I agree with Tanglimara's letter, 'A nation divided as never before', (Aug 16) who observed that we are less united than we were before. I have had the same experiences as those related by the writer (I'm in my late 30s and a non-Malay). I find that people of my father's generation interact with each other without any regard for race or religion while in my case the people whom I call my friends are those from my childhood days.

I am quite thankful that I had friends from all races during my schooling days and we keep in touch. However, in the case of my youngest brother; I find that his friends are of the same race and few years ago when I visited him in a local university, the conditions were as described by Tanglimara.

Nowadays, if one were to go to a playground, one would see children of the same race playing together on different sides of the field rather than playing with each other. I agree with the reasons given - i.e. education system, Islamic consciousness and the rise of globalisation are the contributory factors.

The government, opposition parties and NGOs should get together and find ways to overcome this problem rather than debating on who is a 'terrorist'. If not, there is a good possibility that there would be massive racial unrest and disputes and at that time nobody would give two hoots about the government as everyone would be too busy trying to cope with their private tragedies.