Public must discuss sensitive issues freely, not leave it to govt

Asila Jalil Asila Jalil Updated 8 years ago · Published on 2 Jun 2018 8:35PM · 3 Comments

Lawyer-activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri says the people must discuss sensitive issues freely and not leave it to the government as will allow oppression to continue. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, June 2, 2018.

THE public must initiate discussions on sensitive topics such as race and religion and discuss it freely instead of leaving them solely in the hands of the government.

Lawyer-activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said now is the best time for such discussions to take place because a change in government had occurred.

“I think being emotional is fine, but we have to have a space where we can sit down, where we can acknowledge the problems that we have, and also acknowledge the fact that resentment have been planted for so long and we have to talk about all these issues and problems in an open way,” she said at the sideline of a Post-GE14 conference held at Universiti Malaya today.

She said prior to the elections, these matters were not allowed to be discussed, but she said the issues persist after GE14.

Fadiah also said many lives would be affected if sensitive issues in the country are being sidelined instead of addressed openly.

“If we don’t talk about all these issues that means we are allowing the oppression to continue.

“So we have that responsibility to talk about these issues, but we have to be honest with ourselves.

“We have internalised a lot of resentment, hatred. We have to acknowledge that first because I think when we change, it is not just the government that we have changed. We have to also change the oppressor that is planted deep within us. That has to be done,” she said adding that the country would not be able to sustain democracy if such matters are not discussed.

She also said when matters on race are brought up, issues concerning Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) will follow.

“I just find myself unable to deal with the reactions. Because we don’t need reactions, we need honest conversations about all these difficult issues,” she said.

Recently, Hindraf 2.0 had submitted 25 demands to the institutional reform committee to improve the lives of the bottom 75% (B75) in the Indian community and one of the demands was to open UiTM to non-bumiputera.

However, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Alumni Association (PAUiTM) was against the idea and claimed the suggestion would anger the Bumiputera community.

Bersatu Youth had also opposed the demand and called the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to reject the proposal by Hindraf 2.0. – June 2, 2018.

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Comments

  • It could be said that before UiTM the races mixed well in school, college, and university. My best friends in upper secondary school in the 1960's were 2 Malay boys who spoke good English, which was the medium of instruction then. When English was downgraded by blundering politicians (as also happened in Sri Lanka), the stage was set, sad to say, for the decline in quite a few things. If we had retained English I personally feel that our Malay friends would have been much better off, even in kampongs. We would have been able to spread English fluency among them that much more easily. The Malays would have been "super", even in the world. As Professor Hickling said, there was "something in Islam that 'touched' the soul of the Malays, so there was also something in English that would have arrested our decline into educational mediocrity. We need to quickly bring these 2 things back which the British left us as their legacy after independence - a good system of public administration, and the English language..

    Posted 8 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

  • Uthaya and so called Hindraf 2.0 are idiots. This election has little to do with them. They made their bed now they can live with it or without PH.

    The real sensitive question is whether can UMNO have Ketuanan without kleptocracy. The answer is highly unlikely. But if PH go too far or fail, the voters will accept even kleptocracy for Ketuanan.

    Posted 8 years ago by Bigjoe Lam · Reply

  • Establish proper platform for Malaysian to discuss this issue. Using threat and intimidation will not suppress the public from voicing out and neither will it resolve the issue. After 60 years of independence - we are all Malaysian. Poverty, under-privilege, underperforming, handicap etc is not exclusive to any race. We must accpet to help all regardless of race or religion. Politician must serve the public rather than serve their own pocket.

    Posted 8 years ago by Chris Ng · Reply