The time has now come for race-based political parties to shed racial and religious labels from their objectives. Instead, they must stand for egalitarian concepts, sound economic principles, an absolutely independent judiciary and a corruption-free, well-balanced civil service, including government-linked agencies, which reflect the composition of the various races in the country.

Likewise, the private sector should also do this. Its objectives should include meritocracy and key performance indicators (KPI) as the foundations for entry and promotion in all sectors.

As for students entering public universities, there should be only one common matriculation exam for all races. The NEP has already achieved the desired quota for Malays in all fields, as stated by Dr Lim Teck Ghee, an authority on the results of the NEP.

Now let us be sensible and pragmatic for children of all races by adopting a common benchmark to help them meet challenges and survive in this turbulent and complex global economy.

We should remove their crutches and make them change their mindsets to face global competition. Let us be futuristic. If not, our children will be doomed, especially those who are spoon-fed.

For the last 50 years, the three main component political parties of the BN (Umno, MCA and MIC) have not made any positive moves toward shedding their racial labels because the leaders of these parties – along with their families and cronies – have benefitted tremendously in the names of their respective races.

But the poor majorities of all races, including the Malays, have received few benefits or none at all.

Therefore, it is unlikely these parties will ever change their race-based identification. Fortunately, we have multi-racial parties within the BN, such as Gerakan, PPP and others. They should make a move to form a strong coalition of the ‘Barisan Rakyat’.

Since these parties are always fighting with Umno for more and more seats during general elections, this is the right time for them to get out of the BN and join forces with the opposition, particularly PKR and DAP. They can then get their desired allocation of seats and capture a few states in the election.

It may not be possible to form a national government, as the three Ms (money, media, and machinery) are very much in the hands of Umno. But with this strategy, at least the people can deny the remaining BN parties a two-thirds majority. PAS, because of its racial and religious character, can only be an associate of the ‘Barisan Rakyat’ and win for itself the east coast states.

Why should Gerakan, PPP and other multi-racial parties join PKR and DAP? Firstly, all these parties are conceptually multi-racial and, secondly, they are egalitarian in principle. Therefore, they all have the same synergy to work and move forward together.

Anwar Ibrahim is not a spent bullet. He has vast governmental experience as a former DPM. We know that when he was in power, the non-Malays feared him as an ‘ultra-Malay’. But he has suffered the worst fate that any politician could imagine (serving a jail sentence because of a political vendetta).

He has very much matured and is enlightened now and understands humanity much better. We should give him a chance to lead the nation, as he understands the aspirations of both Malays and non-Malays, having experienced the real world.

Now it’s up to Anwar, Gerakan, PPP and others to work out their strategies for the merger that will form the new coalition – the Barisan Rakyat. This coalition will bring this nation long-term peace and prosperity.