Break the Barriers in Fostering Unity

“United we stand, divided we fall”. Malaysia is in its 50th year of being an independent nation. The country has seen tremendous development and is performing well in various fields, from the agricultural to the industrial sectors; Malaysia has indeed come a long way from the time it gained independence. Sadly, the target of achieving true unity as a nation has yet to be realised entirely. The issue of unity among the different races in this country has been long debated. Despite the fact that there are no real social unrests and fighting happening on the streets, yet it is undeniable that the different races are living in tolerance rather than in unity. Education has always been viewed as the tool for bridging the gaps present between the races, but that too has failed to live up to expectations. The Educational Development Master Plan has been drawn up, but to what avail?

“National schools have been set up to cultivate unity. But how is that to happen when unity is only preached and not put into practice?”, says Logavani, a national primary school teacher from Muar. According to her, many students don’t really understand what unity is all about. “Parents have to nurture their children from young by instilling positive values and not racial prejudice. Teachers can only do that much to change the mindsets of students”, she added. Logavani also stated that adults who are ignorant and who do not appreciate the peace and harmony that this country has eventually influence the future generation to become complacent and problematic individuals in society.

Kohilah, a teacher at a national secondary school in Batu Pahat says that teachers themselves have to have open minds and not practice any form of racial discrimination against students. “The national education system should be a platform to unite all races in this country, under one roof, to provide quality education and to churn out secular minded individuals”, said Kohilah. According to her, teachers who are race biased should be scrapped from the system as they could poison the minds of the young ones.

Language and religion are two other important aspects that have to be looked at. More non Malay students may opt for vernacular schools rather than national schools to acquire knowledge of their respective languages. Hence, the Ministry Of Education should formulate a way to facilitate the teaching of languages of the other communities in this country during school hours for the non Malay students even from the primary level.

Also, non Muslim students should not be subjected to any kind of religious prejudice as this may spur undesirable repercussions.

In short, schools and educational institutions in this country should be utilised as channels of advocating racial unity and harmony. Children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. Let’s work together to produce broad minded individuals than narrow minded problems. Now, the real task at hand for Malaysians is to continue upholding the true spirit of unity beyond the 50th year Merdeka Celebrations. EWRF wishes all Malaysians a Happy Merdeka!