My family hails from Sungai Petani, Kedah, although we are originally of the traditional and cultural faith of the Malayalee Mar Thomites of India.

My father, now 87, was a founder and veteran member of the Kedah MIC. This was in the days when current leaders S Samy Vellu, G Palanivel and V Saravanan were only students.

My parents\’ roots lie in Kerala, on the southwest coast of India. The state is also home to Malabari Muslims and Malayalee Hindus. I understand that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad\’s father was a Malabari Muslim.

This article is dedicated to four people who have made news in the recent past, to remind them of premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi\’s (Pak Lah\’s) wish that the Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties Umno, MIC and MCA should transcend traditional race politics to realise the 9th Malaysia Plan.

I cannot agree more, having been an early and ardent follower of the Bangsa Malaysia agenda, the single biggest goal of Vision 2020.

But my question is whether we have perfect vision of race-based politics in Malaysia. This applies to all in politics, whether senior civil servants, newspaper editors or political leaders.

Allow me to state three challenges and issues that the Vision 2020 statement may have overlooked. In doing so, I dedicate this column to four people who have begun to make a contribution to this nation, which I would like to recognise.

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They are newly-elected Wanita MIC head Komala Devi; Thomas George, the new secretary general of the human resources ministry; just-elected MIC deputy president Palanivel ( photo ); and New Straits Times Press Bhd deputy chairperson Kalimullah Hassan.

Komala is also parliamentary secretary to the education ministry; Thomas was just appointed the policy advisor to Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn; and Kalimullah has written his final newspaper column and is setting up an educational foundation for deserving Malaysians.

I wish them well but wish to state three challenges they will face in pursuing Pak Lah\’s wish for a Bangsa Malaysia.

\’Be colour-blind\’

The first challenge is that of genuinely transcending the race factor or bangsa , as we understand it in colloquial terms. Actually \’race\’ is an ethnic category based on roots and culture. Although most Malaysians in MIC are called \’Indians\’, they are not.

Indian is not a race based category found even in India – it refers to nationality. The only \’Indian race\’ is the Native American community.

Therefore, people like me or Thomas, while Christians of the Mar Thomas heritage, are not Tamils – the majority race-group within MIC.

Consequently, for Thomas to hold such a high rank in public service, he has to truly transcend the race factor of being a non-Tamil. By the way, he is the first Malayalee Christian to have attained this rank.

I know of one other who was considered about seven years ago but was rejected for being a non-Tamil and being a Christian. Such kulitfication is still a factor in public service appointments. One other made it to being appointed a judge more than 10 years ago, entirely based on his professional capability.

My request to the three in national politics is that they become colour-blind in carrying out their new responsibilities. Only then can we strive for a Bangsa Malaysia.

A word of caution and a reminder for Palanivel: MIC founder John Thivy was not only a Malayalee but also a Christian at that, so why the current discrimination against Malayalee Christians within MIC?

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The second challenge is our understanding of Bangsa Malaysia, which was not clearly defined by either Mahathir or the late Dr Nordin Sopiee, the joint authors of the Vision 2020 document.

If the United Nations is translated as Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu – and that was before Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka became prominent – why is today\’s concept of bangsa not a national concept as in the US but merely a racial concept?

My wife is an American of 100 percent German origin but is never deemed to be a German in the US. She is American and extremely proud of it, as are my part-American children. But in Malaysia, I am considered an Indian although I am not one! My children\’s identity cards all state that they are Malayalees – children who follow the father\’s race.

So, Palanivel, in anticipation of Samy Vellu leaving the party \”soon\”, my question to you and vice-president S Sothinathan is: when will MIC become a truly national party instead of keeping its focus on state-based loyalties and parochialism?

Developing a worldview

The third challenge involves the issue of worldviews. A worldview is an over-arching framework that brings unity to one\’s life and forms the basis of one\’s actions.

How are we going to develop a Malaysian worldview for life and living, so that my children who are part Malayalee and part German (as rojak as they can come) can be as proud of their Malaysian heritage as they are of their American heritage?

I am thoroughly confused as to who is defining this national agenda. Today, senior civil servants can redefine public service rules based on religion; a mufti can declare Kongsi Raya to be haram and a party like PAS publicly calls for violence in its ignorance of the rule of law.

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Movies like Sepet that are very reflective of real and true Malaysian culture are defined as \”unsuitable\” by the Umno-led government, without getting the views of component parties.

Who really is defining the nation\’s Malay-Muslim agenda if not Umno? The ghost of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim? Surely, it must be convenient to blame him for one more ailment within Umno.

What is the meaning of being a BN component party if the so-called coalition that framed the Federal Constitution cannot defend the rights protected by the original social contract? Come on BN, it is time to take stock. Pak Lah means well but he seems to be losing control of the National Agenda.

This is my plea to Kalimullah: in your role as the \’force\’ behind a renewed mainstream English newspaper, please recapture the real spirit of Bangsa Malaysia before it is too late.

Let me give one last example to make my case. The English word \’virtual\’ has been translated into maya in Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia, when it means \’illusion\’ in Sanskrit.

\’Virtual\’ is real and a physical property quite visible via the instruments of scientific empirical investigation. How can we teach entire generations of Malaysians that \’virtual reality\’ is an illusion and that Bangsa Malaysia is only deeply related to a Bangsa Melayu?

My retort is that the first five letters of \’Malaysia\’ already define the \’Malay nature of Malaysia\’, so we do not need to enforce it in any other artificially constructed way.

We are all proud to be multi-cultural, multi-racial multi-religious Malaysians. One hundred Kongsi Raya celebrations surely cannot erode our faith-based beliefs. Or, am I speaking in a different tongue or in a different language?