide, Americans are known as yanks, Chinese have been called chinks or chingkies; Filipinos filos and Japanese, japs. Call any Jew a k-ke or African American a n-g–r and see where that lands you? In Japan, foreign citizens working or studying, including those of Japanese descent, e.g. Japanese Americans or Japanese Brazillians in Japan are called gaijin.
Closer to home, do we not confess that among us Chinese, we have expressed Caucasians as gweilo, ang moh kao or ang moh kui?
As offensive as these crude racists terms are, after the horrors of the Holocaust in World War 2 and the abolition of segregation laws in America and apartheid in South Africa, racist terminology have never been in written form in a formalized document in modern history, not to the knowledge of this writer anyway. Worst case scenario, illegal immigrants are described as aliens.
But here in Malaysia, sadly, there exist racist terms in the Kamus Dewan as published by our Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), the country’s authority on usage of the national language, its vocabulary and language structure.
In the Kamus Dewan Edisi Ketiga, there is a term cinabeng which is defined as celaka, sial.
While we don’t know the intentions of the author who coined and inserted such a lexicon, we are fully aware that Chinese peoples globally and mainland China, is translated as Cina and China in Bahasa Malaysia respectively. In our spoken mangled Malaysian English, or better known as “Manglish” or even Down South’s “Singlish”, a Malaysian or Singaporean Chinese boy fitting the “stereotype” of a “typical Chinese” is commonly known as “Ah Beng”.
But for a foreigner who is learning Bahasa Malaysia, or for other Malaysians looking up the esteemed Kamus Dewan, wouldn’t confusion, jingoism or even hatred arise when celaka, sial appears to be negatively associated with the Chinese?
Example: Indian Malaysians have been rendered a disservice as the same dictionary has categorized them as follows:
- Keling karam = orang yg suka membuat bising (ketika bercakap atau bekerja)[people who like to make noise (while talking or working)
- Keling mabuk todi = orang yg suka merepek (bercakap yg bukan-bukan) [people who like to babble (talk rubbish)]
- Keling pelikat = orang India yang beragama Islam [Indian Muslims]
The High Court struck out a suit by the Angkatan Pelopor India Muslim Selangor and Federal Territory (Apim) against DBP which in its supporting affidavit said that the DBP did not contravene any law according to Section 4 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (Amended 1997). Apim had applied for an announcement to be made that DBP had failed in its statutory duty and responsibility by acknowledging and allowing the words as afore-mentioned to be published in the Kamus Dewan. Apim asked for damages because the word brought shame, humiliation and degraded the Indian community of the country.
On its own, karam means sink; mabuk (drunk) and todi (fermented coconut wine). Connecting these words to keling, well, this writer leaves it to the reader’s imagination. But that’s the point of this article – that readers would be confused and link negative thoughts against Chinese or Indians when they look up references in the Kamus Dewan Edisi Ketiga.
Through the definitions identified with cinabeng and the list on keling, the esteemed DBP has inadvertently conjured pessimistic and racist portrayals of Chinese and Indians not only in Malaysia, but in the global context as well.
Countries which in the past have wielded racist laws like Nazi Aryan Germany, Apartheid South Africa, segregation America have all moved forward in outlawing xenophobic practices, right down to vocabulary. It is a pity that DBP appears to take steps backwards in the move of promoting ethnic relations
Conclusion
No matter how someone is raised, it seems that some residual prejudice is inherently absorbed from our surroundings. I, for one, do not understand it. It’s not like its natural, but it grows there, deep within us like a weed. And like a weed, it just takes one seed.
I am a racist. I’m not proud of it, and I try not to be, but the seed is there and all I can do now, is weed the garden as often as possible.
Auk…mupuk dulu aku unggal/wai….ngiga kayu kena berapi….bisi ga kena aku nyelap ka tubuh….
I hereby would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our Chinese friends a Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year 2009! “Gong Xi Fa Cai”
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12 Responses to “Stop Racialism Supremacy”
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Inspirational word from gkm2020
All races in Malaysia have lived in harmony and we don`t deny that very few isolated cases to fun racial or religions sentiments against any community but again this cannot be generalised to mean such relationships between the races we have enjoyed in our country have broken.All races are treated equally, none has been marginalised; deprived of their rights under the Federal Constitutions.Every one of us knows that our country is governing by power sharing concept if we look at the federal cabinets line up as well as in the states, representing by all races to voice out the interests of their respective communities.
No one should ever raise up on sensative issue deliberately attempts to fun racial sentiments against any community which could lead to racial tension.Let us learn to respect each other`s race and religion so that we can live together in harmony in our peaceful country Malaysia.
This is where the role of the SDNU is paramount. I have been giving my personal views in this blog of how to make SDNU be well accepted by all dayaks. If they don’t agree to such criticism, they are heading for individual glory of their community in the state or personal glory where there seemed to be disunited and may show lack of racial harmony. I am quite disappointed to see little contribution from other dayak in the SDNU in the past as seen from its’ presidency in the past were all Iban. That’s too bad! The Ibans cannot make themselves too dominant in such a union comprising multi-ethnic dayaks. Other dayaks can fast envying them and may not like to give full moral support to the Union. You know why they want to go their own way. They couldn’t find any ground for cooperation which I see so abundant for us to be united under one Union. The SDNU will gear for better mutual understanding among all dayaks; perhaps they can interact with the dayaks of Kalimantan. In this manner, we can reduce suspicions among the communities, and this is good for the racial harmony in the State and nation as a whole.
