Former Umno minister Rafidah Aziz urged the rakyat to identify themselves as 'Malaysian first', rather than see themselves by their ethnicity.

She particularly said Malays must stop addressing themselves as Malay first, in the context of better nation building.

"I am proud to be a Malay. But I am a Malaysian first. Why do I say that? Is there a Malay country in the world?" asked the AirAsia X chairperson.

"Why not project your Malaysianness? So, begin to do that.

"I know, politically, some people don't want to. They (prefer to) say, 'I am a Malay first'," she said.

However, she pointed out to this particular group, the term 'Tanah Melayu' no longer exists with the formation of Malaysia, which saw both Sabah and Sarawak become members.

" Tanah Melayu is no more, it is Malaysia now," she said.

"So, let's be Malaysian first, but be proud to be a successful Malay, Chinese, Iban... Be proud, as this is your heritage." said Rafidah, who is popularly known as Malaysia's 'Iron Lady'.

The rakyat should be more proud especially of their country, she added.

Rafidah, who was a former University Malaya student and lecturer, was addressing a public lecture titled 'The role of education in the development of youth towards nation-building' at her alma mater.

Being Malay is part of DNA

Speaking to reporters later, she elaborated that being Malaysian first would not make someone less Malay, as this is the DNA that nobody can take away.

"Nobody can take away your Malay-ness. I will kill anybody who says I am not (a Malay)," she said, in her usual candid manner.

She also denied that BN and its race-based politics is responsible for racial tensions.

"That had nothing to do with BN. We were very happy, the leaders were good friends to each other," she said.

"It is when the people down there with their own political purpose, started to stirring racial issues," she criticised.

"Why, just because you want to champion something that can get you votes," she asked.

The world could not care less if Malaysia is embroiled in racial sentiments, thus, the country should stop all this nonsense, she said.

Earlier in the public lecture, she urged Malaysians to "accept" each other instead of just "tolerating" each other.

"In your marriage, if you (only) 'tolerate' each others' nonsense, you won't tolerate any more when a spring chicken comes your way," she said.

It was this notion of tolerance that led to red-shirt rally planned to counter a yellow shirt rally, she said.

"Very soon, we will have green-shirt against purple-shirt," she said, drew laughter from the crowd.

"We don't know if some crazy idiot will come out with purple-shirt. I don't know what they are want to stand for," she said.

Instead, she said, people can choose to “accept” differences as the norm in the same way married couples accept the strange behaviours of their spouses.

You don't have to hug the difference, you just accept this as the norm," she said, sharing her view of how Malaysians should treat each other.

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