ICERD should be examined thoroughly before being ratified: Chandra Muzaffar

KUALA LUMPUR: Politicians and social activists should examine thoroughly the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) documents in detail, said chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yayasan Perpaduan Malaysia Dr Chandra Muzaffar.
He said the current discussion on the ICERD in the media is an example of how politicians and social activists adopt positions on issues of public interest without examining it first and those who are supporting and those who are against Malaysia ratifying the ICERD are equally guilty of this.
"Article 1(4) of Part 1 of the ICERD states clearly that special measures taken for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups or individuals requiring such protection as may be necessary in order to ensure such groups or individuals exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall not be deemed racial discrimination.
"However, such measures do not, as a consequence, lead to the maintenance of separate rights for different racial groups and that they shall not be continued after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved. The same point is made in slightly different language in Article 2(2) of Part 1 of the ICERD," he said in a statement, here today.
On Oct 31, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia would only ratify ICERD after negotiations with all the races and that is not an easy matter because Malaysia is a country of various races which have their own particular interests.
Chandra said the socio-political dimension of ethnic differentiation in Malaysian society is a more complex challenge and the influential elements within all communities should work together in a sincere manner to change attitudes which prevent us from moving in the right direction.
"Non-Malay elites and opinion-makers should demonstrate a deeper understanding of the Malay situation – of the 'psychological loss' it sustained when it was relegated to a community among communities. For such an understanding to emerge, non-Malay leaders should accept a simple historical truth – that contemporary Malaysia has evolved from a Malay sultanate system.
"In similar vein, Malay opinion makers and elites should understand that the evolution of the Malaysian nation also demands the genuine accommodation and acceptance of their non-Malay fellow citizens. They are equal partners in the building of a nation which will only survive if it is firmly rooted in justice and fairness for all its sons and daughters, transcending ethnicity," he said.
It is educating Malaysians along these lines and initiating changes on our own that are perhaps more important at this juncture than ratifying the ICERD which from the ongoing public discourse threatens to further polarise Malaysian society, Chandra concluded. — Bernama