Since Biro Tatanegara has been a hot issue of late, I will share my own experiences. I have gone to two BTN courses under PNB and Mara. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about it.

The food at BTN is amazing. They may be simple Malaysian dishes like 'ikan kembung goreng' or 'sayur campur' but somehow even the steamed rice has some magic in it.

The 'Pakcik Komandos', I must say, are the unsung heroes in BTN programmes. They may look like they can eat you alive, but they are the nicest people around. They are very helpful, polite and really funny too.

The programme itself, when done together for the whole group, is actually really good. It promotes unity, indoctrinating participants of the history of Malaysia, nationalism and patriotism (I do not know if they are any different now).

During my second BTN in Negeri Sembilan, Namewee was the star of the show. It was during that session, we were separated into smaller groups of 10 to 15 people.

The groups were weirdly distributed, with the non-Malays (including East Malaysian Bumiputeras) being put in one group. I was rather angry that we weren't allowed to mingle with them but later I found out why we were 'distributed' that way.

Our facilitators were racists. One bashed the Chinese and Indians as bangsa pendatang (immigrant races), making racist comments. He even called DAP a communist party which will only anger the Malays because of their principles.

BTN is a good way to promote unity and remind us of the sacrifices our forefathers made. But with these 'fascist' facilitators roaming around, trying to convert participants into anti-non-Malays has somewhat tainted the BTN image.

I'm not saying that all the facilitators are like that. It depends on which group you were put in. I bet the facilitator in the non-Malay group would be more 1Malaysia-minded.

It's sad because I want to see more of the commandos and the great people among the participants. I made many friends from BTN. The fact of the matter is BTN is great when the racial card is not played.

If the BN thinks BTN is their greatest weapon, they are wrong. People grow up, you know? And so will Malaysians.