Politicicians must never be racial.

This morning I stopped at my usual 'nasi lemak' stall to get a packet of tasty rice with its eggs, fish and prawns for my breakfast. While waiting for the lady to prepare my packet I had the opportunity of watching unity among fellow Malaysians. Besides me, there were some Malays and Indians waiting for the food. They were exchanging greetings and small talk while one elderly Malay man was serenading a little Indian girl with a Hindi song.

Now there is nothing unusual about the scene as it is common to see such happenings, except for the serenading of course, at the morning market or along grassy paths where people from all races come together to exercise. Even in the Tai Chi group can be seen some Malay members. So, basically all Malaysians are a united people.

How is it then that the news media is constantly producing views of deteriorating unity among the races? Who are the people shouting and screaming about Malays losing power? Who are those who say that the Malays will be weak and become economically backwards if another party were to take over the government? Who are those who claim that the other minority races such as the Chinese and the Indians would want to take over everything, that they are the enemy the Malays have to watch out for. Once someone even hinted at a Chinese becoming the Prime Minister to frighten his race. Such obvious untruth is being spread. Anyway, if we are matured enough, what's wrong with any Malaysian becoming the Prime Minister if all of us trust him to look into the welfare of all the people? Look West at America. Is the present President of the USA talking only about improving the lot of just one race? Are the Americans worried about that? How can the Malays be losing power when they are the majority race, when the other political group has Malay leaders as well? Yet, what is certainly nonsense does have some influence on the thoughts of certain people.

Now, all this is played out with an ulterior motive. Look at the people who voice such fears and threats to the people. Who are they? They are those who hope to achieve even greater power through their rantings. They are the politicians, the very people we hope to unite the people and take the country to greater heights. These are the people we hope to bring greater peace and prosperity. Yet, these are the people who influence those that they can so that the people remain disunited in order to gain votes. Votes is their ultimate desire!

Yes, the main objective is to get votes so that they can either achieve or stay in power. And when it comes to staying in power, a study of what has been happening in this country clearly shows that they are willing to sacrifice a lot in order to be holding on to that power.

It is indeed sad that humans are willing to stoop that low to conquer; even to the extent of causing disunity and threatening disaster. The fortunate thing is, with education and understanding more and more are becoming impervious to political nonsense and insincerity. Many can see vividly the falsehood they propagate.

Education is the way to bring citizens to the level where their minds are able to visualise clearly the difference between right and wrong, good or bad. It is the one bright hope to humanity's welfare although the state of affairs in our world indicates that we are still far from such untainted understanding.