The Unfair Political Ideology Corruption onto Kids

www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com

8 MAY 2018 late evening was quite a night to remember. It was the eve of the fourteenth Malaysian General Election (GE14) whereby two Malay political titans went against each other on an unprecedented live delivery of speeches on the television and/or on the social media, particularly on Facebook. Many political analysts have opined that GE14 is a "Social Media" General Election, such that political campaigns are much more effective on social media than on ground, at least when addressing the Millennials.

Dato' Sri Najib Razak, the incumbent Prime Minister from the ruling coalition party, Barisan Nasional (BN), and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the ex-Prime Minister from the opposition coalition party, Pakatan Harapan (PH), gave their speeches in their own style and unmistaken manner. The former stayed close to the need to unify and implement policies that are beneficial to the country and the latter predictably called for all to topple the current ruling Government as he accuses the current Government of various wrong doings (yet to be proven in the courts of law).

Whilst I was listening to both speeches on my two laptops, my son came up to me and asked, "Daddy, can I ask you something about politics?"

I was taken by surprise because my son was only 13 years old. How could he possibly understand anything about politics? I remembered myself being an 18 year old university student when I started to follow politics. On any account, I wouldn't want to corrupt kids with any political agendas. Given that such question was asked, I decided to have the conversation anyway and said, "Ask away son."

"My Chinese friend told me that his mother told him that the current Prime Minister's daddy was responsible for the killings of many Chinese when he was the Prime Minister back then. Is that true?"

I got the shock of my life when I heard that. What irresponsible parent the mother of the kid must be? I could not believe how unfair that was. How could you corrupt the minds of the kids with accusations that have no basis? Many who studied the 13th May 1969 dark event will conclude that the clash between the races was unfortunate but not specifically orchestrated by any parties. In any case, it was so bitter that many also agreed that it shall not be brought up in any inter-racial discussions for the sake of peace and unity. If this one friend of my son has a parent like that, how many more are there around with similar parents?

I looked at my son and said, "Firstly, do not engage yourself in any discussions about politics. Secondly, what is important is that you make friends with everyone regardless of whether they are Malay, Chinese, Indian or any race for that matter. Thirdly, no!, the Prime Minister's daddy was not responsible for the killings! ........ and finally, the next time I am with you at your school, show me your friend's mother. I may have to start giving her history lessons."

Not too long ago, my son's school had a sports day. My wife and I was in attendance to witness the ceremony particularly the opening speech by the Head of the School. To my surprise that had also upset me, the speech contained words such as, "...... soon we will be casting our votes. I therefore urge all parents to vote for the current Government to be displaced with a new one." Now, I looked around but nobody took notice. Maybe because they were too focused with their own gadgets or they are in total agreement. I find this unacceptable. It is a school sports event. Why must there be any speech about politics?

I was (and still am) so upset by this unfair political ideology corruption onto kids. Parents should bury dark inter-racial history away and start cultivating the sense of respect and care into the hearts of our young ones. If we bring with us the remembrance of such vengeance and darkness, we will never be able to eliminate the obstruction force that can destroy any hope for a true assimilation of all races as a single Malaysian identity.

Having experienced all this, which, by the way, not amusing at all, I am now compelled to feel inclined to the idea of abolishing vernacular schools. This is because the dark history our country has is because of the separation of the ethnic groups, be it education wise, geographically, socially or economically. This realisation came from a fair generalisation of the demography of my son's school that has over 90% Chinese students, and obviously, over 90% Chinese parents. It is a private school in an urban area, hence such racial mix was by natural selection of those with superior economic power (Chinese) and not by design - this is understandable. However, vernacular schools are by design - therefore, cannot be allowed to continue - for its continuation will only grow the dark force beyond redemption.

For Malaysia to really mean "Malaysia", we must no longer worry about the colour of our skin nor the blood we carry in our veins. For the record, I have mixed Malay-Indian-Chinese blood and my wife has mixed Malay-Indian-Japanese blood. We are proud of being a Malay but we never want that to reach an arrogant and destructive level - let alone having our kids to be so.

The Birth Mark, an art piece by Jalaini Hassan (below) portrays the essence of the article:

* kopihangtuah

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