racists and civil society

What determines whether a person grow up to be a racist or not? Upbringing I presume. Second would be the experience that one goes through outside his home.

I have a number of friends that I admire. One particular friend comes to mind whenever I think of an exemplary person that I look up to. He was older than I am but somehow his respect for a person goes beyond age and wisdom. He was a person in my study group. We studied a “way of life”, a wide subject indeed. His reference has always been the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
In my years of knowing him, he never uttered words that I can classify as a racist remark. He worked in the government and still does but he is the opposite of what I see amongst the UMNO men.

On the contrary, I came across a particular individual in my yahoo-group that is very racist. I went to the same school as he did and was taught by mostly Chinese teachers. The teachers were excellent educationists and were serious in their work to teach us the village boys to become model citizens, educated and cultured.

I guess not everyone came out minted and cultured. Some I believe grow old but never grow up. They become more stupid as days go by and eventually become racists and take swipe at others. Most if not all the time, their outlook is so short-sighted and myopic that they are not able to see beyond certain skin colours and ethnic group.

This particular creature that taunts people daily on behalf of another creature simply because they have this belief that this “Malay” reigns supreme in Malaysia and others deserve to be banished to Siberia! How could we have these kinds of people continue to be borne out of our society?

This brings us back to the friend that I admire a great deal. I would say that his transformation to a polished and exemplary individual is a result of his lifetime education, both formal and informal, that shaped him as an excellent human being. Can we replicate this phenomenon and breed generations that are devoid of hatred and without racist tendencies? I sincerely believe that we can do that and this requires a complete overhaul of our education system and other systems that continue to divide us. And looking at the damage done and the state in which we are in today in Malaysia, this transformation is impossible without a change of leadership, a leadership with the right kind of ideology and determination to see a civil society emerging from this heap of dung we created. It is time we throw out this UMNO/BN government and replace them with those that are serious enough to build a civil government and nurture a civil society.