Agom lives in a fantasy world “seperti katak di bawah tempurung” or an ostrich with its head in a hole in the ground. Nothing else needs to be said our poor Malaysian.
To Mr. ONE,
I just want to see we live together in harmony, but I will alawys behind you to accomplish your mission. I guess I know you…..
To Mr. ONE,
I just want to see we live together in harmony, but I will always behind you to accomplish your mission. I guess I know you…..
By right, as dayaks, we should help and bring one another a step higher in our communal development where suspicion must be eradicated from their minds for the sake of unity and harmony. Each of the races has a role to play in helping another race to attain better social status or understanding. For example, recently I have commented the proposal for the renaming of the Orang Ulu community as seen from my view. Although harsh I put it here, deep in my heart, I do not want their new ‘brand’ be a fun term/word for others including myself. To the Orang Ulu, I sincerely apologize if I have offended you all by raising the issue here. It could be a shame since I have raised it in this blog.
Actually, this was my clarification when the owner of the blog reminded me about the issue:
“That’s my personal opinion the way I see things from all angles for the sake and good of our brothers and sisters in their community that I had wished to expose sincerely in this public blog of yours. Thank you so much for allowing me to scribble my personal opinions here. I just want to inform them how an Iban like myself sees their term used for Orang Ulu and would like them to weigh their decision based on my ideas. I must admit that the way I express it has been a bit harsh. I don’t want their new term to be abused by the future generation who are more better versed in many terms than myself. I believe that the Orang Ulu can decide better for themselves after seeing the opinions of others everywhere. Aku pen enggai meda nama bansa baru sida nyadi jaku ayah dikena bansa bukai ngemeliqka sida iya.”
Well, if they still want to proceed being glamorous with their new brand, I have no objection coz I believe that this is a free expression of personal opinion in their own world. But be prepared for any inconvenience coz of that new brand.
Sincerely,
Jang
Mr One,
What else do we write here if not some nonsenses that bother our minds. I see your comments on Aya Agom is far too nonsense than his. I believe that Aya Agom has gone to many places in the world compared to myself or yourself. So, he is writing based on his vast experiences and detailed observations. To say someone is still under a coconut shell or like a burung Unta putting its’ head in the sand in the desert is a bit judging yourself in the same manner.
Hmmmm…….nya penemu manchal aku nya unggal.
The fine line for this topic is how obsess or just a common concern for your own kind. Too much of it will result/ risk being irrelevant. Look around historically all those racist fanatics themselves made their own destruction. From white supremacy to Umno and our failed Dayakism, it’s all ended in abuse, corrupt and self-serving purposes. Once you are branded as masking/hiding behind racism for your own self-benefit therefore irrelevant, there’s no turning back just like one-way street be it your own race, political parties etc. No matter how much you convince others you are listening for grassroot and peace to others like Umno, SUPP now in vain doing now, it’s matter of time those crooks are voted out gone as history and it’s done by their Malay or Chinese.
Ke dipeda aku, kitai ke ka berebut deka super supreme ba antara dayak nya ga ke ngasoh bala tuai bisi mar mimit deka nyerakupka semua dayak menua tu ba baroh siti payung SDNU nya unggal. Bala tuai tuai nya nyau ngatika dihi ngemesol deka mandangka kening dihi ngagai sida pemesai politik, ngichaka bisi nasit kena pilih bedihi ba menua dihi empu ila.
[...] A lot to be exact such as head-less arrogance, religous hypocrisy, chauvinism, mad-cow racialism, almost superstitious race supremacy, infinite stupidity…all of it that can cause you staying [...]
Hah! I am sitting by the river bank making lot of crazy noises…Nya iya kok kok kik….Tu iya kok kok lir….! Ngik kok kok kitu…..Nyam kok kok put….have been witnessing all the crazy deeds of humans in Sarawak and Malaysia. We, the loyal toads, have never been taken care of properly and being left sitting hopelessly by the lubok/lepong while all the frogs are simply jumping here and there in front of us catching insects that fly in front of our mouths. Are these frogs the superior ones. It looks the MalayNow are the super humans. It has always been the MalayNow who lead the State or MalayNgot who lead the country. These particular race seem super today who never give other races the chance to lead the State and country. It looks like they are the super human on earth like the jews claimed themselves which they too accused as well. We will never escape from certain being always super in our country. They are there forever at all cost. That is the ketuanan!!!!!!!!Super human among all races.
Aha…..Dominant frogs are a sign of good practice of DEMOCRACY in any country. If we want to rule, we must divide and assign the ponds for the frogs so that the owner of the ponds is easier in managing them. Too much frogs in a single pond is dangerous as they can spoil the pond when insects are getting scarce.