(The following article is based partly on a lecture delivered to a seminar organised by a group of Malaysian undergraduates from universities and institutes of higher learning in Taiwan and local NGOs at the New Era College in Kajang)

Social progress of a nation and community is not animated by politicians alone. It is also the result of the struggle by the free and independent intelligentsia for the rights to, and opportunities for, freer debate and discourse.

This struggle for freedom has always been universal, transcending ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic boundaries.

The Chinese Malaysian community is no exception. For many, many years in the past, our ancestors fought against the corrupt, oppressive and superstitious aspects of political Confucianism which, among others, discriminate against women, scientists, technicians and all those thinkers who did not share its outdated orthodoxies. It was both a cultural and political battle for modernity which culminated in the May 4 Movement in 1911.

Thanks to our progressive forefathers and foremothers, Chinese women today do not need to bind their feet and be submissive to the father-husband-son domination anymore, and men also do not need to wear the humiliating pigtails or kowtow to any other fellow human being, including emperors, presidents or prime ministers.

Above all, the Chinese today can profess any religion and ideology without the fear of being physically punished, like decapitation in public squares. Today, the Chinese Lunar New Year is universally celebrated by Chinese Confucianists, Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, Muslims, socialists, capitalists, atheists and agnosticists who are educated in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, English and all other languages.

Some families also celebrate their family reunions with their Indian, Muslim or " White" Europeans as in-laws of the families.

No apologies

We do not have to be apologetic about the fact that many of our forefathers and foremothers came from China.

We do not even have to be apologetic about the fact that many of them joined, supported or sympathised with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) or the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) which, although having committed some terrible mistakes and errors, also heroically fought British colonialism and Japanese militarism in the worldwide and multiethnic struggle against colonialism and fascism.

Of course, we must always remember all those brave British, Australian, Indian, Nepali and Commonwealth soldiers who died fighting with our forefathers and foremothers in the Malayan Campaign and the wider Pacific War.

However, in this age of globalisation, we must also always guard against Chinese chauvinism, which is itself a form of fascist ideology. To love and protect one's culture, language and tradition is not wrong. It is also not wrong to share what we consider good with the non-Chinese.

Chauvinism rears its ugly head when we think, consciously or subconsciously, our culture, language and tradition is inherently more superior than others, and we have nothing more to learn from others. Chauvinism worsens when we attempt to denigrate another's language, culture and traditions, and politicise and impose them others our own.

I am glad that none of these negative aspects of lingua-cultural identity have taken a stronghold among you and the majority of Chinese Malaysians. The very fact that you have invited me here to share with you my observations on Malaysian politics since 1998 shows that you are more interested in the politics of our homeland which has always been multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious since 1930s.

Multiethnic politics

To me, there is no doubt that, since1998, politics in Malaysia has become increasingly multiethnic in public discourses as well as organisations and institutions, offering the possibilities of a great, fundamental and qualitative transformation of the political landscape. Of course, the more powerful forces, although weakened since1998, are still the ethno-nationalisms as artificially institutionalised by British colonialism and imperialism in the forms of Umno, MCA and MIC in the 1940s.

Before 1998, oppositionists on the top or on the ground were typically Chinese or Indians. Opposition politics were essentially politics of the ethnic minorities struggling for civil rights, equality and fair treatment, although great oppositionists like the late Tan Chee Khoon, Lim Kit Siang or V David also tried very hard to shift the ethnic paradigm and the mentality of minorities regarding opposition politics. Of course, since the1980s, PAS has also been gradually becoming multiethnic in its approach to many issues.

After 1998, oppositionists can no longer be compartmentalised into ethnic stereotypes. Public issues like human rights, democracy, environmental protection, police performance, security and defence, healthcare, transportation, corruption, red tapes, abuses of state power and freedom of speech, etc, are now discussed, debated and discoursed more from a national and multiethnic perspective.

Islamic fundamentalism

Of particular importance is how Chinese Malaysians see what is said to be the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, or 'radicalism' in Malaysia and all over the world. I think we must not fall into the temptation or trap of stereotyping all Muslims as 'radicals', 'militants' or 'terrorists', just as our forefathers and foremothers did not liked to be stereotyped as 'communists', China's 'fifth columnists' or Anglo-American 'agents'.

True, we must support all efforts to fight terrorism and tyranny because the twin evils only listen to the logic of force and not the force of logic. However, we must serve as communicators and peace-makers whenever and wherever opportunities and occasions permit. To do this, we must make friends and listen patiently to the voices of the weak, downtrodden, oppressed and marginalised, irrespective of ethnic and religious backgrounds.

In the past 200 years, the Chinese had many bitter experiences in coping with and adjusting to the global process of modernisation: how to balance modernity and modern life on one hand with religions, traditions, cultures and language on the other. One classic example is the Boxers' rebellion in 1900.

Chinese Christians, Chinese Muslims and Westernised Chinese, for example, have many personal and family experiences on how to balance different elements of identity, and to live with honour and dignity against bigotry and chauvinism on the part of some so-called or self-styled 'traditionalists'. We must learn to empathise and, if requested, share our historical experience with others.

We must also not equate 'moderate' Muslims with only those who are among the political and economic elites. Almost all Muslims in opposition in Malaysia are moderate because they participate in the legal, constitutional, peaceful and open process of parliamentary democracy. We may or may not agree with their views and opinions on particular issues, but we must not be unfair to label those whom we do not agree, as 'extremists', 'radicals', 'militants' or 'terrorists'.

The struggle of the Muslim masses against tyrannies, and for self-improvement, preservation of religious and cultural identities and social advancement of their children must be seen with empathic lights. All human beings do that, just as our forefathers and foremothers did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the context of nation-building in Malaysia, it means we must all participate in the common struggle for democratic space and universal human rights.

It is time Chinese Malaysians, especially the younger ones, break free from the ethnic, cultural and linguistic cocoons and be identified with the wider and deeper struggle for human rights and human dignity.

We must always remember that citizenship is not only legal and constitutional, but also psychological and political.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament for Kampar (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew, he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.