— Joshua Wu
The Malay Mail Online
June 2, 2014
JUNE 2 — I could not agree more with the newly-elected Member of Parliament for Teluk Intan, Mah Siew Keong when he said that the future of Malaysian politics is in multi-racial parties instead of single race entities.
However, he seems to be preaching to the choir. What he should be doing is addressing this to his partners in Barisan Nasional (BN). After all, UMNO, MCA and MIC are race based political parties.
After 56 years (approaching 57 years of independence), one has to wonder if race based political parties can still propel the country forward or have been contributing to the significant division between the many races in Malaysia.
Political parties like DAP, PKR, and Gerakan are multi-racial parties which best represent the new generation of Malaysians who see themselves as Malaysians before identifying as Malays, Chinese, Indians, or others.
In the past, Dato Seri Onn bin Ja’afar called for Umno party membership to be opened to non-malays and for the party to be renamed the United Malayans National Organisation.
However, the idea was shot down by many. He then left Umno to form the Independence of Malaya Party, and subsequently, Parti Negara.
Unfortunately both parties failed to meet their potentials due to the lack of support by Malaysians then. But all that happened about 50 years ago! Shouldn’t things have changed for the better?
Aren’t Malaysians generally mature enough to accept the fact that we are all in this together? Regardless of how some of our ancestors came to Malaya, we’re all Malaysians now.
We all contribute to the economic well-being of the country by way of spending, investing, paying tax, etc. The time is right to rid ourselves of race-based political parties.
Mah needs to have a serious chat with his political buddies in his capacity as president of Gerakan. After all, everyone knows the correct answer to the problem. Being willing to do the right thing and potentially suffering for it is a different story.
Multi-racial parties are truly the way forward!