Race Relations Act – WTF?!

I have just read this article today, on our governments’ interest in introducing a special law, called the Race Relations Act. The first thing that occurred to me was that, if they succeeded in introducing such an act, it would be the greatest accomplishment that our government had ever achieved in its 51 year history.

The reason that I say this is because, such an act can only exist if the concept of race is clearly defined. If the definition is not sufficiently clear, then it may be difficult to enforce any of the details of the act. Under our present laws, only the Malay race is clearly by Article 160 of our Constitution.

The article defines a Malay as a Malaysian citizen born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs, and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore. So, our legal definition of a race is bound by a combination of religion, language, custom and place of residence.

Assuming that the government uses the same system to define all the other races, I would definitely be interested to see what kind of definition the government can come up with. Goodness knows, I think that I will probably slip through the cracks and be in limbo. I profess an Indian religion, speak the English language, and adhere to a random mix of customs (as evidenced by my choice in clothes).

I am sure that I am not alone in this. Ask yourself if you would fit into any stereotypical definition of a Chinese, Indian or any one of the other 50 odd races that are supposed to exist in Malaysia. I can already tell you that although 90% of Malaysian Chinese speak Mandarin, most of them do not believe in Confucianism (a truly Chinese religion) and they are certainly not Buddhists.

I think that most of you should get my point by now.

Race is an artificial construct. Throughout history, man has done various studies to try to define race clearly, but has failed to do so utterly. So, if our government is capable of working out the legal definitions for the various races in Malaysia, they would have accomplished no mean feat. I would certainly congratulate them for doing so!