Sept 16 is Malaysia Day, which commemorates the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. With the signing of a joint treaty with the United Kingdom, it marks the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo (renamed Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia.

It is supposed to be a day of unification, the uniting of the indigenous groups (orang Asli) of East Malaysia with the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Nyonya and other people of West Malaysia and Singapore.

This year, unfortunately, a group of people wearing red shirts (some voluntarily and some paid by a political party) decided to use this day to declare their racial supremacy over all other groups. This, in a country where Malays have a slim majority of 51 percent of the population.

For the older generation, who had gone through the pain of World War 2, colonial rule under the British, and the joy of independence, and then the pain of May 13 race riots, declaring ethnic supremacy is bad news for everyone in a country where we all need and rely on each other to live in peace and harmony.

When I was growing up in Malaysia in the 70s and 80s, my friends in school were of all ethnic backgrounds and races. My parents used to invite their Chinese and Indian friends over for Hari Raya (Eid) open house every year, and likewise, we would happily celebrate Divali, Chinese New Year and Christmas at the homes of family friends.

On Hari Raya, we would make sure to have vegetarian dishes for our Hindu friends who came over, and many non-Malay friends would even give us fancy layered cakes and hampers. On Chinese New Year, we would take oranges to our Chinese friends' homes, and to our delight, we kids would receive 'ang pow' (red packets with money) every year. We would always look forward to Christmas as well, because we could enjoy halal Christmas pie at our Auntie’s house.

Unfortunately, in the last 10-20 years, things seem to have changed a lot. Schools seem to be drawn across ethnic and religious lines, and school children have fewer and fewer friends of other races. People seem to think it’s okay to have laws enforcing Islamic rules of dress on non-Muslims, yet there seems to be fear of Muslims being converted by people of other religions.

Political parties hop on the bandwagon and exacerbate these racial and religious tensions, culminating in events like the red shirt rally which is held on a day which we are supposed to celebrate Malaysia’s unification.

I have the benefit of seeing this as a member of a minority group who lives overseas. Let’s say there was a call by white supremacists in the US to march in Washington DC on July 4, urging unification of all people of one race and religion, and the rights of the majority of the minority groups.

If that happened here, because of the United States’ fundamental right of freedom of speech, a rally like that would be allowed, but there would be serious rhetoric against it in the press and among the politicians. Those who organised the rally would then be seriously questioned about their intentions and be basically ridiculed in the media. Most politicians and celebrities would distance themselves from it.

‘Representing’ the majority voice?

If white supremacists were allowed to ‘represent’ the majority voice of the whites in US, with no moderate voices among the whites speaking out against it, African Americans and minority groups, like the Hispanics, Asian Americans and others, would seriously question their future in the country. I would seriously question my desire to live in the US and bring up my children here.

Likewise, I cannot imagine how hurtful the red shirt rally is for the Chinese, Indians and other minorities in Malaysia. Moderate Malaysians, especially Malays, must reach out to our non-Malay friends and reassure them that the red shirts do not represent us, and they do not represent the REAL Malaysian spirit. We say NO to racial polarisation!

To quote the chorus of ‘Tanah Pusaka’:

Tanah pusaka bertuah

Berbagai bangsa didalamnya

Hidup aman dan bersama

Bertekun kerja untuk Malaysia

Musuh melanggarku gempur

Sungguh rela kugugur kerana

Kau tanah pusaka

Biar putih tulang jangan putih mata

KAMI SEMUA RAKYAT MALAYSIA.