OCT 12 — Ali Tinju has planned to start Petaling Street Rally 2.0 at Melaka Raya this weekend while at the same time “sightseeing” in the historic city.

However, leaders of the state don’t seem to be quite elated by that idea.

State immigration department deputy director Abu Bakar Sidek Hassan said, “We can handle this matter (officer being beaten up) ourselves. We don’t need him to interfere. Neither should this thing be made into a political or racial incident.”

Bravo! There are still many government officials who are sober-minded.

Sure enough Abu Bakar feels the pinch when his enforcement officer raiding foreign GROs came under assault by the local gangsters. But he is absolutely clear that this was purely a criminal case that had nothing to do with race.

In this incident, the officer attacked is a Malay and the gangsters attacking him are mostly Chinese. By right the attackers must be brought to book for their unruly act and gross disrespect for the country’s law. And it is the responsibility of the police and immigration department to do so.

In a society ruled by law, only the enforcement agencies could take up the enforcement duties, and in a decent and rightful manner.

Chaos will reign if such enforcement power is abused by private parties, whatever reasons they might be.

Having savored the sweetness of success from the Sept 16 rally, Ali Tinju and his Red Shirt sympathizers are on the lookout for new chances to create trouble, ready to exploit any issue to incite racial confrontation

If we allow this and many other trivial conflicts to take a racial hue, our society will never see peace, as colored rallies will go on and on without an end.

As Abu Bakar has said, immigration officers are tackling the issue of illegal foreigners in a professional manner, and is fully aware of the occupational risks associated with gang assaults. And it doesn’t need people like Ali Tinju to step in their way.

While Chinese Malaysians are generally prone to censure racists and opportunists in the likes of Ali Tinju and Jamal Yunus, they themselves think the same way at times, albeit to a different degree.

Take for example, when we are visiting a government department to get something done but do not get what we want, we are inclined to get infuriated and start venting our frustration at the officials, often citing the officials’ background as a pretext for incompetency and recklessness.

Lest we forget, there are many civil servants who are dutiful to their jobs, people who will not accord differential treatment based on skin color.

I have experienced this myself. For example, a policeman came to help me replace a punctured tire in the middle of the night; when I was renewing my passport at the immigration department, the officer patiently taught me how to use the automatic machine service; and nurses were seen tendering caring assistance to patients at a government hospital.

I am sure many people might have similar experiences. Unfortunately due to our egotism and xenophobia, such positive experiences have often been nonchalantly written off in favor of our own stereotyped impression or hearsay that other ethnic communities are inferior to us.

While there are many Ali Tinjus around us, there are even more Abu Bakars walking in our midst. We must never allow ourselves to jump to a generalized conclusion. In its stead, we should constantly look into ourselves lest we fall into the trap of racism ourselves without we realising it.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.