DR Chandra Muzaffar in his letter “Too sweeping a comparison” (NST, Nov 11) made several sweeping statements.

He says that “most Chinese and Indian Malaysians are non-Muslims and have no affiliation whatsoever to Islam”.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of worship for all races. There is no compulsion for non-Muslims to affiliate themselves to Islam.

Every citizen recognises that Islam is the official religion. In fact, Malaysians partake in Muslim festivities and celebrate with Muslims.

He added: “The Malay language is not their mother tongue… Overwhelming majority of the Chinese community… remains deeply attached to its mother tongue. More than 90 per cent of Chinese parents send their children to Chinese primary schools.”

How did Chandra come up with such a statement?

No, Malay is not the mother tongue of non-Malays but because of the education policy of the government, all Ma-laysians speak and write Bahasa Malaysia, some more fluently than others.

Please realise that not all Britons speak and write English fluently.

Bahasa Malaysia has been a unifying force for Malaysians. It is common to see non-Malays speaking to each other in Malay.

It may surprise Chandra that many Chinese students do well in Bahasa Malaysia in government examinations. This is Malaysia and Bahasa Malaysia is the language we have to know.

In fact, all Malaysians embrace Malay as the common language of communication. What is so wrong if non-Malays speak in their mother tongue, too?

The Kenyans speak Swahili, the Japanese and Koreans speak their mother tongue wherever they live.

Wanting to preserve one’s culture and mother tongue is natural.

My Malay friends insist that their children speak and learn Malay when they live and work overseas.

Where did Chandra get the idea that 90 per cent of Chinese send their children to Chinese primary schools?

If you look just at the number of students studying in government schools, a good number are Chinese, Indians and other non-Malays.

Most of us are products of government schools, as are my children, and we are proud of it.

C.Y.F., Petaling jaya

Source: NST – November 14, 2008