THE news of a school in Malacca with separate canteens for Muslims and non-Muslims has raised the ire of parents and social activists, and elicited a sigh, head-shake and eye-roll from liberal-thinking Malaysians.

On social media, people have responded to the news by reminiscing on the “good old days” where Malaysians of all races could dine together in the same restaurant and schoolchildren were not taught that our different religions had to keep us physically apart.

Before the rise of the ultra Islamic movement, it’s true that life for the average Malaysian appeared to be a lot less complicated when it came to drawing religious boundaries.

I attended a Methodist public school in the early 1980s, where my class photos could almost have been taken out of a Visit Malaysia tourism promo shot hailing the multiculturalism of this beloved land. When one of us had a birthday, there was never a question of whether or not the sponge cakes brought to class were baked in a “halal” kitchen, or bought from the morning market Chinese aunty.

Were we integrated? Yes, very much so, and within the protective walls of our school, at least, we were equal.

As a child, those were indeed the good old times when one’s racial privileges were something to be quietly coy about, and not something large groups of people brandished with unabashed and misplaced pride.

But the reality is that while we choose to remember the greater ease with which we celebrated our cultural and religious differences then, racism was always in the backdrop and has always been a dark part of our history, shaping our society of today.

Affirmative action policies targeted at a specific race as opposed to a specific need, has not only sowed a growing resentment among the minority races, it has created a majority race saddled with a sense of entitlement.

When an entire generation has been fed the idea that it is perfectly acceptable to “level the playing field” between the races by dishing out race-based quotas and handicaps for an indefinite period of time, it’s really little surprise that even a change of government cannot change the insecurities and prejudice of our people.

If the future of Malaysia is to be any different, the time to start that change is truly now, as the space to discuss once-sensitive issues of race and religion is opening up.

The ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) would not have ended race-based policies, or put to an end decades of racial prejudice.

But it would have been a crucial move towards that direction, and it is almost heart-wrenching that the government has decided to bow to pressure and backtracked on its earlier resolve to ratify the UN convention.

Domestically, it would have sent that crucial message that the new government acknowledges the fragile state of our country’s racial and religious balance and realises we need to find another way.

It would have sent an even clearer message to opportunistic right-wing Malay groups and political parties that the government will not be held ransom by the threat of losing votes, over doing what is right.

Internationally, it would have helped Malaysia redeem itself from its troubled reputation of being a country ruled by oppressive dictators with little care for international standards of human rights.

Sadly, though, a discussion on what the ICERD ratification would have meant for Malaysia will now be merely hypothetical.

Decades of racial policies have created the idea of a master race in the minds of some Malaysians, and this sense of privilege will take decades more to erase.

But, if we are ever to come to a time where there is no longer pride in proclaiming one’s “special” privileges over others, Pakatan Harapan cannot continue prostrating itself to the demands of those who will fight to keep the superiority which they have enjoyed for so long.

Even if we were to tear down the walls of the two separate canteens, the underlying issue behind them will continue, and will grow in time.

Even if our children will somehow get to enjoy the “good old days” of free interaction with friends of different backgrounds, the reality outside the safe walls of their classrooms will be unchanged, and they will still grow up in the same, racist Malaysia most of us did.

If Pakatan Harapan truly believes that it was voted in by Malaysians to save it from going down the path of destruction, it cannot think that the job will be easy.

But they can rest assured that as long as they show even a hint of boldness to do the right thing, the same passion that made Malaysians vote for an end to a 61-year-old “Goliath” of a government, will be there right beside them. – November 26, 2018.

* Julia Yeow has been in journalism for two decades and counts it as her first love, despite enjoying brief stints as a lecturer, clown and salad maker. She is a strong believer in social justice, and holds that there is sometimes more truth in the greys, than the blacks and whites.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.