National unity mediators
By Dr.Collin Abraham
The best that can be said about these mediators is that at least, and at last, the National Unity and Integration Department has drawn up plans to try to ‘nip racial problems in the bud’ (NST 19th December). It is commendable that the Department has trained 3,000 RT members to undertake this task. Also, that the communal mediation committees will only deploy Department officials when there are no trained RT members, which means that those needing help will be attended to by people who are more likely to understand their problems, and thereby provide more realistic advice and guidance than would otherwise be the case.
But with respect, I have to say that the entire plan for such mediation is much too simplistic, especially when considering the complex contributory causal factors likely to be involved, Moreover, the entire program adopts a ‘bureaucratic-type’ perspective. For instance the mediation committees will wait to be informed ‘by the police of a clash or argument that might turn racial’.
Surely, with qualified officers many of whom are university graduates with degrees in the social sciences and humanities attached to District Offices throughout the country and working closely with the RT, the department itself should keep in touch with the people within the concept of ‘turun padang’ and be the first to know of potential conflict situations. They should not depend on the police to do this. It is also surprising that members of the National Unity Advisory Board (whose names would read like a Who’s Who) have failed to understand that the reliance on the police for personal information of the kind involved can in certain circumstances be counterproductive.
The greatest weakness of this program however is that it amounts to nothing more than a ‘fire-brigade’ service. The Department’s concern should not be simply to ‘nip’ problems in the bud, but to try to prevent problems and potential conflict situations from arising in
the first place. Indeed, we are dealing with an underclass of displaced rural-urban migrants and urban squatters, who are living on the margin of existence, and in these circumstances the threshold and potential for conflict bordering on violence tends to be high.
This situation was in fact highlighted by the former Minister for National Unity and Social Development Dr. Siti Zahara Sulaiman. YB informed the Dewan Rakyat on March 25th 2002, that there were 413 squatter settlements throughout the country ‘which are prone to ethnic violence’. (Accordingly) ‘the Ministry recommends programs to promote inter-ethnic harmony to prevent the repeat of violence in Kampong Medan’. (In this connection) Tun Dr Mahathir, the then Prime Minister, endorsed the need to take remedial action in squatter areas. (Nagarajan).
Dr Siti Zahara’s statement should have given the Department of National Unity an excellent opportunity to undertake follow-up research projects based on a sample of these 413 settlements, to identify the parameters of potential conflict situations, and on the basis of comparative research findings, produce a ‘blueprint’ to address and hopefully overcome some of the basic problems involved.
But regrettably the DNU has not only failed to undertake such research, but regrettably has also discouraged other research groups from taking up this challenge. For example in early 2006, the Minister positively responded to an offer by Asli to undertake a properly constituted social scientific research as a follow up to Dr Siti Zahara’s statement, but after a draft ‘blueprint’ proposal was submitted by social research experts at Asli, this was rejected by the DNU.
Incredible as it may seem, the reason given was that the latter had yet to complete its study on the racial conflict in Kampong Medan that happened a few years ago. An appeal to Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, a member of the Advisory Panel, to help review this decision made no difference to the negative outcome.
It seems clear that as long as the DNU does not have the professional research capacity and capability, and also that there are ‘Little Napoleons’ even in such important and crucial areas of government services as in ethnic and race relations, there will continue to be a cavalier and bureaucratic approach to the real problems faced by the marginalized underclass in areas covered by RT. In the circumstances we will continue to have to face these groups when they take to the streets to have their problems looked into hopefully leading to positive outcomes.
