Are you Malaysian first?

Are you Malaysian first?
By Lintang Bob Yong
Our Deputy Prime Minister thinks otherwise. In his recent statement he believes he is Malay first and Malaysian second. Since then, a lot of troubled water has passed under the bridge. This simple straight forward question has now turned into a political issue, debated intensively from coffee shops to the House of Parliament.
Forget about what the politicians are saying and if you were asked this question, would you have difficulty in answering it? Someone shouted, “no problem, I am Malaysian first. If you don’t believe me, here is MyCard. Isn’t it clearly stated that I am a Malaysian? I am definitely Malaysian first, he proudly declared. I will not want my nationality to be treated as second class. I am loyal to the king and I would die for my country”. He went on and on and on......
My wife and I were in United Kingdom. Someone wanted to know whether we were from China. I could understand why he asked because we look Chinese and we converse in Cantonese dialect with each other. Though we are the descendants of the Chinese, people in China often referred us as Malaysians and they could not fully understand our Cantonese. In case you don’t know, the Cantonese that we speak in our country is punctuated half in Malay vocabulary and the other half in Cantonese.
I was born in Kuala Lumpur and became a citizen of this country well before Malaya got its independence from the British. I have contributed economically and my parents too, with blood, sweat and tears to help made Malaysia what it is today. For all intent and purposes, I am the legitimate son of my country. I am a Malaysian.
In our country, there is a tendency to mix up the race, religion and customs with nationality. While we cannot change our race and our colour, we strive to become useful citizen and will loyally serve our country. We are proud to call ourselves Malaysians where ever we go and are prepared to defend and die for our country without hesitation.
Every Malaysian should have the same rights and equal opportunities afforded to them, regardless of their ethnicity. Is this not what we understand of the 1Malaysia concept, initiated by our Prime Minister? If not, how are we to unite our citizens to become one people and one nation? Do we need to fight among ourselves to achieve the obvious?
I am Malaysian first. Period.