COMMENT | Can Malaysia learn how to handle race relations from Brazil?

COMMENT | This year, I’m not celebrating Malaysia Day in the country because I’m on holiday! My wife Sheril A Bustaman, aside from being my producing partner for our documentaries, is also a researcher who specialises in international migrant issues. She is attending a conference in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. I am tagging along for the ride and it’s been great!

It’s my first time in Brazil and while I’m here, I have made some observations that I would like to share (please bear with me).

I’ve always thought that Brazil was unique when it came to race relations. Sure, Brazil was part of the Americas that contributed towards slavery. The Portuguese colonialists not only enslaved the indigenous people there, but they also shipped in almost 10 million African slaves cumulatively throughout the centuries.

However, modern-day Brazil has a high rate of miscegenation, which means that people of different races in Brazil intermarried a lot.

This resulted in...