COMMENT | Let me begin by sharing what I’ve read somewhere with those holier-than-thou ministers and other bigots and extremists lurking in the corridors of power: “Malaysia is the only country in the world that has a budget allocation for race and religion and paid for by people of other races and religions”.

I would really want to know whether their conscience is pricked if they believe the above statement is valid and correct.

If not, I have nothing else to say except to accept that as something resembling a fact of life which I could do nothing about but to take it in, even if grudgingly.

We have heard and seen too much nonsense of the race and religious kind in the country. At times, I really feel like sending an urgent note to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and asking him what his much-touted ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ is really about when we, as a nation, allow race and religion to be so divisive. There is no Malaysian family, not even a semblance of it. Let’s stop living a lie!

It seems that every cultural or religious festival and celebration of the nons are heavily scrutinised, and very sadly...