COMMENT | Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has wisely declared that “academics can talk about the 3Rs but not incite hate” [PM: Academics can talk about 3R but not incite hate, Sept 21].

After more than six decades of scholarly reflection upon these matters so central to Malaysian statehood and national identity, I have reached my own conclusions.

I offer this brief analysis to honour the memory of a great Malaysian, Prof Syed Husin Ali, whose acquaintance I first made in London, at the London School of Economics and Political Science, in 1966.

In short, I have concluded that there are not three but five key “Rs”...