LETTER | Each time an election starts, the rage over race and religion divisiveness becomes the throttle.

After over six decades of independent nationhood, this dangerous virus has only gained more roots in Malaysia.

Politicians be forewarned. There is no vaccine to thwart this deadly virus of racism and religious bigotry except for a nation to succumb to total disaster - economically, socially and politically.

I cannot fathom why our politicians keep planting these landmines using racial and religious prejudices, suspicions, manufactured fears and even hatred.

Let our prime minister be told in no uncertain terms that today, in this century, there is no such thing as "anak Melayu, anak Cina, anak India" in Malaysia.

What we should be having and strengthening, is “Malaysian” - Malaysians who are of Malay, Chinese and Indian descent, period.

Likewise, our expired politicians need to be warned that preaching racism and religious extremism are poisons that will also weaken our unique nation that has thrived on a stable constitutional monarchy.

To peddle for support by claiming that Malays will be overthrown; or Islam will suffer severely; or that one must vote only for a Malay-Muslim candidate, even if that political wannabe is not from one's own party to secure a place in heaven - all such nonsense is permanent destruction of true nationhood.

We’re all Malaysians

Don't anyone dare deny that on the ground we are all Malaysians. We all speak the one language, better understood by all communities - irrespective of our racial roots.

The Malay language is the lingua franca in the markets, workspace, eateries, and anywhere Malaysians meet and interact.

Those of Chinese ancestry have prudently and out of patriotic dispositions accepted and even mastered the Malay language. So too those of Indian ancestry.

In fact, those with Malay ancestry could also speak Chinese and Tamil in bygone decades.

There was unity, acceptance and patriotism rooted amongst us that made it possible to co-exist and thrive cooperatively.

Religion was always democratically welcomed, nurtured and allowed to cater for the spiritual developments of Malaysians of different faiths - all in the name of building a harmonious, resilient and respectful nation of people.

No one was denied or robbed or ridiculed of their chosen pathway to secure heaven after death.

But today, 2026, racism and religious poisons have become the deciding factor in our political engineering of nationhood.

Numerous examples in the world attest to the undisputed fact of how their country and people were burnt because of this manufactured virus. Can we not learn and be any wiser?

Ban racial politics

Hence, I am proposing that the government of the day should ban racial sentiments and religious divisiveness from the arena of politics immediately.

Any politician who harps on racial and religious rights, privileges, fears, divisiveness, suspicions or hatred should be arrested and sent to the courts to seek justice.

And if found guilty, such persons should be permanently banned from the political arena and/or sacked from holding government appointments.

Politicians should clock their political mileage based on strength of character, innovative thinking, people-centric track records, abilities to build an ever-progressive, harmonious and resilient Malaysia for Malaysians.

Please stop this racial and religious politics before the nation burns.

Hopefully, all Malaysians with wide support from all media will demand a complete political reset for the love of our nation's tomorrow.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.