Why multiculturalism does not work

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jul 27, 2015

Malays want to be Malays, Chinese want to be Chinese, Indians want to be Indians, Sabahans want to be Sabahans, Sarawakians want to be Sarawakians, and so on. No one really wants to be Malaysian, although they say they do, which is bullshit, or maybe they are delusional and suffer from denial syndrome.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Holland used to be the model for the entire world when it comes to multiculturalism. However, after decades of experimenting and leading the world in multiculturalism, Holland has now gone into reverse and has abandoned multiculturalism in favour of integration.

Holland has come to realise that multiculturalism does not always work. In fact, it keeps people apart and people would live in their own community or ‘ghettoes’ and will refuse to mix. That results in racial and religious conflicts.

Holland has felt the full blast of its idealistic multiculturalism policy, which does not help the country in achieving peace, tolerance and understanding. In fact, the reverse has happened. Because Holland put too much emphasis on multiculturalism, it has attracted a host of racial and religious problems.

Malaysians complain about the sorry state of affairs today and how racial and religious intolerance threatens to tear the country apart. Malaysians of my generation reminisce about the good old days when Malays, Indians, Chinese, Bengalis (what they were called then), Seranis (those of Portuguese, Dutch, Ceylonese, Caucasian, etc., mix) used to mix freely to drink beer or smoke ganja.

What went wrong? Well, for one thing they started arresting Muslims who drink beer and Malaysians who smoke ganja. So maybe they should legalise ganja and allow Malays to drink.

More importantly, though, Malaysians have put too much emphasis on upholding and promoting their own religion, culture and traditions in the interest of multiculturalism and less emphasis on integration. And herein lies the problem.

Don’t expect the politicians to solve this problem because a divided Malaysia works in favour of the political parties. If you want to see change, then we, the rakyat, must do it ourselves. However, as long as we continue talking about Bumiputera privileges, Chinese education, Tamil schools, and a host of other race and religion issues, then do not expect any changes, except changes for the worst.

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The Netherlands to Abandon Multiculturalism

The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands.

A new integration bill (covering letter and 15-page action plan), which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: “The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.”

The letter continues: “A more obligatory integration is justified because the government also demands that from its own citizens. It is necessary because otherwise the society gradually grows apart and eventually no one feels at home anymore in the Netherlands. The integration will not be tailored to different groups.”

The new integration policy will place more demands on immigrants. For example, immigrants will be required to learn the Dutch language, and the government will take a tougher approach to immigrants to ignore Dutch values or disobey Dutch law.

The government will also stop offering special subsidies for Muslim immigrants because, according to Donner, “it is not the government’s job to integrate immigrants.” The government will introduce new legislation that outlaws forced marriages and will also impose tougher measures against Muslim immigrants who lower their chances of employment by the way they dress. More specifically, the government will impose a ban on face-covering Islamic burqas as of January 1, 2013.

If necessary, the government will introduce extra measures to allow the removal of residence permits from immigrants who fail their integration course.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK