By Azura Abas

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The current situation in the country where more people have started to utter things that could be seen as subversive in nature has to stop, an academician warned yesterday.

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris lecturer Datuk Dr Zainal Kling, expressing his worry by what was presently happening, said the current development, if unchecked, would bring more harm than good to the country.

Speaking at a national congress on the future of the Malays here, Zainal said the Malays, in general, were known to be an accommodative lot, but if they were constantly challenged and pushed from all sides, they would be forced to push back.

"We have reached a very dangerous level now as the Malay Rulers themselves have started to voice their concern. More and more Malays are uneasy with the current developments in the country."

He also warned that the people, especially politicians, should not question things that had been accepted in the past and had proven to work in keeping peace and harmony in the country for so long.

Universiti Teknologi Mara vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah said other races must understand the Malays and the Malays must educate themselves and strengthen themselves in all aspects.

He stressed the importance of racial harmony, otherwise it could trigger misunderstandings and suspicions.

"As a result, certain groups will begin to feel uneasy. This can lead to security threat to the people and the country."

Another speaker, former Universiti Malaya lecturer Halimah Mohd Said, said the civil society must step in to strengthen unity.

She said more activities to promote racial unity must be organised at grassroots level since one could no longer depend on political rhetoric to do the job for them. She felt that politicians had failed to make it work.

In this respect, she believed in the soft approach for the Malays to consider by showing that they also helped other races and were not focusing on their own kind alone.

"Highlight this to the people. It is also time for the Malays to compete with other races on a level playing field. Once they have shown that the Malays, too, can succeed, others will start to respect them."

Halimah said when this happened, the Malays' special rights and the non-Malays' legitimate rights would not be threatened.

She said so long as the Malays took refuge under the wing of the government and practised a patronage system, they would be seen as incapable or not at par with others.

At the same time, she said the non-Malays would perceive that they had been sidelined and treated unfairly.