Unity on parade: One race, one people but why only on National Day?Malaysians are always reminded on National Day, without fail by our politicians, that we are one race and one people. This is our country and that without the cooperation of the major races independence would not have been possible. Without Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia would not have been possible. And so, through the dances and songs, all the races are represented. Very much like the recital of the Rukunegara at the National Day parade today, where students of various races were there. The quesion is why can't we be Bangsa Malaysia everyday. Why must this be possible only through parades, dances and Tourism Malaysia video? Why must our leaders claim to represent Malaysians one day and their own community the next day? When will we stop having to state our races when filling up forms instead of being just Bangsa Malaysia? When will our politicians stop worrying about the religious background of our elected MPs? Why should PAS president Hadi Awang be worried if there would be more non-Muslim MPs from Sabah and Sarawak? When will our politicians mean Bangsa Malaysia when they say they will defend the country for "bangsa dan negara"? When will our politicians realise that the Chinese and Indians are Malaysians and no longer "bangsa pendatang" and that many of our Umno leaders can trace their ancestry roots to India,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Yemen, Thailand and even China, which is nothing unusual as Malaysia is a melting pot of various culture. This is a diversity which we should be proud of. Dr Mahathir Mohamad has never hide the fact that his ancestors came from Bangladesh and that does not make him any less bumiputra or Malay or any less Malaysian. So, the rest of us, regardless of our races, have as much as stake in Malaysia too. We are born here and no matter what happens, we will never pack off because we are Bangsa Malaysia.
17 comments:
Bangsa Malaysia happens only on occasions like:
* When UMNO poliicians give speeches on Merdeka Day
* When the country faces an external adversary
* When the UMNO politicians need votes from Non Bumi to fight off a non UMNO opposition party.
* When donations or volunteers are sought from the public
* When UMNO politicians are giving speeches to an international audience.
Other times, it is back to racist politics, especially when UMNO is having an intra party election.
UMNO needs to move on to non-racial politics. Only when the whole population is united, can the country achieve great things. Don't UMNO politicians read history? Can't they learn from other successful countries. The USA is a great and powerful nation because all the different dozens of ethnic mix are united into a single people called Americans. Singapore, despite being a tiny speck on the map, is strong and wealthy because it moulded the various ethnic groups into one single people called Singaporeans. Countries with divided people eventually fall backwards.
Uncle Wong, if you want to ANGKAT those umno flers don't be too blatantlah. You want to angkat sampai bila? Why you must specifically mentioned Hadi Awang and not Ahmad Ismail. At least Hadi Awang never said that chinese are pendatang. When it comes to racism Umno are the champion.
Dear Wong,
Thanks for joining other Malaysians to create a Bangsa Malaysia call.
There are few bloggers who continue to impress me. Haris Ibrahim tops the list with such calls. We really need to work toward this goal. And this is also my reason to reject BN as the ruling party.
Can you believe we still have persons like Ahmad and Tajuddin who call us immigrants and their leader who is supposed to be PM for all says he did not mean his word? Are we going to listen to this pathetic excuse?
It's time for every person including you who have the means to reach out to the ordinary Malaysians to spread this Bangsa Malaysia consciousness.
Failing to do so simply means we failed as Malaysians.
Happy Merdeka bro!
Bangsa Malaysia everyday, from sunrise to sunset - I cannot agree more. But ask ourselve this fundamental question first. Are we aleady to embrace and practice the Malaysian culture willingly and with no exception? For instance are we ready to have Bahasa Malaysia as the only medium of instruction in schools, colleges or universities? Are we ready to do away with SRJK regardless whether it is Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Iban or Kadazan? Until the answer is sincerely YES then Bangsa Malaysia is no more then a rheotoric.
I am fully agreed with the comment on" Bangsa Malaysia" in conjunction with 51th National Day Celebration. The ordinary citizens of Malaysia, regardless of races wish to work together for better tomorrow, but those politicians inside UMNO, MCA & MIC are dividing the people by inciting racial fear and creates tensions from time to time. I think all Malaysia citizens could make the change by saying "NO" to these racial politics and we want an integrated "Bangsa Malaysia" to compete in this global competitive world! We should give help to those poor and less capable fellow citizen regardless races, and make good transparency on all public projects transactions. Now there is a good hope of this new change, if we all races called ourself as one "Bangsa Malaysa", and support these new changes of policies, with new set of approaches. We hope this day will come true soon!
Anak Bangsa Malaysia
It must be now!
