I VISITED my Barber ‘Chico’ (who is around 34 years of age) for my monthly haircut at the Summit recently.

We started talking about the recent general election and since both of us are Perakians, we discussed on the appointment of the new Mentri Besar who happens to be a PAS assemblyman (Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin).

Being more elderly than Chico by two decades, I started by criticising the appointment. “How can we have an MB in Perak who belongs to PAS. It should never happen. I believe the Perakians would prefer at least a candidate from PKR than from PAS!”

Chico looked at me with a smile and said: “Liu, I think you are not reading it correctly. The Perakians voted for Opposition; for all Malaysians not because the candidate is Malay, Chinese or Indian.

“We talk about meritocracy and this is a clear example where the Chinese in Perak can accept a PAS Mentri Besar who is well-educated and able to manage the state affairs. The Sultan of Perak is fair in making the decision.”

I was left tongue-tied. He was right. Being of the older generation, I was slow to grasp that Malaysians are getting more intellectual and non-racial.

It was a simple lesson taught to me but I was also happy that there is chance that we can get rid of all the malaise relating to race issues and for once we can call ourselves true Malaysians.

K.W. LIU, Puchong.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008