{"id":156103,"date":"2021-09-17T11:39:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T11:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=156103"},"modified":"2021-09-18T02:37:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T02:37:57","slug":"malaysian-family-how-can-we-do-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=156103","title":{"rendered":"Malaysian Family: How can we do better?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\nAriani Mohd Nor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 September 2021: 64 years since its Independence and 58 since the unification of the East and the West, Malaysia has prospered with people of different ethnicities \u201c a fruitful result of the social contract and intercultural harmonies, which is cultivated between the people even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As this\nyears Malaysia Day slogan calls for \u02dcMalaysian Family, its purpose is very\nclear cut and precise \u201c to treat Malaysians as our family members, regardless\nof our ethnic differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are still some lacking aspects in our country that need to be addressed for us to be better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)s Prof. Emeritus Dato Dr. Teo Kok Seong, Malaysias education system is still an undeniable factor in creating racial segregations within children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153Even during\npre-school, our children have been separated from one another,\u009d Prof. Teo said,\nin response to the matters mentioned. \u0153And this continues until primary school \u201c\nand this is a problem when we want to unite them again, because it may be\ndifficult for them to get used to a new environment.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is in\nresponse to the ongoing debate regarding the establishments of vernacular\nprimary schools or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan<\/em> that allegedly would\nseparate children based on their ethnic and language background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With history\nsubject in secondary schools also needing a major revamp, Prof. Teo believes\nthat the education system is in dire need of a structural change for Malaysia\nto properly function as a multicultural country with the proper mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Prof. Teo also stresses the need to fully understand the social contract of Malaysia \u201c which many have overlooked and neglected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social contract, which refers to the understanding made by Malayas founding fathers prior to the country’s Independence in 1957 was a core catalyst to the countrys success in finding autonomy that was taken away when the nation was colonised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social contract is a set of agreement that provided the non-Bumiputera people of Malaya, which includes people of Chinese and Indian descent, to be given citizenship; in return, they will have to recognise the special position of the Malays, Bahasa Melayu (now Bahasa Malaysia) as the national language, and Islam as the official religion of the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the\nsocial contract today has received many criticisms, it has also created not only\nan opportunity for the Malays \u201c who only held 4 per cent of the economy after\nthe 1969 riots, to get back on their feet and reserve Bumiputera their right to\ntheir land as the natives of their home soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153I see the unification of Malaysia as the solidarity of Nusantara peoples,\u009d Prof. Teo Kok Seong added. \u0153As we were separated during the colonisation period, it feels important that we emphasise this regardless of our political beliefs today.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hari\nMalaysia and the Independence Day serve as a reminder that the people should be\nunited against all odds, regardless of what may come between us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, with the \u02dcMalaysian Family slogan that was expounded by Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob this year, we need to practice its purpose everyday as Malaysians \u201c to treat each and every one as a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Teo Kok\nSeongs full insight regarding Malaysian Family or Keluarga Malaysia was documented\nin RTMs Bicara Naratif on 6 September 2021. The full video can be viewed on\nthis link<\/a>.***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ariani Mohd Nor KUALA LUMPUR, 17 September 2021: 64 years since its Independence and 58 since the unification of the East and the West,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":156106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,3],"tags":[],"nelio_content":{"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"followers":[134,12,136],"suggestedReferences":[],"efiUrl":"","efiAlt":"","highlights":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2021-09-17-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=156103"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156219,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156103\/revisions\/156219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/156106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=156103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=156103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=156103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}