It can’t be on Independence Day
Then we see the sea of colorful faces as one unity one race
Politicians never know its meaning
When they need to lick power
Race politics come into play
They forget every one is Anak Bangsa Malaysia
The elected leaders never learn
The meaning of Malaysian…
The statements that they make
They don’t care the feeling of other races
When 3Ps come into play
The political elites forget
About Malaysians for Malaysia
When their minds galloping away
With Power, Projects and Prosperity
It must be now!
We are Anak Bangsa Malaysia
Don’t put race labels
It never does well in the future
The reason why we do not experience Bangsa Malaysia everyday is because of the monopoly of the reporting in the mainstream media on the UMNO and BN politicians.
These politicians, be they Ministers or backbenchers or minnows in their constituencies constantly remind us that the ruling govt is mainly made up of ethnic based political parties, the largest of which has the credo of "Bangsa, Agama dan Negara".
This, in itself, confirms the placement of which issue matters first and which matters last for this particular political party.
Hence, more reporting by the mainstream media of what the people really want to know as opposed to what the poitical masters want the people to know, will surely make the paradigm shift a reality instead of just a mouth piece.
As such, the Star surely has the opportunity to play a leading role in realising Bangsa Malaysia on a daily basis by reporting all the facts of prominent events and providing op-ed pieces which analyse, provoke and lead the thinking process towards a real on-the-ground Bangsa Malaysia.
I believe the mainstream media has the best opportunities for Bangsa Malaysia to reach all Malaysians.
All they need to do is simply call a spade a spade.
I have much respect for STAR. But unfortunately, this respect is gone when your STAR aticle on Merdeka only talked about Tunku Abdul Rahman (the dreamer), Tun Razak (the planner) and Tun Hussein (the implementor). You printed pictures of the 3 eal;ier premiers. Alas,none about Tun Mahathir!!! No class.
Bro Wong
It's not only UMNO who's practicing racial politics but almost every major political parties in this country. When DAP lambasted that a vote for BN is a vote for UMNO, then politicians from this political party are singing and dancing along the racial line. Forget about MIC or MCA who're almost exclusively talking and championing on behalf of the community that they repesent. Worst is PAS who's using the combined force of race and religion to please voters. The worst among them is PKR who speaks different racist frequencies depending on crowds. To the Malays they say "we'll uphold your rights as eshrined by the constitution", to the Chinese they say "we'll build more Chinese schools" and to the Indians they say "we'll legalise all temples". I think this country needs a new political entity within the true spirit of Bangsa Malaysia.
Sure I agree with you that we should all be Bangsa Malaysia. But why single out Hadi Awang only. Why are you so scared to criticize the UMNO politicians who have been so blatant in stirring up racial hatred. And why didn't you critizise the UMNO big wigs who say the right thing about us all being Malaysians, but yet implement policies that divide us by race and religion. And why is your boss, the MCA, still supporting a party UMNO that expressively sought to suppress the Chinese that MCA claims it represent?
Dear Wong,
First of all, good articles every Sunday. Bangsa Malaysia isn't a one race or one party job. It's only possible when everyone stop looking at a person from another race in a negative light - as evident in local varsities.
Sometimes, it doesn't take a racist politician's speech for us students to "feel racial" towards another race. It is the policy of the nation and the blatant one-sidedness favouring certain group of people (deny it by calling it a contract) that causes one to think "we're able to do this on our own, among ourselves, and be WARY of the other race" *stare*
Intead of dividing the people by race, religion and geography, the people should be encouraged to intermarry and integrate. Government policies should make it easier for that to happen. If everybody has a grandfather, a grandmother, a cousin, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, etc etc of different race, religion, or from East or West Malaysia, then we can all identify ourselves as Malaysians, and woould not be able to tale pot shots at each other's race or religion, because there will be relatives to keep them in check. But the BN government seems to be doing its best to divide the people instead.
Dr.Mahathir's ancestors are from Bangladesh?
This is the first time I hear this.
Surely this is a mistake?
I thought he was Indian X Malay. Sure you got it right?
Can someone enlighten me why "UMNO" is still called "UMNO" when the UMNO members have rejected the English Language. I thought UMNO is an acronym for "United Malay National Organisation". Shouldn't they change the name to a BM name? I mena how can they go around downplaying and rejecting the English language but then still use an English acronym for their political party?
Dr.Mahathir's ancestors were from Kerala, India (not Bangladesh !!!) and he has rarely, if ever acknowledged this fact. Shoddy piece of writing Chun Wai.
Fasterlah
We need to achieve more and only bangsa malaysia can make that happen.
Right now it is definitely not happening.
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