Fifty three years have past since our forefathers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Siew Sin and VT Sambanthan fought for independence. What was in their minds was to ensure we were free from the British and we were a sovereign nation. It never occurred in their minds that they were Malay, Chinese or Indian by ethnicity. What was more important to them was that they were Malaysian first.

But come this Merdeka, has our beloved nation achieved the same level of unity that we had in the past? Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s ‘1Malaysia’ concept introduced last year is an effort that is transformational to reunite and take us back to the level of unity that we once enjoyed. But is he getting all the support for this initiate?

I remember the days when Lee Chong Wei won the All-England Championship. We were all glued to the TV watching yet another Malaysian achievement. Never did we mind that he was a Malaysian Chinese. The same goes for Magendran and Mohanadass who succeeded in the Mt. Everest climb.

Yet another was the truly Malaysian football team comprising the legendary Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Ann and R Arumugam who had taken on the England team and the South Koreans.

Albeit all this positive characteristics of a Malaysian achievements, the statement made by Nasir Safar , a former senior officer in the PM’s office and the recent racial statements by a school principal in Kulai reminds us that despite the bonding of 53 years, we remain polarised by what ethinicity we belong to despite all our Malaysian-ness.

Remember we grew up having teh tarik , nasi lemak , roti canai and char kueh teow . We forgot their origins and in turn term this delicacies as a Malaysian food. Even vadai and puthu mayam are now sold by Malay vendors. So what has gone wrong over the years?

I was a part-time lecturer at a prime public university and had the opportunity to see how polarisation at the universities has affected student race relations. The time has come to teach students at the beginning of primary schools about respecting each other’s religion, culture and beliefs.

Our multi-cultural diversity and the uniqueness among us are an advantage that can be harnessed to make Malaysia competitive. Each community in Malaysia has its strength and this strength in diversity has to be exploited to maximum to make the concept of ‘1Malaysia’ a success. Let’s walk the talk.

Many initiatives by Najib like the New Economic Model (NEM), the 10MP, the Government Transformation Plan are all remarkable grand plans but the success of these plans is highly dependent on how we Malaysians of diverse ethnicity truly live up to being Malaysian first.

Not too many countries in the world enjoy the diversity that we have and our failure to benefit from this will only be disastrous for our beloved nation. In the not too distant future when this history is forgotten, what will be the state of our country?

The public service staff are the main drivers of the government but they should be re-trained on the ‘1Malaysia’ concept to ensure they utter the right words when addressing all communities and send out the right messages.

Many a times the wrong signals has been sent and this hurts our race relations. The ‘1Malaysia’ concept must be culturised ie practice what is preached forotherwise it will remain a slogan.

Reflecting on our 53 rd merdeka , we need a team of Mokthar Dahari, Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh and R Arumugam with the burning spirit of Tunku Abdul Rahman to make Malaysia a model country uniting in diversity to take on the world and remain economically competitive.