Mutual respect in a multiethnic society

Sin Chew Daily, Asia News Network, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-religious nation and to strike a balance between various ethnic groups and religions in this country is the common aspiration. The word "balance" is the key to harmony and stable development in our plural society.

However, if we take a look at developments since independence 45 years ago, due to the widening gap in population and wealth distribution among the different ethnic groups, and lack of mutual understanding and interaction in our religious beliefs and cultures, the phenomenon whereby a single ethnic group or culture assumes a dominant role in either politics, economy or even education becomes increasingly visible.

Our society's balance point is gone. The phenomenon not only sends ripples across the political field, but also spells division crisis in our respective societies.

Given the rapid development of information technology and the trend of globalization, Malaysians must be able to stand against a much more comprehensive and complicated world.

Even though we are well equipped with the latest hardware and software, or are fully prepared to brace the challenges of globalization in our education or economic policies, most people are psychologically unprepared to blend into this multi-cultural atmosphere. As a result, we see people proposing and formulating a unicultural world of single language, religion, ideology and social model, hoping to fit into the globalized world with their distorted mannerisms.

We used to have erroneous perceptions of globalization, thinking it meant global assimilation.

We have seen the clash of civilizations between the West and the Islamic world. Various dominant cultures not only have tried to defend themselves, but also attempted to engulf others, resulting in many conflicts and tragic wars.

With so many conflicts and wars glooming our world, it is high time that we examine ourselves from the root of our cultures.

Eliminating one another is not the only way of survival.

We have learned from our experiences that we need to respect one another to strike a balance in our multi-cultural society.

Globalization gives us a macroscopic view of the world, and lets us see how small our hearts and souls can really be.

The most fundamental solution is that everyone must learn to adjust himself and accept a rock-solid truth: No one is willing to sacrifice his culture and no culture must ever be sacrificed.

We do not need power or wealth to stay afloat in a multi- cultural society, but wisdom of life and a sound philosophy to deal with others. While trying hard to preserve our own culture, we need to break through the confines of our own traditions to accommodate and appreciate other cultures.