Ethnic Relations Course in M'sian Universities

there seems to be a little disagreement happening in m'sia between the various
parties about the new Ethnic Relations course... and i can easily see the
reason why... i do think that it's a good thing that the government
recognises the problem.. although m'sia is a relatively peaceful country,
there is little integration between the different races since independence..
actually, from what my m'sian studies professor told me, race relations in
m'sia has only gotten progressively worse..

the major disagreements that the parties are having is with the "official
guide" that is being used in some universities.. although the government has
compiled this guide from papers/documents written by various scholars, the
problem seems to be that it's judgemental.. from what little i have managed
to cull from the media, it seems to be true.. as an academic myself, i have
to say that it is judgemental..

for example, it blames the racial riots on the DAP.. now, without going into
the details of the issue, since i wasn't born at the time anyway, but just
purely based on the statement, i think that it is judgemental.. i had a
similar argument with a friend of mine who is a wikipedia admin the other day
over the statement: "Einstein is one of the greatest minds in modern
physics", which is an extremely judgemental one.. however, "Einstein is
widely regarded as one of the greatest minds in modern physics" is not
judgemental.. the two may look the same, however, their meanings are totally
different..

i hope that the government can see the difference between the two.. it is an
extremely big difference... the first is shaped as a statement of fact..
although it is actually not a fact.. at least not a verifiable one.. i'm
trained as an engineer, so, maybe that's why i'm particularly attuned to
verifiable vs non-verifiable facts... the second statement, presents the
information as an argument... which is what it really is... that's because,
everyone has their own idea of who the greatest minds in physics are even
though einstein would probably pop up on most peoples' lists..

another important point raised was that students were free to 'question' the
facts.. this is afterall a university level education.. however, i've been
through the university system in m'sia, you're free to question the facts,
just don't do it in the exams.. there aren't many lecturers who are able to
handle rejection of what they feel is the truth.. i've been told this before
by a lecturer of mine... i rejected his book 'fact' during a test and backed
up my claim with other 'facts'.. he told me that he'd accept it this time,
but don't do it again in future exams.. this is what happens when you try to
paint non-verifiable facts as 'facts'..

from the few student responses that i've read in the media, it would seem that
either the course material, or the way things are taught in the university,
make this and several other subjects a highly biased one.. i've personally
had to take m'sian studies when i was in university.. the good thing was that
my professor, was a good one.. he's actually quite a famous person in his
area.. and i can still remember what he said in the very first lecture: (1)
he will not tolerate plagiarism (2) forget all the historical 'facts' that
we've learnt in school because they a load of cr*p... the second one is the
more important statement to me.. there are always at least three sides to a
story, mine, yours and the truth.. hence, non-verifiable 'facts'...

i agree with what prof khoo said in the media... do not rush into things...
ethnic relations in m'sia is a very brittle thing.. apply the wrong amount of
force on it and it will break.. if the government is not careful about the
type of force applied in this case, it will only make the situation worse..
ethnic relations class will end up being, ethnic dis-relations, the class
that sows discord between the different races on m'sia... if handled
correctly, this class could actually turn out to be a very interesting one,
with various 'skewed' views being corrected.. having the various races openly
put out their points of view and working on understanding how each and
everyone thinks, is very healthy.. however, it's all about the
implementation, not the idea..