Malaysian first, please

THE 14th General Election taught us many useful lessons, some painful too, especially for the political parties.
The parties need to take stock. Time has come to rethink the stand of all political parties.
The colonial masters practised the principle of "divide and rule" during their rule.
Of course, this rule is now outdated, yet a few political parties still adhere to this outmoded principle.
We see parties that are only open to a certain race and in that way they are only championing one race.
This trend does not augur well for our nation which is multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious, and multilingual.
Today, we need political parties that speak for the rakyat, be it Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, Eurasian, or even Punjabi.
As, all of them belong to this nation of ours, it is important the political parties speak for all of them.
Although we are divided by ethnicity, language, religion, and culture, all us belong to the family of one nation, Malaysia.
We are Malaysians first, then comes our ethnicity.
Look at the Americans, they constitute a population from different ethnic groups, but they are proud to call themselves Americans.
Likewise, we should forget our ethnicity and feel honoured of being a Malaysian first, as aptly said by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng at a press conference.
We want this noble concept "I am a Malaysian first, then my ethnicity" to be practised by all Malaysians, be it young or old.
Of course, this will not be easy. We have to cross the ethnicity loop which divides us.
We need to accept wholeheartedly the concept of a Malaysian, a patriotic feeling or a sense of togetherness among the peoples of Malaysia.
Let our future generations be known as Malaysian and not by ethnicity, please.
Dr S. Nathesan
Muar