OF late, for reasons valid or otherwise, politicians, activists, politicians wearing an activist hat, and activists with political aspirations appear to be increasingly picking on low-hanging, but forbidden fruits – race and religion.

We have seen smaller outbursts, mini-implosions dot Malaysia’s recent history. In 2001, the Kg Medan riots occurred due to a series of simple misunderstandings, part of which among two neighbours of the same race over a broken van window. What started as arguments between disgruntled neighbours quickly degraded into a clash between racial groups.

Some demonstrations are just plain incendiary in nature. Stunts involving severed cow heads and crates of beer outside the Selangor state government building was just meant to stir up problems and provoke reactions. Thankfully, most Malaysians did not respond to it.

Others stem from even buyer-seller disagreement. An incident in Low Yat three years ago caused rioting on the streets and threats to burn the building with provocative slogans that had nothing to do with the disagreement at hand, later proven to be nothing more than common theft by a jobless man with a history of drug abuse and violence.

And most recently, we have, of course, the ruckus over the demolition of a temple in Subang Jaya.

The thing is, in a few years, no one will remember the cause of these commotions. The people behind the troubles will fade into obscurity but the fires they lit, knowingly or not, along the way just continues to sow seeds of mistrust between the races and feeds the widening chasm between races.

To say nothing has been done to build trust among the races, within the national agenda would not be accurate.

Every national economic blueprint has always had a strong emphasis on the economic needs of marginalised races and nation building.

The national education plan, ever since the Razak and Rahman Talib reports, have always emphasised subjects that encourage national unity.

However, somehow, plenty went wrong while translating these policies into actual action plans.

For example, vernacular education is something agreed upon since the 60s. Yet, politicians are still divided on even the existence of these schools. Instead of working towards projects that include all types of schools, such as the Sekolah Wawasan project, there’s an increasing number of voices calling to streamline them into one, which of course, only met with a counter-movement to encourage children of certain ethnic persuasion to stick to their “own” schools.

Similarly, departments like the National Civics Bureau (BTN) should never have been allowed to take root.

The same applies to university placements, business opportunities and employment option. There is a gap in what we tell others Malaysia is, and the Malaysia we shape through our everyday action. And for everything one race perceives as unfair treatment against them, we find retaliation in the way they treat others. This has been going on for a long time.

Previously, while these emotions were simmering, open outbursts were met with strong reprimands and strict legal action to prevent anything untoward from happening. However, in a Malaysia Baru that pledged not to continue these steps, extra care and caution should be taken to make up for the loss in legal options. Caution that does not seem to have been taken seriously.

Even without curtailing freedom of speech, there are laws in place that allow for punishing people who mislead others. There are anti-defamation laws, and laws on public order. Laws against inciting violence.

Outside laws, a portion of government effort channelled to the economy and other pursuits should be set aside to pursue social justice, eradication of poverty, housing and education – root causes of social inequality, a major hindrance to proper dialogue between communities.

Community leaders can take the lead in engaging each other and breaking stereotypes by helping communities outside their own, openly and with no hidden agenda. These provide informal platforms for us to rebuild trust and work on dialogue again.

Without meaningful social dialogue, we would never be able to break free from the vicious loop of turning issues racial, letting them worsen and casting the net wider to include more things we cannot talk about, feeding into our mistrust and turning up the temperature of racial issues in Malaysia. – December 7, 2018.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.