Nationality and Ethnicity 国籍与种族

A lot of people are having both a national and an ethnic identities. For people coming from a mono-cultural society, the double identity is not really an issue. If we look at countries like Japan and South Korea, they are mono-cultural society though there are still the existence of different ethnic groups in these countries. Whenever a Korean residing in South Korea is being asked of the identity, quite naturally the answer is Korean applicable to both the nationality and ethnicity.

However, the people living in a multi-racial and cultural society such as Malaysia and Singapore, they have higher tendency to struggle between their nationality and ethnicity. When a person is asked of one’s identity without referring to nationality or ethnicity, the answer is either about the nationality or ethnicity. Taking an example, when a Chinese in Malaysia is being asked regarding identity without mentioning whether it is about the nationality or ethnicity, he or she will answer by saying, “Malaysian” or “Chinese”.
Although each answer is correct, it has different implication. If it is “Malaysian”, perhaps, the person sees nationality taking priority over ethnicity. Whereas, if is “Chinese”, then the ethnicity seems to be emphasised over nationality.

Whenever emphasis of ethnicity has taken priority over nationality, it may lead to unnecessary disharmony. Therefore, it is recommended for those living in a multi-ethnic or multi-racial society to always give priority of their nationality over their individual ethnicities.

Should we not resonate with what it is said, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”?

很多人都拥有国籍与种族的双重身份。对于来自单一文化社会的人来说，双重身份并不是很显著的问题。如果看看日本和韩国这些国家，它们是单一文化的社会，尽管这些国家存在不同的民族。当住在韩国的韩国人被问及身份时，很自然地，韩国人的答案就是”韩国人”，即是指他的国籍，也是种族。

然而，対於居住在马来西亚和新加坡多元文化暨种族社会的人，他们的国籍和种族比较可能成为敏感课题。当一个住在马来西亚的华人被问及身份，而询问者又没说明是指国籍或种族时，这个人的回答很可能是”马来西亚人” 或 “华人”。
虽然任何一个答案都是正确的，但它却有𣎴同的含义。如果它是“马来西亚人”，那么也许对于这个人，他看国籍优先于种族。而如果是“华人”，他似乎是更强调自己的民族。

在一个多元种族的社会，一旦看重自己的种族过于国籍，就有可能导致不和谐。因此，建议生活在多元种族暨文化社会的人要把他们的国籍看为优先于各自的族羣。

如果有共鸣，就请记得,
“若是能行，總要盡力與眾人和睦。”