COMMENT | After 63 years of pretending to be a multicultural nation, most of us live a life of denial. Few non-Malays have Malay friends, and vice-versa, but our politicians hold open houses during festivals, and proudly claim that we are a well-integrated nation.

The politicians are wrong. It's not about racial harmony because Malaysians just want a free makan and to recoup a little of their taxes.

Six decades after Merdeka, we are still not united. Our Malay leaders think in terms of "Malay first, minorities second" and squander our riches.

Singapore, with no natural resources, is now a world leader. Some people will argue that Singapore's success is because it is small and easier to manage. These cynics fail to explain how the People's Republic of China (PRC) managed to achieve massive social and economic reconstruction within a few decades.

Today, we are still scrabbling around in the kampung dirt, content with life under a tempurung.

The PRC has just landed a probe on the moon to collect lunar rocks, dust, and gather data. Our recollection of the Malaysian space venture was the roti canai tossing experiment, which the Russians thankfully banned. The flying greasy dough could have landed on sensitive equipment and sent the cosmonauts hurtling towards Uranus...