One Malaysia or two Malaysia's? - Anil Netto

Do we really have OneMalaysia or “two Malaysia’s” – one for the rich and the other for the lower-income group. Here’s something I wrote for Aliran:

The Najib administration has touted its One Malaysia slogan in the weeks leading up to the Merdeka and Malaysia Day celebrations.

Certainly, the objectives of One Malaysia are noble enough. After all, who – except for a small minority bent on promoting racial and religious discord – wouldn’t want national unity? This is not to say that an imposed uniformity – rather than a healthy plurality is a good thing. But most of us can agree that overcoming barriers and promoting better understanding would be positive.

But in reality, One Malaysia is going to be be hard to achieve especially when in quite a few spheres we have two or more Malaysia’s in practice. (And I am not even talking about the entrenched bumiputera – non-bumiputera dichotomy here.) Full article here.