position paper 5 - Mariatulkhabtiyah Mohd Khamzah (0716106)

Position paper 5 : ‘ Counselors are the key success of the 1Malaysia concept.’

Based on the topic given, it is quite challenging if someone do not know about the concept. As for me, I do not know much about this concept but I will try my best to explain it. Hence, I do discuss with my friends regarding this 1Malaysia concept. This concept was proposed by our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak when he began his job as prime minister in 2009 . Actually this concept is already existed but he just turn and change it into a new term; 1Malaysia.

In my opinion, the concept of 1Malaysia is to create unity among the three big races in Malaysia which are Malay, Chinese and Indian. Malaysia as a multicultural country should be united to develop the peace and harmony country. There are many agents that can contribute to the unity of Malaysian people. One of them is the counselors. As we know that counselor is the one that give service and help regarding people problems. Some counselors were placed at school while some counselors prefer to own and open their own agency or company. We can see their roles in uniting people.

Mostly in every program or concept, there must be pro and con. Firstly, I will explain about the pro. In my point of view, counselors are the one that can bring success to the 1Malaysia concept. It is because, as counselors that work at school, they are dealing with secondary and primary students that will rule Malaysia in the future. So, they can create the unity at school by organizing program that represents the culture of every race. For example, counselor can make a new program call ‘language section’. In language section, students are required to learn other races language in order to reduce the barrier among them. Thus, this activity can create a new climate to school and bring the spirit of togetherness among them. Counselors should be alert of this thing.

Secondly, counselor should make students that comes from different races know about their friends culture and do and don’s. If they are aware of this thing, some cases like school violence will not happen. Besides, counselors should not be bias in giving treatment to students. They must instill the unconditional positive regard in themselves so they will focus in their work.
Then, in the other hand I somehow doubted about the credibility of counselors. Are they capable dealing people with different races? It is achieveable for counselor to create unity at Malaysia? I am not confident that counselors are the key success to the 1Malaysia concept. It is very easy to said but very heavy to do. We are dealing with people that have many perceptions about each other culture, so the job of counselors to change the mindset is not easy. It is true that we can try to nurture and instill the spirit of unity at school but they are more listening to their parents and society. So, it might not be worked.

Secondly, some people do not believe with counselors’ credibility and attitude. They thought that being a counselor is only specific to give advice and solution. Thus, some people might being haunted by bad news about counselors that spoil the professions. So, counselors cannot carry out the task to bring success to the 1Malaysia concept.

As a conclusion, I agree that counselors can bring success to the 1Malaysia concept if they are confident and can change people mindset towards unity.