'How is Najib going to convince the people of 1Malaysia when he is surrounded by people like Muhyiddin Yassin?'

Muhyiddin: I'm Malay first

Beetle: All the money spent to propagate 1Malaysia has gone down the drain. Obviously, our deputy prime minister either doesn't understand the 1Malaysian concept, or he is showing outright defiance of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

On one hand, our PM is trying very hard to sell his slogan of 1Malaysia to all Malaysians, and his deputy is screwing it up. The money spent on promoting 1Malaysia should have been given to the poor. Alas, what a waste, because now the people will never buy 1Malaysia with this ‘I'm Malay first' mentality.

How is Najib going to convince the people of 1Malaysia when he is surrounded by people like Muhyiddin?

Ferdtan: Our soldiers are now equally confused. Are we are Malay, Chinese and Indian first before Malaysian? In case of allegiance, who shall we follow before Malaysia? Indonesia? China? India? Portugal? Punjab? Muhyiddin, please clarify.

AkuMelayu: Yes, Muhyiddin, we are Malays first, and of course true Malaysians as well. How can we Malays not be Malaysians? Those who question our taat setia (loyalty) and commitment to a peaceful Malaysia are the ones whose taat setia to Malaysia can be suspected.

There is a vast difference between race and nationality. I can't understand how most people can get so confused. You can be a Malay, Chinese, Indian or whatever. As long as you are a citizen of this country, you are a Malaysian.

I am Malay, proud to be one, and I'm a true Malaysian. I would be happy to hear Lim Kit Siang say that he is a Chinese and a Malaysian too.

OMG: After 53 years, we still can't stand united. Why can't we put our nation before race? You, our DPM, have unequivocally put race before nation. Imagine non-Malays saying that they are ‘XYZ' first, and then only Malaysians.

Should we all go back from where we came from and let you wallow in your servitude to your race?

You are not fit to be a leader of this country if you cannot put this country first. Putting your race first is not necessarily in the best interests of this country. The future of this country, its peace and its prosperity lies in its inclusiveness and every Malaysian working together.

We are no longer a rich nation. We have to work hard and to work together to get out of the hole we are in. Take off the blinkers. We are all Malaysians and we are all human, period.

Arul Inthirarajah: So does being a Malay first and a Malaysian second mean that Muhyiddin would prioritise the needs of a Malay from Indonesia or the Phillippines ahead of those of a Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indian or Orang Asli ( bumiputra tulin )?

Helen Ang: (1) If Muhyiddin had said something like "I'm Muslim first, not Malaysian first", would all you people still jump on him? (2) If your son or daughter, nephew or niece asked whether he/she should emigrate if presented the opportunity of citizenship in the US, UK or Oz, what would you advise?

Gk: What is the use of proclaiming yourself 'Aku Melayu' if you are not like Zaid Ibrahim, Haris Ibrahim, Mariam Mokhtar, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Nizar Jamaluddin, Anwar Ibrahim, Khalid Samad, Khalid Ibrahim, but choose to be like ‘Malay first, Malaysian second' Muhyiddin Yassin?

Muhyiddin maybe honest to say he is Malay first, Malaysian second. This is a reflection of how he regards himself as well as his members in Umno and cousins in Perkasa.

Ahmad Iqhbal: I always thought Malaysia is a ‘melting pot' of race and culture, so how long before the people of Malaysia are simply Malaysian? Why do we need these extra labels?

SRR: It seems Muhyiddin didn't understand the question. He said, "How can I say I'm Malaysian first and Malay second? All the Malays will shun me... and it's not proper."

This shows he is more concerned with what his race thinks of him than what is right. By right, he should have said, "I am a Malaysian and only Malaysian. Being a Malay is only a product of evolution. It doesn't really count. There is only one race, and that is the human race."

I would have had more respect and honour for him, or anybody else for that matter, who can think and say that.

Kgen: This is why the government must change. The nation will never progress with this sort of mentality. Anwar Ibrahim is the first Malay leader who dares to campaign on a platform of national inclusiveness instead of Malay racism. All Umno leaders have pandered to race for their political advancement. The Malays have not shunned Anwar.

Those who are ‘race first and Malaysian second' should ask themselves why. There are huge advantages in nation building to put citizenship ahead of race but nothing useful that I can think of to pander to base emotional instincts of race.

Eugene : Had Umno/BN practised meritocracy over ethnicity, we would have the best people running the country, we would have been a much more developed country, our judiciary would not be a joke, the police would be impartial, every Malaysian would benefit from the progress we've made as a nation.

Instead, where has the riches that Malaysia has gone but to enrich Umno, all in the name of ethnicity. If this continues, in the end, it will not only ruin just one particular race but all Malaysians will have to suffer together.

Ck: No wonder we are facing so much racial problems. I believe we must identify ourselves as Malaysians first. When we visit another country, we always call ourselves Malaysians.

If the deputy premier thinks himself first as a Malay, he is distancing himself from other races.

DC: Those who lag behind in socio-economic development over the last 29 years of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's governance, should be given priority and an opportunity to voice their grievances above the political desire of BN or Pakatan.

This means our first preference as Malaysian should be directed at finding some mechanism to balance the imbalance of the poor and poverty-stricken Malays and non-Malays. The elite Malays as well as the elite non-Malays are equally at fault for the regression of the nation.

Satinah Osman: Someone should point out to the DPM that there is no such thing as ‘Malay'. Everybody's a 'pendatang' from the archipelago or Southeast Asia or some other part of the world. The word ‘Malay' is used to conveniently protect the ‘mamak' elite, who now pull the strings of the government.

Surely educated men like the DPM read history and the course of events in this part of the world over the last 2,000 years. Or else someone should educate him on that.

Does he know that the poorer Malays - so to speak - are still scouring the gutters for a living whilst the elites become billionaires?

Eugene : What's the point of having multiple racial parties under one roof if each racial party sit in their own corners, and only interested in the affairs of their own race? Is that the kind of 1Malaysia our DPM claims to be? Then 1Malaysia is no different from the previous racial practices.

Hamisu: If I introduce myself to people of other countries as Chinese first, Malaysian second, I might as well just stop being a Malaysian as it does not mean something I can be proud of.

We are all Malaysians first, toiling for our country. Being Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, etc, should be a sub-set of being Malaysian. This subset should reflect cultural values, instead of state-approved racism.

Tkc: Lim Kit Siang is in top form. He has trapped the DPM into a Catch-22 corner. The negative impact of our next premier saying that he is not ‘Malaysian first' is huge. That's what you deserved for playing racial politics.