We have just one country, but we live in different worlds

N THEIR seminal song Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits sing the lyrics "And we have just one world, but we live in different ones." Mark Knopfler and company may as well have been singing about Malaysia and her people today, exactly 40 years after May 13, 1969.

We have just one country but it seems that we live in different ones.

We have Chinese schools, Tamil schools and national schools. We walk into random eateries around the country and hear English, Mandarin, Tamil, Bahasa and other languages being spoken almost exclusively at individual tables.

In various parts of the country there are places known as Kampung Melayu, Kampung Cina and Kampung MIC. Official forms strain to separate us by forcing an answer to the ever present question of race. The system for awarding scholarships that is often blind to pure ability stands as a constant reminder every single year that we are treated very differently.

Most importantly, the main political parties are race based in terms of ideology, name and character. Nevertheless, sometimes we do venture ever so slightly into each others' patches of land.

We enjoy each others' traditional cuisine. Curries and dhal have been adopted by the Chinese and Malays as almost their own while the Indians look forward to family diners over a six course round table meal at a Chinese restaurant. And who can say they don't enjoy the vibrant nature of a true Punjabi wedding or the preceding Sangeet at the bride's house.

We generally understand the symbolism and meaning of each others' religious festivals and visit one another in celebration thereof.

We sit together over food and drinks and speak the same language when discussing Liverpool and Manchester United FC. Most of us held our breaths throughout Lee Chong Wei's march towards the Olympic final.

Regardless of race, those among us who recognise greatness, all feel a sense of immense pride when we see Nicol David perched at the top of the squash world carrying the title of world champion.

Unfortunately, very often after a small venture into each others' patch of land, we hurriedly slink back to our own backyard.

This is however hardly surprising given the abject failure of the powers that be to steer the country away from race based elements and polarising statements.

Last Thursday, Bernama reported that the Sultan of Perak had said that any act of questioning the interests of the Malays and Bumiputeras in terms of scholarships and places of study violates the fundamental provisions of the Federal Constitutions and questions the sovereignty of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers.

With respect, the fact of the matter is that ordinary Malaysians do not actually seek to question the interests of the Malays and Bumiputeras. The attack on the awarding of scholarships that arises every single year shortly after the public exam results are released is targeted at the failure to recognise excellence. The criticisms do not aim to cause the dissipation of the rights of the Malay and Bumiputera students.

The argument is that if a non-Malay or non-Bumiputera student excels in the exam, he or she deserves a scholarship notwithstanding quotas. The contention that there are only limited funds for educational scholarships is total bunkum given the vulgar amount of public funds drained away year after year through mismanagement and corruption.

A country with affirmative action policies can only succeed if it manages, at the same time, to avoid marginalising excellence and top performance.

It seems that the total cost to the taxpayer in the PKFZ fiasco may balloon to RM12billion. Well, if we do not take steps to eradicate such fiascos and pour some of these monies into giving the finest among our young people, regardless of shape, size or colour the best education, they would simply balloon away to other countries where scholarships are poured out generously in recognition of excellence.

We have seen so many of our talented young minds being forced to take up overseas based scholarships. The problem is many never return.

One of the singular most important issues the Najib administration must resolve is how do we find a way to reward excellence all across the board.

Find the answer to this and there would be cause for enormous optimism with regard to Malaysia's future.

To digress, I wasn't going to touch on the subject of the importance of English until I received a note recently from someone who shall not be named that began like this "With referencing to the above matter, please see my bottom."

I will spare you details on the rest of the note because the quality of the English in it will simply make you cringe.

But the point is why are we constantly arguing about the usage and relative importance of English, Bahasa, Chinese and Tamil and stare at languages with suspicious eyes.

The plain truth is that you cannot effectively function without English. One quite simply cannot travel very far without speaking the language. The Chinese voyage in droves to England to study the language. They do not do it for fun. They do it because they recognise the importance of it.

The key to the success of this multi-racial country is not how we prioritize English and the other languages. They key is how we ensure that everyone is proficient in this global language while at the same time is able to be proficient in most of the other local languages.

Some of us have friends that can switch from excellent English to Bahasa and then to Mandarin and also to Tamil. We smile and envy them.

If only we all could do that. What a country this would be.