The Malaysian government claimed that it was going to review the need to enter the ethnicity in all official forms.
It is one thing to mention one's race in a census, but another when you apply for a savings account in the bank or sit for an examination in school.
Race and ethnicity are irrelevant.
Hannah Yeoh and Ramachandran Muniandy would have set a precedent were they allowed to register their child as bangsa Malaysia instead of bangsa India (as Ram is of Indian descent) or Cina (as Hannah is Chinese).
We need to consciously reject the ethnocentric obsession of the politicians and bureaucrats in Malaysia.
RELATED: SABM Supports Parents' Right to Register Child as 'Anak Malaysia'
4 comments:
Dear Ms Cranky
Contemporary genetic research is showing that human beings belong to only one species and that the concept that “race” is something biological in origin is a relic of the pseudo-science that accompanied the rise of European imperialism. The pseudo-science was used to rank the “races”, with Caucasians at the top, Asiatics in the middle and blacks at the bottom. All used to justify enslavement, exploitation, conquest and colonialism.
“Race” is a social construction. We humans differ only in the ideas which we carry around in our heads (cultural ideas, including religion). There are only “ethnic groups” (which differ culturally) and no such thing as “races”.
There are only differences in gene frequencies in so-called "racial groups".
See the late Harvard Prof Stephen Jay Gould’s book “The Mismeasure of Man” for the history of “scientific racism”.
Dear Ms Cranky
Forgot to sign my comment
sent at 1:19
Cheers,
Phua Kai Lit
Phua Kai Lit - I recognise your style of writing :-)
I completely agree with you - ethnicity differs by culture, not by genetic make-up. The blue eyes, blond hair, dark skin, frizzy hair and other traits are a result of our evolution from adapting to the environment.
Thanks for the book recommendation.
cindian or indcin ...should be ok lah !?
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