Use “Malaysian” or stick to Malay, Chinese, India?

“Boleh kamu beritahu apa yang berlaku selepas itu kepada mahkamah?” asked the DPP.

 “Boleh, kelihatan dua lelaki India dan seorang lelaki cina berada di tempat kejadian.” Witness answered.

 Today is my fourth day in High Court of Shah Alam, working as a practical student there. It has been a great experience so far, watching different people from various backgrounds, from the judge until the accused; all of them are of different kind of personality. I had opportunity to meet popular lawyers like Shafee Abdullah and Karpal Singh. Prime Minister Najib brings the concept of One Malaysia. Well as for me, one Malaysia has already being applied in court of law long time ago. Why?

 As ordinary Malaysian teenagers, I am proud to see the relationship established between people here, without concerning their religious profession or racial background. Initially, it is kind a weird thought to have watch a Malay DPP (Deputy Public Prosecutor) charging the a Malay accused, and that Malay accused is represented by an Indian lawyer. The same goes to the other way around when I see a Chinese DPP charging a Chinese accused and was subsequently represented by a Malay lawyer.

 I am happy to see the trend operates in such a way. However I don’t want to exaggerate this situation. We know why the accused was there, and why the lawyers are there. Maybe for money or to uphold justice without imaging the pecuniary award they obtained from the accused family.

 Recently there is a call urging the public to abolish any word that will tag person as Malay, Chinese or Indian. They want it to be called only as Malaysian. When I first heard about it, I am supportive towards it. However after having this court scene crossing over my mind, I personally think that we can’t go for it now. This is due to the fact that the court, in getting testimony from witness still uses certain interpretation such as “lelaki Melayu, Cina dan India.”

 This is to ease the trial process and form crucial part of the testimony. If we were to abolish it, should the court be bound to do the same thing too?

 

Second question is whether the abolishment of this tag over races will be regarded as confidential to the state’s administration? If yes, any form, birth certificate, identification card must drop out the “race” part. I doubt that this will raise more complicated problem in the future.

 My personal opinion will say that, it is unnecessary to do so. Why should we feel offended being tagged as a race which we were belong to? Instead, we should feel proud and exchange our culture with the other races. This is what we call as embracing unity in diversity.

 In Malay itself, there are several group of people divided into many clan for instance the Java, Banjar, Minang, Aceh and Bugis. We are proud for what we are, inheriting the same great legacy of Malay Sultanate around the East Asian region. Now we are sharing this land together with others. We sought to leave behind all the pasts and just focus on to this land. This new land is called as “Malaysia” and therefore, we must share our culture together. This is why Malaysia so special.

Filed under: National Integration