SEPTEMBER 18 ― After 58 years of independence and 52 years since we became Malaysia, remarkably, some Malays still think it fit to call the Chinese “babi” [pigs] and to tell them to “balik China” [go back to China].

Besides these insults that completely undermine the spirit of Malaysia Day, the “Red Shirts” rally also featured placards with disturbing racial slogans like “Defend Malay rights” and “Malaysia belongs to the Malays.”

As much as the conservatives would like to claim that fighting for Malay rights is not “racist”, it is. When you fight for the “rights” of only one ethnic group, especially one that holds political power and comprises the majority of the population, you’re being racist.

There are better ways to fight against poverty. Not by trying to claim the dominance of one ethnic group over others or by denigrating another race, but by battling for the poor across racial lines.

Who fights for the poor Chinese or the poor Indians, who don’t enjoy quotas at public universities or aid from Islamic government agencies? 

Saying that the Malays deserve special attention because more of them make up the lower-income group than other races is also disingenuous. Are the lives of 10 poor people worth more than one?

The "Balik China" refrain is not new. We’ve heard it before.

The Chinese are frequently made the scapegoat for the Malays’ low socio-economic status, even though there are upper middle-class Malays in Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Shah Alam.

It’s easier to blame someone of a different skin colour than to look at your personal failings, or at institutional problems and bad policies that exacerbate poverty.

The Malay man who went on a rant against Chinese journalists at the “Red Shirt” rally and told them to go back to China should not be investigated by the police.

Racism should not be a crime. Otherwise, we’d all be in prison.

There’s a difference between racism and hate crimes. Insulting the Chinese and calling them pigs without making physical threats is not a crime, as detestable as it is.

Why do we still encounter such racist vitriol after all these decades? Is racism truly endemic in Malaysian society that has never known an alternative system to race-based politics?

Most, if not all, of us are guilty of racism, not just the Malay man who called the Chinese a “bangsat” (bastard) race.

A friend of mine related how a bunch of Chinese teenagers played with their phones and made jokes when Negaraku was played at the movies recently, compared to the Malays who dutifully stood up during the national anthem.

It’s no surprise then if these same Malays had gone to the “Red Shirts” rally and railed against the Chinese they deemed to be “pendatang”, since those youths had behaved exactly like immigrants, or in my friend’s words, “fresh off the boat."

It’s a vicious cycle. Some Malays perceive that the Chinese trample on their rights (whatever they are) and dominate the economy. Refusing to stand up during Negaraku also doesn’t help their perceptions of the Chinese as an ungrateful lot.

On the other hand, some Chinese resent the Malays for being constantly labelled as “pendatang” despite their families having stayed in Malaysia for generations. The resentment also comes from having to work twice as hard as the Malays while suffering discrimination all the same.

How much longer do we have to keep hearing “babi” insults or calls for the Chinese to go back to China?

I’m not sure myself. My sister pulled a pretend sad face and jokingly said: “That’s so hurtful” when I told her about the “babi” and “Balik Cina” remarks.

We’re so used to it that we laugh it off. But such comments are distasteful and on one level, really hurtful to those of us who call Malaysia home and have never stepped foot in China, or to those of us who are more fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, the national language, while not knowing how to speak Mandarin or any other Chinese dialect.

I stand up and sing when Negaraku is played at every Umno and government function (I’ve been to plenty in my work as a journalist). Each time I sing our national anthem, it fills me with pride, even if I completely disagree with what’s said at such functions.

If only the Malays at the “Red Shirts” rally were equally proud of Malaysia and treated it with the spirit in which the country was formed on September 16, 1963, instead of just calling it "Tanah Melayu."

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.