And the award for best actor goes to…

I had an upset stomach yesterday and almost vomited out of pure disgust.

This followed a news report I read from an online media about the incident during the Nothing To Hide 2.0 forum in Shah Alam yesterday, where slippers were thrown at former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, before chaos took over.

According to the article, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman went all teary and super emotional upon telling reporters how a Chinese DAP worker protected a group of Malays from getting hurt by using his own body as a shield.

“You say there is racism… but…” said Syed Saddiq, very much in his character, almost as good as Shah Rukh Khan.

First of all, let me just say how sickening it is for a representative of a party that was formed along the lines of Umno, featuring ex-members of Umno, to have the nerve to even talk about racism when non-bumiputera members of the party are denied the rights to vote and contest for party positions.

I get it. The representatives of Bersatu and its supporters are under the opinion that the party has to remain pro-Malay in order to gain the support of the Malays who are, sad to say, very communal.

But if right is right and wrong is wrong, why do we take the wrong path to achieve what is right?

Racism is wrong.

The truth is, in my honest opinion, the 14th general election (GE14) should not be entirely about flushing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak out. It should instead be about carving the path towards a better Malaysia.

Seriously, do we think everything would be rosy once Najib is gone? How about racism, religious bigotry and extremism, which have crept so deep into our society?

There are greater things happening in the streets of Malaysia than corruption, power abuse and the economic downfall.

I have Malay neighbours who do not allow their children to swim in the same pool as Chinese children. I know of a Sikh boy who had no one turning up for his birthday party because someone from school said his house was non-halal.

I have Indian friends who are unable to rent a house in a Chinese neighbourhood. I have non-Muslim friends who talk about freedom and human rights but ridicule those in niqab and burqa. I have Muslim friends who have no qualms about the traffic jams on Fridays but grumble when getting stuck every Thaipusam.

We are structurally fragile as a nation

Of course it is easier to blame Najib for all the flaws we encounter daily in our personal life as well as those we read of others on the media. But the truth remains that we are structurally fragile as a nation, with or without Najib.

Appearing to fight racism only to support it in disguise is clearly not how we strengthen our nation, nor is it the right way to build a better Malaysia.

Think about it, if only the incident during the forum involved a Malay security worker instead of a Chinese, would it still be newsworthy? Would Syed Saddiq praise the Malay man, like he did the Chinese?

Turning a man into a hero simply because he is of a different race – now that’s racism, really.

In the words of my dear friend, Farouk A Peru, perhaps instead of selling us the story of a noble Chinese protecting the Malays, Syed Saddiq should work towards granting non-Malays full membership in Bersatu, if he truly believes in racism-free Malaysia.

If Syed Saddiq is incapable of doing that, then he is just another actor, like the ones we’ve seen so often in Najib’s cabinet.

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a growing media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a regular director, a struggling producer, a self-acclaimed photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. - Mkini