I refer to the letter written by Frank Chinese. I hope that Frank is wrong in his prediction of things to come. Not because do I worry about the percentage of Chinese in this country, but because I fear that after 100 years, Malaysia would still be a country divided by race.

To me Frank's appeal to the MCA is the epitome of everything that is wrong about the current race-based political party system. As he has pointed out, it is a numbers game with no end.

We cannot have all the races competing to produce more babies just so that they are represented in the government. Such a competition would only lead to overpopulation. With limited resources, ethnic tensions would erupt over who receives what little is available. Dangerous for all Malaysians.

From his letter, I take it that Frank would agree that he, as a Chinese, is represented only by MCA in the government, and that it is MCA who will compete against the likes of Umno and MIC so that Chinese Malaysians get their fair share.

This also proves that the mind set of Malaysian must change. The government should be championing for all Malaysians and not just one ethnic group. Anything else should be rejected.

I do not blame Frank for thinking in this manner. Why shouldn't he since firstly the British, then the current ruling party, ingrained this divide in our state of mind to pit one race against the other? Divide and rule.

By pitting one race against another, the race-based political parties of the BN can use the other race as a perennial bogeyman. Frighten its people into thinking that their rights would be affected should they not vote the BN in.

To change what a generation has accepted as the norm is an uphill task. A start perhaps is for the people to demonstrate to the government that race-based political parties do not work. We can do this by rejecting race-based parties at the next polls.

There are enough multiracial choices in both the BN and the opposition (Gerakan, Keadilan and DAP) to vote in. Stop fighting against other Malaysians of different groups and let's start working towards making Malaysia stronger - together.