Malaysia: Racist Attack on Eve of Independence Day · Global Voices
Jerrenn Lam

In 2009 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had come up with the 1Malaysia unity concept, which was popularized by the media.
Blogger OutSyed The Box highlighted a news report that explains the 1Malaysia concept:
KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) — Malaysians should discard their  ‘ethnic silo’ mentality, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.The Prime  Minister said Malaysians must “stand together, think and act as one  people under the ‘1Malaysia concept’.”
“Lets break away from  operating in the ethnic prism as we have done over so many years. This  is also the meaning of the ‘1Malaysia’ concept.
“We must  respect each other, go beyond tolerance and build trust among each other  and build trust between various ethnic groups,” he told a press  conference here, Wednesday.
However, since the introduction of this concept, it has been criticised by many who believe that racial tension still exist in the country. Blogger Calvin Chew had told the story of another blogger:
I’ve heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don’t need to be told to be united. We’ve come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united.
Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders.
Yet, on the 30th of August, 2010, on the eve of Malaysia's Independence Day, this view was further strengthened when a story surfaced on social networking site Facebook about an alleged racist attack by several teenagers:
As we walked past them, suddenly one of them turned around and  started to make a flying kick (sic) to my friend. Noticing the ‘fun’ he is  having, his other friends started to do the same to me. It was so sudden  and all I was thinking at the moment was, “What the hell did we do to  them?”
Both of us ended up kneeling on the ground for a  moment before more kicks and punches came flying in. Even though both of  us had our tripod strapped across our shoulder, we were too shocked to  react to it. Eventually one punch landed right on my right forehead and I  started to bleed profusely. Seeing that they eventually stopped and  walked away.WALKED AWAY, damn it. They were not even afraid to run but  just WALKED AWAY like winning a game or something.The last thing I remember hearing from one of them was “Baliklah ke negara asal” (Return to your home country in Malay).
While it seems that the 1Malaysia concept is not making much progress, blogger Khoo Kay Peng weighed in on the issue:
What is lacking is the political will to implement the real spirit of  1Malaysia e.g. offering equality, sense of belonging, fairness,  socio-economic justice and mutual respect to all Malaysians regardless  of race or creed.
For the concept to be successful, the BN  (Barisan Nasional) government must not continue to play its race supremacy game. If a  particular race is seen as more supreme or privileged than others, the  concept of 1Malaysia will remain a mere concept without a soul.