Those Malaysians who travelled abroad for further studies during the
1950s and 1960s may recall some of the discriminatory practices that
were prevalent in the West at the time.  My own father once told me of
how he was discriminated in the United States thanks to the residual
practice of the 'colour bar' where non-whites were not allowed to be
next to white Americans in buses, restaurants, cafes and even in the
public lavatories. Needless to say, his experience (like the experience
of thousands of others then) was not a pleasant one.

If such practices were carried out today there would be protests from
all corners. Racism and prejudice are given few if any opportunities to
come out into the open thanks to the vigilance of 'politically-correct'
guardians of public sensibilities. No one in his right mind would dare
use words like 'nigger', 'chink' or 'paki' in public or even private
conversations any more. In the universities of the West, students are
free to meet and discuss openly. They live in dormitories where all
races, creeds and colours come together face to face on a daily basis.
Of course there can be tension and problems at times, but the students
are left on their own to sort things out and by doing so they learn the
lesson of living in the real world like sensible adults. In time the
students come to realise that such superficial differences are precisely
that, and nothing more.

These social advances did not come by themselves. They had to be fought
for and sacrifices had to be made. During the 1960s, an entire
generation of young people, many of them university students, rallied
and cried against the walls of officialdom that propped up the
prejudices and fears of the older generation. Though many critics have
lashed out against what they regard as the excesses of the 'hippy era'
and the 1968 generation, the fact remains that it was the students who
successfully broke down the barriers of racism and prejudice in the West
and forced their own society to look at itself critically. From this
came the anti-War movement, the women's emancipation movement, the
ecology movement and the pro-South liberation movement.

One would have thought that the march of history moves ever onwards
towards a more enlightened and progressive future. But those who put
their faith is such deterministic assumptions are often proven wrong
when the march of history takes a step in the opposite direction.

This is precisely what happened recently when a group of students from
University Malaya sent a letter of protest to the Ministry of Education,
calling for an end to the affirmative policy of housing students from
different ethnic and religious backgrounds together in campus
accommodation. (Malaysiakini, 29 May 2000). The students were led by the
various religious and cultural-linguistic associations on campus, which
included the Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam (Muslim Students Union) and other
student organisations of various religious groupings.

These students claimed that the policy introduced by the Ministry of
Education last year has made it difficult for them to perform their
religious rites and rituals with ease and comfort, thereby causing
tension and difficulties among the students themselves. While they
accepted the need to bring together students from different states, they
rejected the policy of integrating students of different religious and
cultural backgrounds on the grounds that it led to 'discomfort and
misunderstandings' between them.

This latest protest from the juvenile Imams of the campuses comes as
another blow to the already slow and complicated process of
nation-building in the country. It is bad enough that after half a
century of independence Malaysians still do not have a national culture
they can call their own: now the future generation of Malaysians are
saying that they do not even want to live together on the grounds that
they do not wish to witness the religious rites and rituals of others.
Nobody has cared to point out to these students that the toleration and
accommodation of cultural difference happens to be one of the
prerequisites of any multicultural society, and Malaysia happens to be
one of them.

One wonders how and why these student leaders could have the audacity to
make such claims in the first place? In all our universities there is
complete freedom of worship. Mosques and suraus have been built for the
Muslim students. Pork and alcohol are not allowed to be sold on campus.
There is already gender segregation between male and female students. Do
they think that there will be massive conversion ceremonies and
missionary activities if the students are made to share rooms together?
And where will all this lead to one wonders- After religious
segregation, what next?

Because this is happening in Malaysia, few have cared to express their
shock, dismay or disgust over the issue. Of course things would be
different if it happened elsewhere, such as in the so-called 'evil West'
that we love to hate so much. If an American or British university
introduced such a policy of communal segregation and prevented
Malaysians from living with the locals, there would immediately be a
chorus of dissent and protest against what we would (rightfully) regard
as a discriminatory policy. But sadly this time the crisis happens to be
right in the midst of our own society, and few have spoken up against
it.

One hopes that the Ministry of Education would stick to its guns for
once on this important and sensitive issue. We need to remind ourselves
that national consensus and inter-communal harmony do not come easily or
willingly. There are times when positive discriminatory policies are
required to bring communities together. Some of the students will, no
doubt, protest and reject such policies on the grounds that they wish to
retain their cultural 'purity', 'authenticity' or 'uniqueness'. But many
others will not follow in the footsteps of the narrow-minded. The
universities have a role to play in creating a new generation of
Malaysians who can look beyond ethnic and religious differences and
recognise the common humanity that is shared by all.

Prejudice and bigotry have no place in our society, and in our
universities in particular. And the worse kind of prejudice is the one
that dresses itself in the garb of religiosity, turning religion's
message of universal fraternity into a sectarian creed of hate instead.END

By Dr.Farish A Noor - a Malaysian Political Scientist and Human Rights
Activist.