Reflections from OKM

I thought I'd follow up Tony's reflectionswith some of my own. Instead of reflecting on the whole experience of blogging here, I want to focus my attention on a specific issue - that of "race" in the Malaysian education system .

I thought that the following comments by this astute reader in Tony's "Reflections" post is very insightful and worthy of highlighting:

" It is very sad to see among the comments on the blogs,that things tend to deviate around racial lines, such as the non malays are always attacking the malays and vice versa.

This blog is a healthy forum where all parties can come and discuss things rationally and see that where 'wrongs and errors' can be righted out in the name of fair play. Both parties must try to look and understand the problems and frustrations in the system and try to solve it amicabily for the good of the nation.

May 13 is long dead and gone. Are we still continuouslly waking up to the nightmare and be reminded that it is still there?

I think if there is fair play and understanding and lots of give and take, there are plenty of good things in this country we can share together."

First of all, I'd like to apologize to our readers if I've offended them in any of my previous posts with racially insensitive remarks. I'm sure I've made my fair share of them even though I DO try my level best to stay away from such remarks. I think that both Tony and I are interested in improving the education system in Malaysia for ALL MALAYSIANS regardless of race and I think that our posts have largely reflected that philosophy.

Secondly, where we've observed unfair and unproductive practices within the system that have to do with racial policies, we have not shied away from pointing them out. These include hiring and promotion practices in public universities and the awarding of scholarships, among others. But I think that on the whole we've probably highlighted as many (if not more) education policies which have nothing to do with race including the weaknesses of the local private colleges (one of Tony's pet project), reforming the UUCA and applying for foreign universities and scholarships, among others.

Thirdly, I think we've tried to allow as much free flowing discussions as possible in our comments / feedback session in the interest of free speech. Tony and I probably wouldn't agree with the tone of some of the comments but I think we've refrained from deleting these comments with the exception of those which are the most egregious and racially insulting.

Fourthly, many of our observations and posts are influenced by our respective educational experiences. If we sound a little sore on the issue of the awarding of scholarships, it might be because we've both been offered and given scholarships from everyone with the exception of our own government. We both went to Singapore on the ASEAN scholarship, which was awarded to us by the Singapore government. Tony went to Oxford courtesy of a Malysian tobacco company. I was offered a scholarship to do my Masters in LSE from LSE (which I rejected because I wanted to go to Cambridge) and I'm here in Duke courtesy of the Fulbright scholarship (US government) and funding from Duke University (also tobacco money). We're both largely supportive of many aspects of the Singapore education system because we've been the benificiaries of that system. I'm more in favor of the US education system especially at the graduate level after going through both the UK and the US systems.

Lastly, I want to invite our readers to remind us if and when we've made racially insensitive remarks and to encourage our readers to post constructive comments in the spirit of having an honest and yet measured discussion. I am reminded of Atticus Finch's advice to his daughter Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" and I'm paraphrasing - You never really know someone until you walk around in their skin.

Thanks a lot for your support and your comments and keep them coming!