I read with interest Haliza B's letter on racism in Malaysia.

It is my personal view of human nature that we are not born racist or evil in any way, but are shaped into such monsters by leaders and situations we land into. Many politicians exploit racial sentiments to get votes in their race-based parties. Many civil servants and even private sector bosses develop racial outlooks due to a lack of multi-racialism in their sectors.

The Malaysian government has been pretty bad when it comes to uniting Malaysians substantially through a study of history, a move which is very necessary for genuine understanding of each other. We must have a strong sense of history in order to realise why we are here and what we are supposed to do for our country. It is only through an understanding of our history that we are able to become less racist and more Malaysian.

The bumiputeras of Malaysia should be made to realise that while they are the natives of Malaysia, they are not the only people who live here and it is against their religions - Islam, Christianity or Hinduism (many of them were Hindus in the olden days and some Orang Asli are Hindus) - to bully people of the same Adamic family (Adam the first man is our common father).

In other words, they must follow the golden rule, do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you.

The non-bumiputeras, namely the Chinese and Indians, must be made to realise that while they worked much harder than the bumiputeras to attain a good life in this land, the bumiputeras are still their eldest brother in Bangsa Malaysia. Thus, they should accept that in some areas in life (kingship, sultanship, premiership and deputy premiership), bumiputeras must prevail, even though, merit has to be increasingly emphasised in this competitive and globalised world.

The non-bumiputeras should stop having the colonial notion that our bumiputeras are "immigrants from Indonesia". The British fibbed big time about bumiputeras to justify their "right" to colonise Malaysia.

None of our bumiputeras came from Indonesia, I dare say, because Indonesia only existed after Aug 17, 1945, and prior to that, it was the Dutch East Indies, the portion of the Malay world (Tanah Melayu) that was colonised by Holland while our Malaysia was the part of the Malay world (Tanah Melayu which is the origin of the Anglicised word "Malaysia" believed to be coined by Raffles) that was colonised by Britain.

Before the coming of European powers, the whole Malay world was one country (Singapore, Philippines, East Timor and Brunei included), the Malay Empire centred in the Peninsula (Sri Vijaya in Klang and Palembang, then Melaka, then Johor-Riau).

The bumiputeras should stop having the colonial notion that the Chinese are all rich. There are rich and poor in every community. There are some bumiputeras of royal extraction much richer than we Chinese.

Those in East Malaysia should stop thinking that West Malaysia colonised them, because a lot of their native politicians were largely responsible for withering away their autonomy enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

All Malaysians have to start learning Malaysian history from a holistic point of view. Emphasis should be given on the customs and cultures of the various Malaysians and how they became Malaysians.

History in our books should be reviewed, so as to present it in a manner that does not put down any one race. In religion, all of us began as civilised people, but at a certain point in time, suffered civilisational decline.

We should all be made to realise that all three Malaysian communities - bumiputeras, Chinese and Indians - played equally important roles in making Malaysia a successful nation.

Happy National Day!