By Fairuz Azhan

 My heart is overwhelmed with sadness as lately it seems that everything is spun to be a racial issue.

I had thought that only Barisan Nasional and UMNO does the same spin-off when they are caught enriching cronies or nepotism. But right now it seems that their tactic of using race to divide and rule society has spilled over to the public.

Instead of being an issue of bad management and poor customer service, the recent KFC incident has now been spun into a racial one. Here’s what people analyze from it: a Chinese man who was angry for being made to wait an hour got assaulted by a Malay KFC employee. When people take sides based on ethnicity, all logic is thrown out the window.

Further stretching the issue is when a concerned Member of Parliament (MP) held a press conference for the victim of assault from an employee of a huge multinational corporation, people perceived it as an a Chinese MP from DAP protecting a fellow Chinese, at the expense of the Malay boy.

What the hell has happened to my country?

Let’s assume for a second that the people involved were colourless. Look at the facts. First of all, shouldn’t KFC have handled the situation better? Secondly, no matter how tense a situation may be, when is it ok to assault a customer? Thirdly, the act of a Member of Parliament helping out a victim of brutality should be applauded instead of condemned.

To those who don’t know Lim Lip Eng (MP for Segambut), he is a hardworking representative of the people. He is always busy on the ground and champions the people’s causes. If you tweet him on twitter you will always get a response. If you ask for his help, he will help. Not brush you away as if you were insignificant. If my MP would help me when I was assaulted, I`d be very thankful.

If the victim was a Malay, I’m sure Lim would have also offered help with the same level of commitment. Unfortunately, much fuss was created out of the fact that the victim was Chinese.

This was a plain and simple case of assault and violence upon a disgruntled customer. Race had nothing to do with it.

This poison of making everything a racial issue is thanks to the indoctrination of Barisan Nasional. We can never move forward and look past race. As long as UMNO/BN is in power, the utopia that we dream of where mankind can live side by side, free of prejudice and racism can never be achieved. It is their incentive for people to be prejudicial and racist to each other. Without playing the race card, UMNO/BN would no longer be relevant.

This poison has even spread to Pakatan Rakyat. When Malays like me join DAP, some people don`t see me as a Malaysian. They see Malays like me as ‘trojan-horses’, ‘opportunists’ just because I am of Malay descent.

These prejudicial views based on skin colour or ethnicity have no place in DAP or in the landscape of Malaysian politics. Racism and prejudice may come from Barisan Nasional, but let us fight the dream of a Malaysian Malaysia.

No religion in the world promotes racism and mankind should be united as one. Even though BN has promoted hatred, racism and prejudice for the past 54 years, we should refuse to fall into the evil trap. Even though we ourselves are treated with prejudice, we must never be prejudicial towards others.

The time has come, the dawn is near. The winds of change are guiding us towards the horizon of a new future for Malaysia. A future of tolerance, moderation, and freedom from racism. We may have been affected by such racism due to BN in the past, but will never allow our children to live in such a poisonous environment anymore.

Ayuh, Ubah demi Malaysia! -The Rocket