A Racist Malaysia

It's been a few weeks since the horrid incident of the racist teacher in Banting.

From what has happened, it looks as if the drama is at an end; swept under the carpet and buried deep in the hopes that people will forget the problem if it is not acknowledged. There has been neither reprimand nor inquiry. Neither punishment nor blame.

Most amazingly, even the police - normally so quick to act when it serves their purposes - have come out to say that it is "difficult" to act in cases of racial abuse.

The Klang criminal investigation department chief said the only action that could be taken would be to forward the information to the Education Department for further action.

He, for good measure, added that they can only charge the offending teacher if there is "strong supporting evidence" and "eyewitnesses who are willing to testify in court".

Firstly, with five police reports lodged regarding the same issue, does he really think getting witnesses would be a problem?

Secondly, what does he mean when he says the only thing that can be done is to forward the information to the Education Department for further action?

She called all Indians the children of prostitutes, who have no testicles and who constantly menstruate.

Under Section 509 of the Penal Code, words or gestures intended to insult the modesty of a person constitutes a crime. It is punishable with imprisonment for a term for up to five years.

If that's not enough, the much feared Sedition Act the government trots out to handle their political enemies also provides for people who incite racial hatred.

Section 3 (1) (e) clearly states it is an offence to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia, which is a very mild description of what the 'teacher' did.

And has anybody forgotten the tiny allegation that she actually stamped on her students' backs while making them do push ups?

Section 319 of the Penal Code describes as causing hurt the act of causing bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person and prescribes a jail term of up to one year.

So, what the police mean when they say no action can be taken in this case is really beyond me. It's one thing to not take action due to whatever orders you have from above. It's another thing altogether to insult our intelligence by feeding us crap like this.

Does the Barisan Nasional government wonder why people, Indian, Chinese and Malay, are rejecting them like never before. Nobody likes racism except racists. And Malaysians, at heart, are not a racist lot. We are tolerant, friendly and open. And the more our government plays to base instincts and the more it resorts to gutter politics of this sort, the more our nobler ideals come to the fore. That is why Malaysians are opting more and more for the high-minded rhetoric of the Pakatan Rakyat component parties.

This Barisan Nasional is not the Alliance of old. It is a huge, hulking tree that is rotting from the inside and bound to fall sooner rather than later. The mistakes our parents and grandparents did was to give their support to the Barisan Nasional. It is not a mistake we are going to make as well.

The younger generation is not going to stand for politicians who tell us that we are "pendatang" and who refuse to take action when our mothers are branded as prostitutes. We are not going to support a government who expects to be served rather than to serve. We are not going to bow to the climate of fear that gripped our forefathers. We would rather watch everything burn than to continue living like this anymore.

It is no use telling us how important racial integrity is and how crucial it is for us to live in harmony when you don't take concrete action to ensure that harmony. The first step to harmony is in ensuring racism has no place in our Parliament, in our classrooms, in our police stations and in our lives.