Replace tolerance with understanding

I write in response to two articles in theSun of Nov 28. The first is "That racist tone of voice" by Zainon Ahmad in his column What They Say. The second is "This race needs a flat podium" by Amir Mahmood Razak in Freespace.

I write because I marched in the Merdeka parade in Malacca as a child, with a lantern in my hand. My classmates and I carried a string of lanterns with cutouts that spelt Merdeka. I heard Tunku Abdul Rahman shout "Merdeka!" umpteen times.

I write because when I was a teenager in Form Four my friends and I danced in the Merdeka celebrations on the Malacca Padang. The organisers were so impressed that they invited us to dance before Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman when he visited the town soon after. It was the closest I ever got to him.

I write because when I was 17 and in form six, I wrote an essay for my general paper entitled "Malaysia". I wrote of Tunku Abdul Rahman's vision and I ended the essay quoting his words "... this melting pot of many nations ..."

A year later reality struck. The education department sent a circular that the school prefects could not be appointed through democratic elections as was the age-old practice.
It seemed pupils were touching on sensitive issues in their campaigns and upsetting some students. The reality has stuck with me ever since. The many nations would not be allowed to melt.

So when I was an adult and more articulate I wrote a short story entitled "Merdeka" in commemoration of our 25th year of independence. It was published twice and a few people might remember it.

Now I write because I owe it to myself and the country of my birth to say my piece to those who hardly know what they are talking about when they scream about their perceptions of Bangsa Malaysia. We, the common people of all races have been manipulated for a very long time by politicians who, for their very own political ends and financial gains, have kept us servile, fearful and even promoted ignorance. Thanks to stifling policies by tunnel-visioned politicians, I have had university students who have refused to participate in an academic discussion or a debate because they were afraid to speak their minds on issues of religion, politics, or sex education!

They complained in terrible fear when roommates used holy beads, statues or holy pictures. I have had students who crept into my room, shut the door and whispered questions to me about my religion because they were confused. Then they told me not to tell anyone about our two-minute conversation. When my department had a talk on Islamic values, I was the only non-Muslim who attended. The speaker and the rest of the audience did not know what to make of my presence.

Everybody talks about racial and religious tolerance, and then some sad souls who have never even known a war, triedÊto prove their loyalty by screaming about matyrdom and bloodbaths. Text messages are sent and announcements made of a church event, by people who did not realise that they could actually call the church and talk to someone there to verify information. The order of the day seems to be "confrontation". I have not heard anyone talk about racial and religious understanding or of dialogue.

When I visited the US a few years ago I was invited to do an informal presentation to a group of young men and women who had to care for delinquent children. The children were of mixed races and there was a need for cultural sensitivity. I talked of "Multi-ethnicity: Tolerance vs understanding." Yes, there is a difference.

The word "tolerance" carries in it an element of resentment. We tolerate something or someone because we are forced to put up with it or with the person. And we don't have to bother with understanding. We don't have to know more about the thing or persons we tolerate. The more we tolerate, the more we resent, till eventually our patience wears out.

The word "understand" on the other hand implies that we take the trouble to find out things. Understanding is born out of healthy curiosity. It asks questions openly, it is not afraid of new knowledge, it brings broad vision, multiple perspectives and most importantly it brings peace because we understand. In understanding we do not lose ourselves but are able to see ourselves in the greater scheme of things.

We were once a world model of a plural society and we merited international attention for it. In the last couple of weeks we have disgraced ourselves internationally. How many of us can say that we have, out of healthy curiosity, read the Holy Books of the other faiths in our multi-religious country? How many of us have courageously and respectfully walked into all the other faiths' places of worship to see what they were like? How many of us have, out of respect for our friends and converted relatives, attended the ceremonial rites of birth, marriage and death for them? If we have not, then we have no right to call ourselves Malaysians, let alone Bangsa Malaysia.

I have sat at temples of Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists; I have entered mosques and churches, participated in weddings and funerals of all of these, eaten their food and read their books. Yet I have not lost the faith that I was born into. So what are so many people afraid of? Each other? The bullying holy men and politicians? Themselves?

If we really educated ourselves and our children about each other's faiths and cultures, if the education system ensured that the curriculum enabled this multicultural education of our children, then we would not be embarrassing ourselves as we are doing today. We would also not be losing our more intelligent children to foreign lands where they have a better chance of being their intelligent selves.

The catch phrase "tolerance" has to be replaced with "understanding" if we are to redeem our dignity as a multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia. May I end by saying that no politician or religious leader in this country should have a right to office if he or she has not acquired a deep understanding of all the faiths, cultures and histories of the people in this country.

Angela Jessie
Petaling Jaya
Sun,Dec12,2006