I refer to the Malaysiakini report 76 NGOs form council to defend Malay rights .

It is time to have a peaceful movement from the non-Malays NGOs to declare that the non- Malays are not challenging the positions of the sultans, Islam and the Malay language which are clearly protected by the constitution but are only merely having concerns about the fairness of implementing the NEP and the corrupting practices under the name of ‘Ketuanan Malayu’.

It is not to be a counter or confrontational movement, it should be meant to educate the Malays in general that the non-Malays are not a threat to the Malays but a trustworthy partner for nation- building that can bring benefits to all, especially the Malays as a majority. This can only work if the irresponsible mainstream media, bloggers and politicians do not spin the well-meaning intentions of this movement.

Non-Malays have no problem with having food in ‘halal’ eating places and do not mind visiting the mosque and even making a prayer if allowed to. However, the Malays are not able to visit the worship places of non-Malays and ‘non-halal’ restaurants. Just with these basic differences, we can feel that the Malays are more sensitive than the non-Malays because Malays are born Muslim and unlike non-Malays have no freedom of religious choices.

Non-Malays accept the general perception that the genuine Malays came to this land before the non-Malays and this land is the only home and the last stop for the Malays, whereby the non- Malays especially the highly-educated and professional Chinese are still moving on looking for a better future in other countries.

If the differences are as simple as the above, the solution to promote understanding and respect amongst the different races can be made very simple. In reality, these differences have been manipulated by the ruling race-based political parties to stay in power using religion and racial sensitivities to mislead the people.

The Malays in general have been made to believe that the non-Malays are second-class citizens who do not deserve to be treated with equal rights; non-Malays, especially the Chinese are only good in making money for their own race and robbing opportunities from the Malays; that Malays could have been better off without the non-Malays; that the Malays are the masters of this land, that the non-Malays must not dominate the economy or have academic superiority; that the non-Malays have no loyalty to the country and are taking advantage of the Malays; that the Malays are more superior than the non-Malays in terms of the religion; that the rise of the non-Malays will weaken the status of the Malays and the Malay rulers; that the Chinese are communists and are anti-Malay rulers; the list can go on.

These opinions of the Malays in general, not facts, are why the 76 Malay NGOs formed a council. I hope there will be peaceful movement from non-Malay NGOs and a counter- movement from Malay NGOs to help deal with all these mis-perceptions before racism gets under every Malaysian's skin.