True Malaysians

Whenever news of our fellow-Malaysians acting out in an unsavoury manner inundate our news feed, be it unashamedly stating a racist remark or behaving cruelly to another person, the comments that usually accompany such news are usually about how these people are not "true Malaysians" and that they in no way reflect the attitudes of our society.

While of course, these people who act out in such an unkind - and sometimes, downright nasty - way comprise a minority in the diverse strata of Malaysian society, the fact remains that they are part of our society. The prejudices, dissent, intolerance, and hatred that they stir up reflect a society that is still very much broken and fissured. Merely saying that they are not "true Malaysians" does not conceal this fact. Unpleasant as it may be,  we cannot dismiss them and say that they are not an accurate mirror of what "true-Malaysianness". To do so would be ignoring the ills of our country. If, say, a part of our body were infected, would we not try to remedy it? It would be insensible and in fact, dangerous, to neglect the infected areas as not being part of our "true body". Likewise, no matter how outrageous the actions done by a certain portion of our society, we cannot just say that they are not "true Malaysians".

They are just as Malaysian as we are, because if they have not cared, they would not have spoken. And we need to understand why they are saying these things, and we must address it. Their words may have been spoken out of ignorance, fear, arrogance, but all the more we must think of how to confront this rather than just packing their opinions away into a forgotten corner.

But as much as they reflect the ugliness and bitterness of Malaysia, I am glad for the Malaysians who choose instead to reflect the beauty, the hope, and the promise that Malaysia still has. These are the ones who deserve our commendation and attention, and it is their voices we need in inspiring and motivating us to constructively work towards a better Malaysia.