The widespread furore over Badruddin Amiruldin's racist and incendiary comments at the Umno general assembly is understandable but should come as no surprise to all clear-thinking Malaysians.

How can the major component parties of the Barisan Nasional namely Umno, MCA and the MIC contribute to racial unity when their raison d'etre is to promote the interest of one racial group to the exclusion of all others?

How does chauvinism square with racial unity, understanding and integration?

These racial parties should open their doors to all Malaysians and regard all as bumiputeras, an Sanskrit term which essentially means people 'born of the land'.

But the term bumiputera as generally understood in Malaysia is obviously a misnomer, as it excludes many millions of Malaysians who were born in Malaysia.

This exclusivist and chauvinistic definition belongs to another era and is unnecessarily divisive and not consonant with a moral and progressive society or with 'Islam Hadhari'. I would therefore strongly advocate that the term bumiputera be expunged from the lexicon of the Malaysian political vocabulary.

I look forward to the day when Umno stands for United Malaysians National Organisation.