YOURSAY ‘Let ‘race’ be dropped in official forms and ‘IQ’ added instead.’

Perkasa objects to dropping 'race' in forms

Swipenter: If Bolehland were to outlaw and criminalise racial discrimination, sexism and religious discrimination, then who cares if you are required to fill your race, religion and sex in any form.

If so, then nobody could want a person to give such personal information in any form. In most developed countries if you are guilty of any one of these three kinds of discrimination, it could mean doing jail time and a hefty fine.

But in Bolehland such information is gathered for statistical reasons as well as for racial and religious discrimination.

WDA: Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali is wrong about United States. Ethnicity does not appear in many forms.

Where it does appear, it is usually for the purpose of market research, and it is not mandatory to state your race or ethnicity. There will be a 'Rather not say' box to tick if you wish.

Rojak: WDA is right (and Ibrahim wrong) about forms in the US: only a few ask about race, it's rarely compulsory to answer, and there are no constitutional definitions of race. (Obama chose to call himself black in the last census, as was his right, even though his mother was white.)

But actually there is a genuine debate between countries that collect ethnic information and those that don't - the former saying it helps in taking steps to reduce discrimination and the latter arguing that it actually increases discrimination.

I guess it's not so much a question of asking the questions as of what you do with the answers.

Quigonbond: Ibrahim Ali misses the point. Ethnicity should be stated in certain instances to obtain accurate census data, but any use of it as a basis for determining which one gets education, employment or promotion and which one gets sidelined should be barred in law.

Special status provisions under the federal constitution need to be re-examined or re-interpreted so that it is inclusive of Malaysian society instead of being used to divide the society through racial/religious superiority. That is why we need a Race Relations Act.

Anonymous #20513663: The US has gone through some truly horrible times with respect to the 'race' issue. There is no reason we should try to 'copy' those times. At least we never had slavery in Malaysia, though the conditions of some estate workers and Felda ‘peneroka’ are not far off from slavery.

Just one clarification: today in the US, declaring ethnicity is totally optional. And there is a lot of flexibility, e.g. one can often tick more than one box. Often one can also write down one's ethnicity if one doesn't identify with any of the existing options.

If all this were true in Malaysia, it would already be a step forward. In Malaysia, in the majority of cases, one cannot 'choose' one's 'race' and 'religion'.

One prominent case was Selangor assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh's children, where their 'race' was chosen for them by Malaysian officialdom against the wishes of the parents. There are many more cases that are not reported. 'Religion' is even worse, as you all know.

Milosevic: It's not true that race is required in US forms - in fact it is illegal to ask for a person's race in any job application.

College applications ask people to volunteer their background so that they can aim for a diverse student body. A student can put whatever they want or nothing at all - UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) has over 200 ethnic categories.

In other words, the whole attitude about race in the US has opposite aims to Perkasa's narrow, fascist vision. It does not mean they are no racial issues in the US but most organisations strive to deal with them and minimise racialised approaches.

Perkasa instead wants a ethnocratic state, but in doing so will damage the Malays and Muslims the most.

To the Malay chauvinists, don't be scared of a future that is more pluralistic and liberal, and the better you adjust, the better your ‘race’ and ‘agama’ (religion) will be.

Trying getting therapy and bring along former PM Dr Mahathir Mahathir, who needs to accept and embrace his true genealogy.

Samurai: Race is important to Perkasa, because without the category, they wouldn't know who they are screaming and shouting to protect. And when that happens, they'd be redundant and more importantly, out of a cushy paid job to raise rabble and do Umno's ketuanan work.

Adsertor: Perkasa leaders could not win elections even with the support of cash-rich and well-oiled election machinery of Umno.

They were most shamefully rejected in constituencies with Malay majority - and therefore rejected by Malaysians of all races, creed and religion.

Antoine Ross Deliones: I am not an Indian, not a Chinese, not a Malay, not a Portuguese, not a Kadazan and so on. But at the same time, it can also be said that I am an Indian, a Chinese, a Malay, a Portuguese, a Kadazan and so on.

I am a homosapien residing on a certain part of the planet Earth - the part called Malaysia, as defined by invisible boundary created by politicians.

Ipohcrite: If the ‘race’ information is to be retained, as espoused by Ibrahim Ali, perhaps we should have two choices only: Perkasa or Lain-lain.

Doc: I suggest that ‘race’ be dropped in official forms and ‘IQ’ added instead.

With the ever-increasing number of imbeciles like Ibrahim Ali and gang running around, it best to add that piece valuable information into the official forms.

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