COMMENT | I imagine a good number of people are disappointed about the fate of plans to accede to the Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination). I can definitely empathise and understand.

Obviously, though, it’s not as if the quest for greater national unity has been dealt any kind of death blow. The fight goes on, and maybe this whole saga has offered us helpful insights and lessons.

Perhaps now is a good time to revisit race relations in Malaysia in a larger perspective.

Our situation here is a little unique.

In Western countries that we’re a little more familiar with, it’s traditionally a little more straightforward, with few disputing that White majorities hold most of the power (unless, of course, you believe in all the Jewish conspiracy theories and so on), and the minorities are the ones demanding their rights.

In some countries like South Africa, we had the minorities also clearly in power, and the majority demanding their rights.

In Malaysia, we have this odd situation where the two largest ethnic groups (where one is a clear demographic majority) is constantly accusing the other of holding all the power...