Racism and Sexism

Sometimes people tell you; to be not racist is to look beyond ethnicity.

So we understand, that if you meet Ahmad and think of him as a Malay = you're racist, because you failed to look beyond ethnicity.
But we also understand, that if you tell the whole world that you have Malay, Chinese, Indian, and 'lain-lain' friends in an effort to note how un-racist you are = you're also a racist, for again you failed to look beyond ethnicity.


So you're the leader of a group (firm or government). Demographics show 60% Malay, 30% Chinese, 10% Indians, 10% 'lain-lain'. You have 2 options. You can fill up the top positions according to demographics, or you can simply choose people disregarding racial composition in your team. We understand from the first statement in this post, that if you choose to do the former, you're racist. If you choose to do the latter, you have looked beyond ethnicity and therefore not racist.

But if you do that, your team will not have been composed according to racial demographics, and you'll be labeled as racially unjust, even when you had not acted as a racist.


Let's extend this to gender.

It follows from above; to be not sexist is to look beyond gender.

Although it's dead difficult, we understand that if you meet Eve and think of her as a woman = you're a sexist, because you failed to look beyond gender.
But we also understand, that if you tell the whole world that you have woman friends in an effort to note how un-sexist you are = you're also a sexist, for again you failed to look beyond gender.


So let's say you're a leader of a group. The scenario is the same as the one just mentioned, just now it concerns gender and not race. Should you have chosen to appoint based on demographics, you have looked at gender and therefore a sexist. Should you choose to not do so, supposedly, you're not a sexist for having looked beyond gender.

But if you have chose to do just that (being not a sexist), one group would be unhappy and would demand for an end to sexism.


The old case follows: in order to make everyone happy, we sacrifice better talents from an ethnic group, just so we can have more representation from another ethnic group. Likewise, in order to make everyone happy, we sacrifice better talents from a gender, just so we can have more representation from another gender.


Most of us probably voted for a race-neutral opposition alliance. Yet we want more Chineses and more Indians (+ more women) in government. What race-neutral crap is this?