In Malaysia and many other Asian countries, open discussion of race is considered divisive and dangerous; it is often illegal
Not for the first time, Dr Mahathir was breaking a taboo. . Yet that does not erase the political issue that race represents in Asian societies, many of which became multiracial as a result of colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and witness enduring racial tensions. Asia needs to talk about race—even if Dr Mahathir demonstrated precisely how not to do so. Security was stepped up ahead of a “Malay Proclamation” convention in Kuala Lumpur on March 19th at which he was due to speak.
Malaysia and Singapore, it should also be stressed, look comparatively harmonious in a region scarred by racially motivated horrors. In some Asian countries, minorities have been driven out: Chinese from Vietnam; Vietnamese from Cambodia; Nepalis from Bhutan; Indians from Fiji; Rohingyas from Myanmar; and on and on. The Chinese minority in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, suffered horrific violence in 1998; hundreds were killed.
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