Is the language diversity in our educational system a stumbling block to so-called 'national unity'? Despite the insistence of this idea by the self-interested ruling elite, it is simply wrong.

If they are right, how would they explain the Arab-speaking people of the Middle East who have always been quarreling and warring among themselves? And the common use of English did not stop Americans from fighting Britons in the War of Independence.

And let's not forget the American Civil War - both sides spoke English. On the other side of the globe, the Chinese-speaking people have been warring among themselves in the past for hundreds of years.

And to the contrary, we see Europeans of different mother tongues coming together in a democratic manner to forge a united continent in the form of the multilingual European Union with common standards of democracy, human rights and governance.

English-speaking people with different mother tongues are also now living peacefully in five different independent and sovereign countries namely the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

It is time for the Malaysian ruling elite and their ideologues to stop spreading the voodoo of that language diversity hampers national unity.

The root cause of national disunity is none other than the existence of race-based political parties like Umno, MCA and MIC, which perpetuate race-based affirmative action policies and which only benefit the upper class Barisan Nasional-putras and their sons, daughters and cronies.