Written by Davina Anne, a member of Akar Umbi Kita, a programme for emerging advocates against racial discrimination by Architects of Diversity, Imagined Malaysia, IDEAS and the European Union. This article is published in conjunction with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Racial discrimination affects us all in various insidious ways. After 22 years of experiencing the systemic injustice wrought by the Malaysian government and its laws, my thoughts about race and discrimination and its long term effects on the members of ethnic minority groups in Malaysia have been more visible through the lens of education.

While education is perceived as equally opportunistic, racial discrimination exists and should be eliminated because it systemically disregards students of some races and causes friction in people’s social interactions with different races under education.

The general notion of schools is to meet the needs of society by creating and forming the future of tomorrow, and schools in Malaysia do precisely that. With public education in Malaysia being free until secondary school and highly subsidised in public tertiary institutes, it is no wonder many people strive to gain quality education at affordable rates in this country. However, despite its efforts to remain affordable, the question has always concerned its accessibility to all.

The quota system under the Malaysian education system has been one of the pillars of exertion of supreme power mandated through the NEP to promote diverse opportunities among Bumiputera citizens (those of whom have an indigenous lineage and are considered native to the state; typically held in majority by Malay Muslims in Malaysia). Despite efforts to increase spaces for non-Bumiputera applicants, the unparalleled quota of 90:10 only reflects the government’s ideology in short-term solutions towards ethnic polarity in education in hopes that it will all come out in the wash.

Counter-majoritarians argue for a less polarising approach, opting for a more meritocratic admission of all students. They justify themselves by saying that all taxpayers from all races contribute to the very existence of public universities; hence, access to these universities should be open for all. However, proposed changes like these are radical. They are, thus, unlikely to see the light of day in the next few decades, as historically, Malaysia’s dystopian laws and articles have a strange permanence in our legal framework.

Racially motivated policies end up with racialised results. Admissions of Chinese and Indian minorities are side-lined and forced into taking more expensive options, leaving some with unfavourable outcomes up to the extent of halting their academic journey altogether. But the question of accessibility still lingers behind these long standing policies–how many more people are to be denied access to affordable means of education, and how many of those people are of ethnic minority groups?

Despite coexisting in a single space, even before the time of Merdeka, it sounds almost bizarre how the unending lists of privileges the Malaysian legal, political and socio economic landscape offer some and not others. Schools don’t just educate their students; they also harbour systemic and institutionalised vestiges of racial discrimination. A 2021 survey by Sekolah Semua, a movement by young adults, deduced that nine out of 10 ethnic Indian respondents felt racially discriminated against in school because of their ethnicity, skin colour, and religious beliefs.

This survey illustrated the systemic effects of racial discrimination in the plight of equal and accessible education, demonstrating the overarching problem in Malaysian society today–interactions between students ethnically different from the norms governing our country are deemed insufficient, inadequate, and largely undeserving of similar benefits and opportunities extended to others.

A case study by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia found that students associated with bullying retaliate based on racial issues, among financial and social ones. One of the interviewees mentioned standing up for their ethnicity because of an insult thrown at the student’s friend. If students reported such behaviour to school authorities, it would not be taken seriously or mainly was sided with by teachers of similar ethnicity.

Schools administrations and teachers reflect the hostility that exists in Malaysian society today. Measures to avoid such conflicts occurring should be in place, and teachers should set their prejudices aside to work for the common good. However, all these measures are easier said than done. Tolerance towards groups of different races is more extensive than institutions at hand. A tangible and more systemic change towards the social interactions in education should be taken by the government of the day. Policies and educational reforms to better social tolerance of individuals of all racial groups will enable students to learn and grow in safe and respectful environments.

The various setbacks in Malaysia’s education field, from quota systems that limit non-Bumiputera applicants to the interactions between teachers, students and administrators, are numerous and debilitating, especially for those on the shorter end of the stick for reasons beyond their control. Skin colour, language, and ethnicity make many Malaysians truly Malaysian. Capping their access to basic needs such as education through offhanded policies does not reflect the values a pluralistic should uphold.

Educational policies in Malaysia are handcrafted and curated to protect the majority, but it has resulted in adverse effects over time. Many benefitting from policies that uphold one while diminishing another are starting to show traits uncanny to those of our forefathers’ time. Perhaps the protection truly needed by those that benefit from their privileges are ones from themselves.