IN 1957, my parents were Chinese schoolteachers and stayed at the teachers’ quarters just behind the school. At the end of August that year, Malaya was freed from being a British colony.
My parents decided that I should study in an English school several miles away.
During enrolment, I was stumped when the teacher asked me questions in English, and I could not understand what she was saying.
As an innocent six-year-old, I was not bothered and had forgotten about it until decades later when it dawned on me that she was trying to state my religion in a form.
Today, Malaysian Chinese who are not Muslims or Christians are labelled as Buddhists in schools or “Agama Budha” in their identity cards. This is despite the fact that the majority may not have set foot inside a Buddhist temple, much less studied or practised Buddhism.
Almost all Chinese temples in this country are Taoist featuring different gods and goddesses. It was up to those who built these temples to decide which main god or goddess or groups of them they want to worship, which vary according to their preferences or clans.
Despite the existence of early Chinese settlements in Malacca and several areas along the coasts of the archipelago in Southeast Asia, mass migration of Chinese to Malaysia occurred after the founding of British settlements in both Malaya and Borneo during the early 19th century.
It was only after the Japanese occupation during the Second World War when Chinese of different clans, dialects or subdialects began to mix and intermarry more freely, that many learned to speak in several dialects and were taught Mandarin in Chinese schools.
I speak, read, write and dream in English. While conducting training, I like to ask participants who consider themselves Buddhists to raise their hands. After asking which temples they have been to, I would then point out most of those named are not Buddhist temples, but Taoist.
It is a given that Muslims study the Quran, and Christians the Bible. But there is no standard religious book for Chinese. Only the devout may read about Taoism or Buddhism, but Buddhist texts are too deep for laymen to understand without guidance from monks or nuns.
Confucianism is easier to comprehend and more meaningful, as cultural practices have been handed down for over 2,500 years. Even today, shrines are found in many Chinese homes. Shrines for ancestor worship are part of Confucianism while some other shrines are Taoist or Buddhist.
If Malaysian Chinese can be ignorant of their religion, it is no surprise that others regard them as Buddhists if they are not Muslims or Christians.
Even in the United Kingdom, over 40% of British are non-religious. In China, it is 90%. However, it does not mean those who believe in religions are better than non-believers, as religions have been a main source of armed conflicts since time immemorial.
Apart from cultural values such as Confucianism, Malaysian Chinese also subscribe to universal values, such as peace, freedom, social progress, equal rights and human dignity, as enshrined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafted in 1948.
While far from racist, I am interested to know the ethnicity of people I meet, especially those with mixed parentage as they have a generic advantage. When I ask my Indian friends their roots, they would simply say Indian because they were told they are, and it is stated so in their indentity cards.
To me, those who originated from the Indian sub-continent are no less diverse than those in China. Although most Malaysian Indians are Tamils, their language is just one of the hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects that have been spoken in India for centuries.
Likewise, many non-Malays do not realise that those categorised as Malays could also trace their ancestry to anywhere in the vast Malay Archipelago that covers 25,000 islands and islets, but mostly originate from within the peninsula including Pattani, Sumatra and Java.
Interestingly, those who speak Malay, practise Malay customs and are Muslims, are considered Malays, and many others are Indian Muslims. The Peranakans were early settlers from China and had adopted the Malay language, dressing and food but not Islam and therefore not considered as Malay.
For decades before independence, those living in the federated and unfederated Malay states revered Malay rulers, and sultans, in turn, treated all residents as subjects.
Even after independence, there was never any question on the status of royalty by any quarters except imaginary ones played up by selfish politicians.
Putting rhetoric aside, people in our country have lived harmoniously for centuries. Most of us go about our daily lives without giving a thought on what has long been accepted as normal. A clear example is patronising food outlets. If the food sold is acceptable to our faith and within budget, the outlet is chosen based on taste, cleanliness, courtesy and convenience, never on race.
In any case, there are good and bad people in any race or religion with the majority falling somewhere in between, and can be led either way. As talk is cheap, it is more important to do what is good, as insisting on what is right is just trying to prove that others are wrong.
Wanting to be right has been the source of all quarrels within families, societies and among countries. It is time to get smart by looking beyond the superficial and think long term. It may feel good to be right, but it is much better to be effective.
It is imperative that our religious studies and education systems teach us to be humane, compassionate and kind.
Y.S. Chan
Kuala Lumpur
