1Malaysia....race is still first?

I read with disgust our DPM's announcement that he is a Malay first & Malaysian second.

Malaysian DPM says he is a Malay first but that does not mean that he is not a Malaysian at heart.
He said he would be shunned by all the Malays if he were to say that he is a Malaysian first & a Malay second.
And the next day our PM was caught in the trap when he ran to support the DPM that what the DPM said was not wrong.

There goes our 1Malaysia concept. Might as well throw it down the drain.
I have always believed that our new PM is treading a middle path & avoiding stepping on the toes of the other ethnic minorities in the country. The latest NEM unveiled shows a lot of promises but they are all yet to be seen whether they will be implemented, what with all these over zealous civil servants around, including some VVIPs.

Our DPM hails from Johore. Recently, a Minister admitted that there were only 11 Chinese & 109 Indians working in the civil services in Johore! Of course, the usual remark is ' there were very few non-Malay applicants' which most of us do not deny. Non-Malays will never be promoted by merit in the civil services & it is now to be seen whether the new NEM will rectify this bias.

Coming back to 'I am Malay first', the DPM also says that the Indians will aslo say they are Indians first.....how odd? How sure was the DPM? He proceeded to chide Lim Kit Siang that the latter will not tell him he does not struggle for the Chinese community? Now this is a very odd comparison indeed. Does the DPM meant that because he struggled for the Malays, then he is Malay first? Period.

I will always say that I am Malaysian first & Chinese second, so do a lot of my other Chinese & Indian friends. I have been to a few countries, Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong; when people asked me who am I, it is an automatic ' I am a Malaysian'. Try saying ' I am a Chinese, Indian or Malay' & see what response you get from your overseas friends. Saying that you are a Chinese, Indian or Malay will simply connote a racist or racial intonation. Your overseas friend will immediately conjure a picture of Malaysia being full of racial sentiments & problems. Therefore, if one says ' I am a Malay first', then enough said. I would not be surprised if this is blurted from Ahmaid Ismail or Ibrahin Ali but not from any high ranking Ministers in the country.

Everywhere in the world, the citizens are so proud to be associated with their countries. " I am an America", "I am an African", "I am a Singaporean", " I am an Indonesian", etc. Make it clear, you are always a Malaysian first, then your stocks come next, be it a Chinese, Indian , Malay, Kadazan, Iban, etc.

Hidup 1Malaysia !