Unity in Diversity

The 1Malaysia concept propounded by our PM has caught the imagination of the public,let assume that happened in the first place before further speculation.However,sceptism is rife regarding the practical aspects of this concept admist captivating slogan and promises.

First and foremost,the public are still divided along racial line.While tolerant attitude may keep us from at each other throat,there are still a long way for us to go before we truly become one Malaysia.There are still some "native race" who dont recognise Chinese and Indian as being an integral part of our society even after 50 years of independence.The perception that chinese and Indian do not belong to this country and sould be treated as outsiders still prevail in some conservative part of out country.Surely,the minority will be incensed by these kind of blatant remark suck as :" Cina balik Tongsan la,Indian balik india la.".Please bear in mind,the true native are the real indigenous people such as Penan,Murut and etc.While we are in a globalised world where boundaries no longer a distinct feature,and people are known as global citizen,continuos squabble about one true origin is nonsensical and anachronistic.In my opinion,we must first discard these outmoded perception of origin before we can truly united under one nation.

On the other hand,religion also barriade us from unity im diversity.In spite that the right of every race to pracice its own religion is enshrined under the constitution,general perception is that all other religion are overshadowed by the all Islam as the formal religion of our country.There is seperation between different religion where minimum contact and interaction or mutual discussion are to be avoided like harbingers of doom.There proposal of inter-religious forum and commision are met with fiery opposition by chauvinist and bigots who belive their religion should be propagated at the expense of other religion.The inter-religious forum organised by the Bar council resulted in demonstration and nearly riot.Every religion prohibit other to visit their sacred site and it is deemed blasphemous when someone from some quater voice his/her opinion about other religion,which result in instant lashing by the relevent authorities.When public does not undersatand the value and practice of other religion,unity is analogous to building castle is the midair.


Another major hindrance to unity among different races is the deprivation of rights of other minoriy under the affirmation policy of the government.I am sure that all the other minority races understand the need to assist the native to climb the ladder of economiy after being isolated in remote are under British divide and rule policy.We also understand that we need to eradicate the phenomenon of poverty among native and assist them to enter into other sector such as trade and industry so that the division of races along different sector can become a thimg of the past.However,the overaealous steps bt the authority spell disater to other minority races.For instance,almost 100% of the government project are tendered by native,chinese and Indian medium school are deprived of allocation and thrive on their own effort.Chinese do not mind if they have to compromise some of their economy dominance,but not under the extent of total denial of level playing field in economy participation.The affimative action should ceased to exist when it achieve its target of 30& equity own by Malay.Prolong affirmative action only trigger fear among chinese and indian of the possibility of being totally wiped out in economy.
On the other hand,the insensitive remark by certain politician who try to score political brownie point through inciting racial hatred make matter worse.Even
our government are divided along racial line.MCA,MIC,UMNO only protect the right of the race they claim to represent,without regard to other races,while trying to portray themselve as the Hero of the race by undermining the rights others.Even among pakatan rakyat,PAS is a thorn in the flesh as it try to propagate malay and islamic agenda,for example,the PAS government is Kedah persist with its plan to reserve 50% quota in house buying and demolish a pig abbatoir admist intense opposition by DAP.PAS even oppose the liberisation of economy by PM.

Although there are many hindrance in our path to be truly united,it is heartening to note that our pm is trying his best to unite our country through 1malaysia concept.We only hope that further concrete action whould be undertaken to enliven this concept