A Matter of Sacrifice
(A version of this was published in theSun on 24th August 2012).
I started fasting alongside my Muslim friends in 2009, making this year the fourth time I observed the full Ramadhan month. Many friends ask why I follow the fast so strictly, right to the minute. I do it for several reasons: health, discipline, camaraderie. But perhaps more importantly, fasting involves a tremendous amount of sacrifice. It is an intentional giving up of something, and in the process, something beneficial emerges.
The Raya open house conversations I had the privilege of attending were interwoven with, inescapably, those of politicians’ various antics, including the hudud law accusation being thrown by MCA towards Pakatan Rakyat and the latest Facebook posting whose account is allegedly managed by Umno Youth. The poster alluded to the fact that Pakatan Rakyat intends to make Christianity the official religion of the federation of Malaysia.
It is most frustrating that race and religion continue to dominate public space. Perhaps it is only when the collective ‘we’ of Malaysians stop lending credence to what is basically the politics of fear and insecurity that we can move on. Until then, we are compelled to discuss it.
On these issues, there exist completely polar opposite sides in which different groups fall. This forms an impasse between conservatives on one end of the spectrum, and liberals on the other. What is moral truth to one greatly differs from that of the other. Arguments made by one side are often dismissed by the other, making it problematic for any real discourse to take place.
Race and religion obviously have a tremendous influence on the discussion around public policy as well. But in the long run, due to market and demographic changes, it is likely that certain shifts will invariably take place. There is a danger that this may be seen as a giving up of certain ethnic communities’ needs and wants, but in reality these changes would take place precisely because they are for the common good of all communities – and these decisions would likely be made organically over time, and done so together.
A perfect example is the doing away with race-based affirmative action policy, which Malays and other Bumiputera are presently resistant to because of the insecurity that they are unlikely to succeed in the absence of such support. This goes for the various policies present, whether in the form of scholarship awards, housing loans, education requirements, government procurement conditions, and so on. When the time comes, Malaysians will compete on merit, and welfare policies distributed by need to benefit all alike.
Another example is the issue of National-type primary schools in Chinese and Tamil, which are currently mostly funded by the government. This has been a bone of contention where some feel such schools contribute to polarisation and would prefer a uniform national school system. On the other hand, others believe that having such schools opens up options for parents who can make the decision for themselves as to where to send their children.
The real issue is whether these schools would be able to survive without government funding, if this situation so arises. Again, because of market demand, these communities would most likely respond naturally. Private community schools – whether Chinese, Tamil, international or Islamic-based – would possibly be a scenario of the future, existing alongside public schools. Under such circumstances, the government’s role would likely be as regulator.
One interesting case study of responding to market demand is that of the restaurant Coliseum, whose non-Malay restaurant owner made the decision to cater to the growing Muslim population by going halal in 2004. This is just one example of how non-Malay businesspeople are responding naturally to demographic changes without government regulation.
Another possibility is that the giving up of certain lifestyle practices may ironically be something that communities of different ethnic backgrounds actually appreciate. One such example is gambling.
However, what is discussed here is obviously an extremely tricky subject, which will require greater elaboration and development than what this column length permits, but it hopefully provides some food for thought. When the time comes in the future that certain communities feel their practices gradually changing, we must guard against the emotion that we are forced to sacrifice against our will.
On the contrary, such shifts are likely to take place because these particular outcomes would work for the better of us all together, and would be a natural occurrence.
In this season of giving, we could perhaps aspire to think less of our personal needs and demands – and more of what works for the collective good. If in the process of fasting I learnt anything, it is that standing in another person’s shoes is sometimes the best vantage point from which to observe our complex society and its needs.
