The Sri Pristana Issue

Ok first of all, I am doing this out of therapy. Perhaps somewhat similar to Life of Annie.

Some background must be order before we proceed so that readers will know the exact circumstances of my opinion and dismiss or accept it accordingly.

Ethnically I am for all purposes Indian. And the dark skin variety.

So with that most important disclosure out of the way, let me offer my opinion on this issue.





The Seri Pristana issue came about when Madam Ganeswari Kelly made the following post in her Facebook account.



The above image has become the defining picture post GE 13. Most people who view the picture instantly recognise it and then are tuned to make known their opinions without much rational thought. On this issue, there seems to be 2 camps, the first one being those who are mad with the school authorities and agree wholesale with Madam Gunasweri and the second being those who are completely mad with Madam Gunasweri and support the school headmaster, Mohd Nasir Mohd Nor.

     

When this issue first hit the news wires, my initial opinion was to believe Mdm Gunasweri. But as I am working in Singapore, I was not completely bombarded by this issue so my opinion was still perhaps quite fluid.

But I do take exception with some of the comments made by Mdm Gunasweri :

Dear friends do u hv feeling n sense of humour. Is it fair for a sekolah kebangsaan sri pristina treatment our non Muslim children like this during puasa month. They restricted our children to go canteen becoz they will dirty and gave them bilik bersalin n mandi for rehat. They quanteen them not to go out from break. Is this fair? Can school treat like this. No food serve n no canteen. That bathroom is full of bacteria n smell becoz its a bathroom n next door toilet with the horrible smell. When we ask they keep sending to another bathroom n store place. As a mother I m in teas n sadness. My child in mess at Malay School. Y the parties n no body voice out. How many times we need to run. No STOP FOR THIS!!! My dear malay friends do u think this fair? Can ur Allah accept this? Making our children in suffers. This wat 1 Malaysia is it??? Pls help me some plss. I need help my child suffering at that room whenever her break. Our complaints no taken in school in keep doing same.

Her comment  is provocative.  It is designed to provoke a reaction. Personally, I find the one in red is totally unacceptable. There is no reason to mention it.

Before we go ahead, on hindsight let me offer my opinion why Gunasweri's comment was right and wrong.

Gunasweri's comment was right if she intended to provoke a reaction. Almost overnight, this issue blew up and became national headlines. Everybody commented and we once again were faced with a case of Malay vs Non Malay, Muslim vs Non Muslim.

Gunasweri's comment was wrong as a citizen  and resident of Malaysia.  Even though this story has many angles, I want to focus the rest of my piece on why I come to that conclusion.

First some background for the benefit of readers.

As an ethnic Indian, like it or not, I am only part of 8% and less of the population. Even worse, as an ethnic Indian I will be prejudiced with some of the many stereotypes associated with Indians. Number one - over dramatic, number two - emotional, number three - lying, number four - dark and ugly, number five - acting without thinking, and in general "unMalaysian." These are common streotypes associated with Indians and by my mere appearance I too will be subject to it.

The point is that this stereotype did not emerge out of the blue. There has been some basis to it and it must have been reinforced in society over and over again through the interactions with Indians both great and small by members of the non Indian community.

In this regard Gunasweri does give a case one example of this. She has decided to make this a racial and religious issue when the real issue is not that at all. The real issue is that the school has decided to make a changing room as the makeshift canteen. Gunasweri objects and feels strongly about it. She wants to force the school to open up the canteen. The school refuses. She then surmises that the reason behind it must be race and religion discrimination.

She has now lost objectivity in her cause.

This is no longer going to be about not being able to eat in a canteen but instead a battle against perceived racial and religious posturing. This is no longer going to be against the school management of Seri Pristina but against the wider Malay and Muslim community in Malaysia.

I think now it should be clear why Gunasweri is wrong. She like me is only 8% of the Malaysian community, and on a percentage basis we will decline faster as the influx of Bangladeshis and Myanmarese migrant workers changes the population dynamics.

I don't know about you but no way can 8% win in anything. Its like 1 against 12 and those are odds that just do not work.

So if we as Indians and non Malays and non Muslims in general insist on making every issue into a racial and religious issue in order to pit us against the Malays and the Muslims,  then we are on this extremely stupid trajectory. Like it or not, Malaysia emerged from a Malay land. Like it or not, we came from a very different background. Like it or not, we should adapt to the Malay culture rather than having the Malay culture adapt to us.

And in the Malay culture, there is this unwritten code of not blowing up an issue. If you think about it, virtually every single issue that has happened over the last 4 years plus emerged when non Malays tried to assert their "non Malayness" to the wider Malay community in Malaysia.

This to me is plain stupid.

If the school has been adamant in closing the canteen, then so be it. We can take it up at the PIBG and offer constructive arguments why it is better for the canteen to be open rather than eat in a shower room. Or perhaps most importantly, we can tell our children - TO STOMACH IT.

Yes - TO STOMACH IT. Because in truth, this is the lesson Indians have to learn. We have to learn how to smile when people are rude and not get emotional. If we continue to get emotional, people will continue to refuse to deal with us and we will continue to get emotional.

Can you see that this is a never ending cycle?

Personally I love Malay food and am hardcore fan of assam laksa. I speak extremely well Malay (after all I am the infamous Sir Wenger Khairy).  When I am stressed out in Singapore (which happens on a weekly basis), I flee to Mersing to chill there by the seaside. I go to Malay restaurants, patron Malay enterprises, engage in banter and then head back home. If I ever use the "Pasport chop lane" I always make it a point to address the immigration officers as Tuan or Puan. And lastly, I would probably want to open up a shop in Mersing or Kuala Trengganu once my stint in Singapore is over.

After having been on this land for almost 200 years, lets learn to adapt to Malaysia. After all, we were granted citizenship by a benevolent society, so the least we can do is to repay this kindness with a change of attitude.

PS: I used to eat my lunch in a shower room when I was in Junior College. The reason was that my shirt would smell strongly as the canteen was not well ventilated.

The photo that was not mentioned.