I refer to the letter by SB MJun entitled Dominant majority will flavour a society . Although I understand that the majority can influence the rest, they shouldn't impose their values on the minority.

Firstly, minority ethnic groups make up almost 40 percent of the population in Malaysia. At Independence, they were more than 50 percent. But what is more important than the numbers are the benefits of multiculturalism to our country.

I'm not sure if SB MJun will agree with me if I say that it is unnecessary for a person to be born Indian to be Indian, Chinese to be Chinese or Malay to be Malay. After all, our ethnic identity can be socially constructed. Most of the time, ethnicity is not biological. It is cultural and political.

A person can also have different identities at the same time. A person can be 'politically integrated' with his country of birth without sacrificing his own mother-tongue, culture and religion. That's the beauty of multiculturalism, and this is what makes Malaysia unique. We stand out from our neighbours such as Thailand and Indonesia because of this.

But while we did not become less integrated because of multiculturalism, we are less integrated due to racial politics, divisive policies and false insecurities which reinforce our cultural differences instead of highlighting our shared values. We are also less integrated due to lack of understanding and the aspiration of certain groups to dominate the others.

To answer MJun's first and second questions, most Chinese Malaysians are proud to distinguish ourselves as 'huaren' as opposed to 'zhongguoren'. Although we see the Chinese culture as a definitive part of our ethnic identity, we identify politically with Malaysia.

To be integrated, our cultural identity need not be the same as the dominant group. We only need to be politically accepted as equal with the other communities sharing the country.

We are proud to be Malaysians but we want to maintain our culture because it is gives us moral strength and defines us as a unique Malaysian community. Not because it identifies us with China.

As for Thailand and Indonesia, these countries forced the assimilation of their local ethnic Chinese population many years ago. Forced assimilation is not a fool-proof method of integrating society.

In the case of Thailand, integration was easier because it was predominantly Buddhist. Can assimilation work in a country where there is also religious consideration? Look at what happened to so-called assimilated Chinese in Indonesia. Despite their so-called assimilation, were they spared from discrimination?

As for Chinese Malaysians, we are the envy of others. We not only preserved our culture and culture, we also grew up eating nasi lemak, laksa, chappati, and drinking teh tarik. When we are overseas, we think of our sunny 'jiaxiang' (hometown) back in Malaysia, not China. That's the difference!

And if our identities are socially constructed, then we need to protect our language to preserve our unique cultural identity. Viewed in this vein, it is not hard then to understand why Chinese Malaysians are proud of their vernacular education system.

With Chinese culture and language as seeds, the Malaysian Chinese education system was planted, took root, and grew in Malaysia. Nurtured on Malaysian soil under the Malaysian sun, it is 100 percent Malaysian. Except for language and some traditions, how could it be the same as those in China or Taiwan?

It is a case of 'serupa, tapi tak sama'.

Besides this, Malaysian Chinese education is open to all Malaysians. One is free to subscribe to Chinese culture while remaining a devout Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or Hindu. All that is needed is an appreciation for other cultures.

Chinese educationists are often labelled as uncompromising chauvinists, yet they are only preserving a part of Malaysia as they see it. What is more disheartening is the parochial belief of some Malaysians who still think integration can only occur if the people share one language, one culture or one religion. This is the real barrier to integration, not cultural diversity.