Last week the headlines in almost all the newspapers read, 'Give a heart!'. Just about everyone understood that the need was for a heart donor for teenager Tee Hui Yi, who has been surviving on a mechanical heart.

Education Minister Hishamuddin Hussein was quoted as saying: "Sometimes, we look at every issue from the perspective of race and religion. But when it comes to life and death, when there is a child on the operating table, it doesn't matter whether it is a Muslim heart or not."

The Sun in an editorial headlined 'Politicians should stop appealing to religion and race', concluded: "Maybe it is time politicians start thinking seriously and honestly about abandoning communal politics in the interest of a united and prosperous Malaysian nation. If the country's politicians are able to do this, some day Malaysia would be even a greater success story."

I concur.