I refer to the malaysiakini report Ethnic studies revised after race row .

Now that the cabinet has approved the final draft of the ethnic relations module intended as a compulsory course in universities, I call upon the government to widely release and disseminate the approved draft as soon as possible so that all interested Malaysians will have the opportunity of reading and framing their own conclusions about it.

Whilst respecting the cabinet's view, I would like to point out that the cabinet is a political body which lacks professional expertise to assess the content and perspectives found in the module. At the same time, the cabinet is governed by interests that may not reflect the fairness and neutrality required for a consensual module that can meet the expectations of a multi-racial progressive citizenry.

I call on other interested stakeholders - especially academicians and educators - to carefully evaluate the module and to provide feedback to the relevant authorities. What is presently approved should be the basis for further work and improvement so that we can end up with a module that does justice to the diverse ethnic interests and establishes a sound basis for the integration of our young students.

The worst possible result is to have a module and foundation course that further divides or polarises the different communities because of distortions to history, or the lack of balance and sensitivity.