Racial polarisation, which has plagued public universities for a long time, is not about to go away anytime soon, writes Chow Kum Hor.

UNIVERSITI Utara Malaysia (UUM) Associate Professor Dr Mansor Mohd Noor sometimes likes to pick a student at random, bring him to the front of the lecture hall and ask him to state the most obvious thing about the assembly of 200 or so students in front of them.

"Without fail, they will tell me that students are all sitting with others of the same race," says Mansor.

"Then I tell them they've overlooked another, perhaps more apparent, pattern.

"The students also sit according to gender. Generally, the males sit with males and females with females."

Mansor suggests this is because race counts even more than gender, even at the apex of the country's education system.
Racial polarisation is not new in our universities, manifesting itself in almost every facet of campus life.

Study groups are invariably mono-ethnic; students are averse to sharing hostel rooms with those of other races, and inter-racial social interaction is rare.

In a survey on ethnic relations among UUM students last year, all ethnic groups showed a distinct inclination to interact among their own race.

They are also more likely to pick those of their own race as room-mates and help them in whatever way they can.

Although the survey, led by Mansor and involving 832 students, was done only in UUM, he believes the outcome represents the state of affairs in all 17 public institutes of higher learning nationwide.

Mansor, who has been conducting surveys on this topic for the past 15 years, adds that last year's survey results correlates with 2003 findings, involving more than 6,000 university students nationwide, that students of different races were not mixing with each other.

"It is a problem of great concern," says Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat, himself a Universiti Malaya engineering graduate in the early 1980s.

"We need to enhance inter-ethnic interaction and cohesion."

Associate Prof Dr N. S. Rajendran of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris says university students' reluctance to come out of their racial cocoons is because Malaysians have over the years taken national integration for granted.

The lecturer with the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development adds that Malaysians have got used to skirting issues deemed taboo.

Questions like poverty and education opportunities have become topics discussed in whispers within the same racial circle, rather than openly talked about, he observes.

The uneasiness over how such issues are tackled has forced many, including university students, to retreat into their own racial shells.

It did not help that polarisation takes root long before many first set foot into universities; the country's diverse system of national, national-type and religious schools sets students apart at an early age.

With such varied backgrounds, Mansor says it is only natural for "freshies" to group according to their racial origins.

For many, it is their first time away from home.

This causes anxiety and apprehension, which draws them to people they are comfortable with; people who speak their language and understand their aspirations.

"If these (students) are one day going to be the country's leaders but they have minimal interaction with those from other races now, something is wrong somewhere," says Rajendran.

University administrators are also to be blamed, says Mansor.

His surveys consistently see students complaining about difficulties obtaining the green light and support for non-Muslim or non- Bumiputera activities.

True or perceived, this has bred suspicion among non-Malays, he adds.

UKM third-year Law undergraduate Danny Loo Kheng Soon, 23, who also sits on the students' representative council, admits there is a need to bring inter-racial interaction on campus to a higher plane.

He says when it comes to hanging out at the mamak stall after class or holidaying together during semester breaks, students invariably go back to their own race.

Rajendran is fed up with his students' proclivity to stick to their own kind.

He has told them that his tutorial groups must comprise students from different races.

The Higher Education Ministry is also drafting a plan to intensify the Baktisiswa programme, Ong says, involving undergraduates staying with foster families, especially in rural areas, during their holidays.

At present, it is held on an ad hoc basis by student organisations.

"The ministry is looking into having students stay with foster families of different races.

"We want them to be exposed to the ways of the kampung, new villages and estates," says Ong.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia also has programmes to promote racial integration.

Its Centre for Public and International Relations director, Prof Dr Yang Farina Abdul Aziz, says the university's Racial Integration Secretariat and students' representative council regularly hold multi-cultural programmes to foster unity.

They include the hugely popular Lantern Festival and Ponggal Festival.

"We do not believe in using force. We do not compel students of different races to share hostel rooms, but we encourage them to.

"Over the years, racial harmonisation in UKM has taken positive steps in the right direction although progress has been slow.

"We are continuously thinking out new programmes and innovative ideas," says the professor of inorganic chemistry.
Ong, when asked if the ministry might compel students of different races to share hostel rooms, says there are other ways to expose students to the cultures of others.

Mansor says one way would be to incorporate values and practices of the country's major races into university's orientation programme.

"This way, students will not face culture shocks when they start to mingle with other races, or better yet, stay together."

But Rajendran is not convinced that such programmes alone are sufficient to address campus polarisation.

With only three years in universities, much of which is spent on their studies, he says there is only so much that can be done to bridge the racial divide.

"Don't expect them to spend a few days in a camp about racial unity and hope they don't go back to their old ways. This kind of thing takes time.

"You must inculcate these values when they are young, preferably in primary school or even kindergarten.

"Teachers, principals, professors and leaders must all practise what they preach."

He adds that there is no shortcut to arresting racial polarisation in universities.

The authorities can only mitigate the problem, which begins long before young people enter the hallowed halls of these institutions.

Source: New Straits Times - March 27, 2006