My 3G perspective argues that truth requires the acknowledgment of three realities which is the sum total of human experience on earth – 1G is our parents’ generation; 2G is our own experience and 3G is our children’s generation.

All three experiences explain and inform truth about anything that matters. Truth that matters cannot be ignored except by the ignorant or those with ‘ignosis’.

All 3G Malaysians are trained to become global citizens of McLuhan’s Global Village; they often have a choice of their country of residence and the country they will finally choose to call home. But, this is conditional on them speaking English, the new language of science and technology.

They are often called the Millennium generation – i.e. those born in the 1980s and those who can interact with the rest of the Global Village with ease in English. Their defining characteristics are that they are well educated, technologically savvy, multi-talented and very connected to the Net and all the core values and benefits of such modern multimedia technology. Theirs is always going to be a citizenship of choice and never of compulsion.

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But my rational mind has questions: what about the Orang Asal and Orang Asli, the natives of Malaya even before the coming of the Dutch, Portuguese and British?

How are they going to survive in English? What are their real choices in the 21st century? How does modern governance affect them and serve their basic interests? How does Article 153 protect their rights and privileges of national citizenship? How can the Council of Rulers protect and preserve their rights and privileges, which appear to have been ignored to date?

Are the people of Sibu any different these Malayans? Why are they not covered by Article 153 from the time they became Malaysians on Sept 16, 1963? Are they really any different from the Orang Asli in terms of citizenship rights or the so-called Malays of Peninsular Malaya? Are they not also pure breed Sarawakians who are part and parcel of the original framing of Malaysia in 1963? If not, why not?

The ghost of May 13th is the ketuanan Melayu mindset and agenda that the likes of Ibrahim Ali want to propagate beyond today. That agenda was concocted by the-then Malay political elite including the public service elite, after the Harun Idris face-off with Tunku Abdul Rahman and the subsequent ethnic strife concocted by political elite for their own purposes.

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I believe the root of such a mindset was born in Selangor in 1969, post-May 13. The MCA, MIC and Gerakan leaders merely colluded to also take this trip to Abilene with Umno, as Professor Jerry Harvey would say.  

The Biro Tatanegara started as a specific vehicle for multi-ethnic relations in the Youth Ministry, much like the RMC; but over time and after 1981, with Pak Lah becoming the Minister in the PM’s Department, its agenda was hijacked to become the ketuanan Melayu agenda.

That, to me is the whole truth about this matter. I started temporary work in June 1972 with Abdullah Malim Baginda in Selangor as a youth affairs assistant officer in the state youth office at RM5 per day as salary.

Dear Malaysians, are we not all different ethnicities, colours, shades and shapes of only one single Malaysian nation? Can we not truly and really celebrate such diversity?  

Over more than five years, I have chosen to write weekly in Malaysiakini as a First Class Citizen; exactly like the people of Sibu who have dared to speak the truth without fear or favour.  I am proud of them for voicing their choice. I will always be proud of the late Tan Chee Khoon as a political leader who is my hero – he spoke and wrote without fear or favour.

Eradicate ethnic hatred

I want to end this series in my column with a final notice and a warning to Najib and his cabinet: that May 13th in all its permutations and combinations or camouflage must be destroyed as something totally evil in our governance system. Feeding or fueling it is exactly the same as breeding cancer in one’s body.  

I move that all Anak Bangsa Malaysia citizens should stand up Against Bribery and Corruption (what I call the ABC movement) in all its ugly forms. Ethnic hatred and arrogance is corruption of God’s decree in the most basic and inhuman form.

I also humbly request the cabinet to seriously consider a Truth and Reconciliation agenda in Malaysia. If the government does not consciously ban all forms of evident ethnic hatred and victimisation vide specific laws, we the people have to start a multi-ethnic movement against all forms of untruth, corruption, greed, communality and religious extremism. We might need to become the third force of influence.

My prayer and hope is that such a movement will be supported and nurtured by simple and ordinary people who form the silent majority in Malaysia. For example, there are about 3 million Christians in Malaysia. The church in Malaysia can be mobilised for such positive change, as were the people of Sibu.

We can be mobilised for the cause of ABC because we will never get too involved in partisan politics. Surely we can be mobilised for any other good cause, as Martin Luther King Jr was able to do. I am convinced that all people of good will and simple faith are willing to be mobilised for the same cause.

\"NONE\"Dear members of cabinet, please learn to hear the voice of the people. The people of Sibu have spoken: they voiced their choice. The simple people of all faiths and persuasions in Sibu have spoken through the voice of democracy to say ‘we cannot be bought and sold like cattle; we are people with a dignity given by the Lord God Almighty’.

Please do not turn our basic rights and privileges of citizenship into special privileges accorded by the government, for which we are called to be grateful. The government’s job is to deliver good governance, and it is the job of the simple and ordinary people of Malaysia to decide whether we will give you all another chance.  

Both sides of the political discourse have until the next general election to show your true colours, and we are watching closely. Whoever cannot get on with the job of good and improved governance will be voted out.

Whether it is the PKR leadership in Selangor, or DAP leadership in Penang, or PAS leadership in Kedah, or the leadership of Sarawak, or the non-leadership in Sabah, or the Umno leadership of the federation, know that the clock is ticking towards the next general election.

We, the members of civil society, will flex our muscle to ensure that only the good, clean and trustworthy are elected. The candidates’ credibility and integrity will be the most important criteria. This is my simple promise. I have little authority or power, other than the power of the pen, but please take us the civil society activists seriously.

All political and partisan groups, please take us seriously. Enough is enough. The tsunami has come and change is inevitable – the writing is on the wall. May God continue to bless Malaysia nonetheless!