Who are we? Malaysians are perhaps the most confused people on the face of this earth. We are Chinese but not from China, Indians but born in Malaysia, Christians but celebrate Chinese New Year, Muslims but could neither be Chinese, Malays or Indians.

To make matters worse, politicians add the term ‘bumiputera’ (sons of the soil) which could be Malays, Indians or Chinese Muslims or Orang Asli but not necessarily Muslims. The indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak are bumiputeras but they could be Muslims or Christians.
 
With Malaysian-made racial politics, it further confuses the people. You could be an Indian but if you are of a Christian faith you cannot join MIC. The prime minister under his pet 1Malaysia project says we are “Malaysians first”.  His deputy says, “I am Malay first”.

So are we Malaysians First or Malays first? Are we Christians first or Chinese first or Malaysians first? I believe Malaysians are facing a serious identity crises. We live in a country which insists on segregating according to race and religion.
 
Can we not all be Malaysians? Our ethnicity and religion is irrelevant to how we should be treated or viewed. As long as we are Malaysians, we respect one another as fellow countrymen.  We help our fellow countrymen when it is within our means. We pledge our allegiance to King and country as Malaysians. We sing the ‘NegaraKu’ as Malaysians.