your say'We know the beauty, challenge and excitement of diversity, and we must do all we can to make sure that others understand and value our multiracial society.'

54th Merdeka in the shadow of ethnic distrust

David Dass: There is no point mouthing platitudes. The 'Malaysian' spirit - whatever it is - will not be strong enough to deal with the structural problems that exist today. Malaysia must be a shared enterprise.

We must not make the politics of race a zero-sum game with the winner taking all. Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali's slogan of 'more rights for the majority' must be rejected. We must work to achieve a single school system at some point in the future.

Our children must live together, play together, study together and work together. Their shared experiences will result in bonds forged in steel. There will be lifelong friends among them.

For those of us who have the experience of shared space and common life-changing experiences with diverse races, we must bring those experiences to others. We know the beauty, challenge and excitement of diversity, and we must do all we can to make sure that others understand and value our multiracial society.

For those who do not have friends of other races. Make a conscious effort to find such friends. Embrace and bring them into your circle for the dividends will be rich.

Abandon the stereotype and you will discover that the other often does not live up to the worst view of him but more often than not is just like you struggling hard to make sense of an increasingly complex world.

Each of us must work hard and contribute to the making of a better Malaysia. We must help secure our shared future even as some do their best to divide us and to create tension between us.

Always remember, ‘some' are not ‘all' and avoid the danger of generalisation.

Cala: The trouble with PM Najib Razak is he spends a lot of money and time in promoting his 1Malaysia, ETP (Economic Transformation Programme), or whatever.

He appears to be less concern about the happenings on ground. In other words, are his policies being translated into action? If there are, where are they?

Given the public perception that there is a big gap between talking and delivering actually breeds distrust toward Najib. As the saying goes, to ordinary people on the street, all the talks are "shiok sendiri sahaja".

Tkc: When politicians play the race card, they presume that the majority of the rural folks will respond positively to their provocation. They are hoping to be a Mahathir copycat viz:
(1) be a right-wing "ultra"
(2) get the emotional votes
(3) consolidate one's position, and
(4) move to the centre after one's position is secured.

This pathetic mindset is best reflected by Najib with his "keris-bathe-in-Chinese-blood" rhetoric, Hishammuddin Hussein with his "keris and cow-head" antics, and Muhyiddin Yassin with his "Malay-first" mantra.

My questions are: This is Year 2011. Are they sure that by playing the race card, they can repeat what Dr Mahathir Mohamad had done in 1969? Has any survey showed that the rural folks are responding to their provocation?

If their tactics are working, why are the Malay votes split 50:50; Chinese votes split 30:70 and Indian votes split 70:30?

Do they not think that the economy is most important, stupid?

Kgen: The one entity responsible for creating ethnic and religious division among Malaysians is none other than Umno, and all for their political survival.

A united and harmonious Malaysia would make BN's racial politics redundant as BN thrives on exploiting racial suspicion and tension among the races.

The preferential treatment of bumiputeras is the lynchpin to this political narrative - so as long as Umno rules, Malays will never be weaned off from the NEP. The Malays will always be told they are weak and need Umno to protect them because other races are trying to take away their rights.

The only way to correct this path of racism is to get rid of racial politics and the only way to do this is to get rid of BN from Putrajaya.

Ramesh Rajaratnam: Although we're not the worst country to live in, we could be better. Most of us remember having friends of many races when we were young. This is hardly the case now. Even those friends we had have somehow dwindled.

After 54 years, government policies have managed to successfully divide and rule - the very policies the colonial masters used for 300-odd years before. No non-Malay believes he will get justice if he goes against the system. Most Malays are suspicious of non-Malays.

One way to remedy this would be to remove all director-generals from the ministries and elect mostly non-Malays (because almost all important ministries are headed by a Malay minister) so that we can infuse a sense of equalisation in the parlaying of social policies.

Someone in this comment page said: "No unity without equality". Very true.

Malaysians Are Not Stupid: The main culprits for the distrust and disunity among the various ethnic groups in the country are the politicians whose only concern is their personal interests. We need national leaders, not communal politician who manipulate the feelings of respective ethnic groups.

Jiminy Qrikert: It does the rakyat/nation no good at all for journalists and fellow Malaysians to continue to keep our lenses on the dysfunctional side of being Malaysians and to publicise 'disunity amongst Malaysians.'

Fact though it may be, but a fact is only relative to the circumstances and must be qualified. For every such fact as 'disunity', there are counterpoints of view.

Never in the history of Malaysia over 54 years have there been two successive mega-street marches by the rakyat of all races, arms-linked ready to face physical harm as one people against the ruling Umno-BN regime.

So, what is 1011 (Nov 10, 2007) and 709 (July 9, 2011) if not Malaysians united in one common cause? Did Hindraf march alone or were there non-Indians as well? Is that not unity?

308 (March 8, 2008) happened! Was this 308 tsunami not an evident demonstration of Malaysians uniting, regardless of race, to re-impose the power of the people?

Merdeka should never again be seen as 'Independence', but 'Reformation' that unites East and West and all Malaysians. For we are united in our march towards Putrajaya.

 

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