COMMENT | "For example, the Chinese eat with chopsticks, they don't eat with their hands. They have not adopted the Malaysian way of eating food. They retained the chopstick which is an identity with China, not with Malaysia, and many other things."

Former prime minister (twice) Dr Mahathir Mohamad was reported to have said the above during a dialogue session at the launch of his new memoir 'Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia'.

According to reports, he was giving an example of the so-called ‘challenges’ of assimilation in Malaysia and used the 'chopstick' to illustrate his point.

His take was met with immediate criticism, and rightfully so. Nearly 65 years since Malaya’s independence and 58 years since Malaysia’s formation, and yet an experienced politician like Mahathir can still question the ‘Malaysian-ness’ of Malaysian Chinese.

Even the basic premise of Mahathir’s argument...