your say YOURSAY Gerakan also claims to be multiracial but most of its members are Chinese, too. At least the DAP has more Indian representatives than the ruling coalition's MIC.

Dr Chin Tu Lan: Dear S Thayaparan, your article is about race. Can we Malaysians all grow out of this racial divide? Only then can Malaysia move forward. Only then can we all be proud to be called Malaysians.

DAP, as I see it, is undergoing the transformation to become a truly multiracial Malaysian party. Look at most political parties in BN, they are divided among racial lines.

Sidney: DAP is heading in the right direction. BN is still adopting the divide-and-rule system from colonial time.

Umno, MCA, MIC are race-based parties, fighting for their own race. Perhaps, Malaysians need even more time than expected to change their mindset.

Anonymous #86633731: Gerakan also claims to be multiracial but most of its members are Chinese, too. At least the DAP has more Indian representatives than the ruling coalition's MIC.

BTN: What the Malay leaders in DAP need to do is to accept that there is lots of work to be done and win over the masses of Chinese and Indian voters in DAP, not to mention attracting more Malays to take up this challenge.

Wanderer: There will never be an absolute solution to selecting a balanced management based on race. In this respect, we have to reverse back to the same old theory, “everyone has to sing for his supper".

It is never easy to erase the mindset of the old mentality Umno has introduced to the nation, of a certain race being supplied with crutches before they can even walk.

Swipenter: "... that Malay presence in the DAP will always be predicated on the benifice of Chinese power players,” said Thayaparan.

Why not Indian presence? Given the size of the Indian community, would not it be more pragmatic for DAP to have more Malay presence than Indian presence?

Yes, it is precisely that Indians have a long history in DAP and have contributed immensely to the cause of a ‘Malaysian Malaysia’.

Only until recently were the Malays in favour of a ‘Malaysian Malaysia’. They are slowly changing now and as such, are relatively new to DAP.

I don’t see what is so bad in appointing two Malays to the central executive committee (CEC). You have to start the ball rolling somewhere.

The People's Progressive Party (PPP) under the Seenivasagam brothers was unbeatable and their most vociferous supporters were the urban Chinese. Now PPP is a small mosquito Indian party under BN and begs for crumbs from Umno.

It is not cast in stone that Malaysians will always vote along racial lines. Sometimes idealism can overcome obstacles thought insurmountable.

Taikohtai: Detractors of the DAP should get a grip on themselves, please. Today, DAP is, without doubt, at its mightiest ever in history.

Its leadership is strong and staunch, its membership growing and appreciative, its partners united and supportive while its enemies could only look on with envy and curse.

Nick-picking DAP will not cause it to fall or falter but to come out with better policies and getting the country out of its massive debts, and this will endear the party to the rakyat even more.

Antibody: To establish a community of "togetherness", there must be, by necessity, common grounds.

Like in the United States, their common ground is the language (American English) and a religion (Christianity of sorts), lifestyle and culture (neo-European).

Here in Malaysia, what are the common grounds? I say none - different languages, different religions, different cultures and different lifestyles. Can you expect cohesion under such backgrounds.

So, Mr Thayaparan, what options do we have? I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. It is said corruption is paramount here: yes, I totally agree with that. The justice system is silted with political interference (most times).

So our first priority is to have a system of government that is upright, sincere and tolerant to the different sensitivities of life itself.

Can we have that? What kind of leadership that can abide by that norms? Mr Thayaparan, I only ask questions but currently have no answers.

Onyourtoes: Don’t you get it? Isn’t DAP’s debate with MCA fighting for the right of Chinese within the right and responsibility of all Malaysians? What contradiction are you ranting about?

DAP as a racial and chauvinistic party is what the racists in the country have labelled it unfairly and maliciously. DAP owes nobody anything.

In fact, DAP has tried too hard to be more multiracial but it was the indoctrinated, nincompoop and racist Malaysians who have continued to shout down their efforts.

Thayaparan, you are wrong again - Lim Guan Eng is not qualified to assume stewardship of this country, not because he is a Chinese or the party that he leads is racist and chauvinistic.

It is because the majority of Malaysians are still racists who cannot accept a person who is an ethnic Chinese, even though he has all the qualities to be the country’s prime minister.

Why can’t we look at a party based on policies and programmes to determine whether or not the party is racist or parochial? Why must we always look at the racial composition at the top?

BN (a coalition no doubt) is the most racially diverse, but did the coalition give us multiracialism in the country?

Paach: Whether there are elected Malay or Indian CEC members in DAP is not crucial. DAP has always been championing the rights of Malaysians, irrespective of race.

So what is the big issue? What we want is a party that takes care of all races.

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