BY: DARSHINI SUBRAMANIAM

Not every Malay is a racist and not every Chinese makes money from scamming and neither is every Indian a ‘keling mabuk’ or drunkard which is why Malaysians must refrain from making sweeping statements and generalizations.

In Malaysia today, there is a tendency by many of us to engage in stereotyping and most of us fail to realise the “to each his own” theory whereby there is a need to determine the nature and character of a person based on facts of him or her.

Often, many of us are guilty of judging a person based on superficial factors and this is the kind of character assassination that Malaysians should not engage in, but assessing a person not on the externals but by getting to know them.

In getting to know a person, their history and background, it is only then can there be an opinion formed of the person as then there would not be any reckless and foolish hype of a person belonging to a particular nation, race or religion.

If Malaysians are able to shed this shallow mentality of theirs, they can be pleasantly surprised of what they discover of a person and what usually prevails is that the perception of a person is false and confounds or makes us dumbstruck.

This is why, to avoid unpleasantries or untoward or embarrassing situations, every Malaysian should learn to seek truth from facts and it is this “truth” of a person that should settle and deliver us from all misconceptions.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher