Pak Lah: Don’t Be Racial

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/2/12/nation/20300050&sec=nation
Stories by STEPHEN THEN, JACK WONG and SHARON LING
SIBU: Malaysians must not harbour racial prejudice in their hearts, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The Prime Minister said there should not be any confrontation among the races as it would jeopardise peace and stability.
“I want Malaysia to be a peaceful country. We must maintain the good reputation of our country,” he added when opening the RM7mil-SMK St Elizabeth Mill Hill Franciscan Centennial Hall at Jalan Oya yesterday.
Abdullah said Malaysians should respect and help each other to live in harmony and urged teachers to instil in their students love for the country and goodwill to one another.

Meet the people: Abdullah, together with his wife Datin Seri Jean Abdullah and chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, arriving in Bintulu to officially open the Sarawak Corridor SCORE.Regardless of race or religion, Malaysians were all comrades in nation building and bringing development to the country, he said.
On education, he gave an assurance that the Government would not forget to assist Chinese and Tamil national-type primary schools as well as mission schools.
“We will not neglect these schools and bring them into the mainstream of educational development.”
Abdullah urged students to excel in science and technology, as only then would they be able to help implement development projects and tap the country’s vast natural resources.
Citing an example, he said although oil palm and rubber were not native to Malaysia, the two commodities had brought wealth to the nation through the efforts of local researchers who come up with many value-added products.
Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud praised SMK St Elizabeth teachers for their dedication in helping to produce many top students and achieve excellent academic results for the school.
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Recently, I've been posting articles from local newspaper due to certain reasons such as the upcoming general elections. Although no one knows for sure when will it be but the majority thinks it'll definitely be soon.
Well, taking a ride on all the whoo-hah that's happening at the moment, I would also like to drop my 5 cent worth of thoughts to be shared.
Recently, I've notice that many 'goodies' are being given out to rakyat (although it's being denied, but I think the general perception is true). Suddenly, vernacular schools such as SRJK (C) and SRJK (T) are given MILLIONS and I emphasize again MILLIONS of ringgit to re-build or maintanence purposes, farmers (non-Bumi) are 'suddenly' given lease for the land they work hard upon to earn decend living..sudden care for vernacular schools is sometimes too 'over-whelming' as they are suddenly being cared. It's as if the prodigal son came back to his father after being in the wilderness for a long time.
I'm not denying the good works of our minister but then again, why the sudden care (if you get what I mean)? Those days when I was still a student in SMJK (C) Chung Ling Butterworth, which is a vernacular school, I don't remember being 'love' that much by the ruling party. Our school hall which was then being refurbish to fix on air-con was purely from the support of our local community, those who really care for students' welfare, the betterment of infra-structure.
Discussing on racial unity of current Malaysia, I wonder who are the guys and gals that make us what we are today? Disunity don't happen overnight because it's an on-going process. In fact, it's the trickling effect that pose a more dangerous situation to this beloved nation. The British use 'ala divide and conquer' but Malaysians (who are high up there) use ala NEP and May13 aftershock to make what we are today. Discrimination among races although not that obvious happens-in fact, within the majority race, discrimination exist too!! What do I mean by so, you may ask.. Well, how can you justify a rich millionaire of Bumiputera status to obtain 10% discount for property buying (unless you are saying that the 'poor' non-Bumi is still 'richer' in some way compared to the Bumi which to me is utterly nonsense); how can you justify that after 50 years of Independance, state like Kelantan is still so backward in development? (is it because it's govern by opposition?)
So far, this are a few points I would like to share for the moment. I hope I make sense in this writing and I'm open to criticism as long as it's given with sincerity.