UNITY AND INTEGRATION

When speaking of unity, in Malaysian context, almost instantly the first thing that comes to mind is all races living together hand-in-hand in harmony. As picture perfect as that may be, it is only a portion of what unity is truly all about. The spirit of brethren amongst the many races is merely one speck of the larger spectrum of unity. Unity comes in many other forms the likes of unity in education, cultural appreciation, socio-economy, political, regional, etc.

The need for all those sort of unity is true in Malaysia’s current situation. Malaysia is not only made up of the Malays, Chinese and Indians. It is also made up of the Peninsular and East Malaysia, the rich and the poor, the government and the opposition, the educated and those who are not, the white collars and the blue collars, the young and the old, the urban dwellers and the village folks; and so on and so forth. With that in mind, the 1Malaysia policy must cater to the needs of all sectors of the society and not just focussing on racial relations.
Malaysia being a federation of 13 states and 3 federal territories, the development so far has been rather lopsided with most of the wealth centred on theKlang Valley conurbation. Many other states register significant number of its population as still living under the poverty line.

Although the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) 2006-2010 has already committed to reducing the overall poverty line to below 2.8 percent (from the 2004 estimate of 5.7 percent) and to eradicate hardcore poverty by 2010, this effort must be proportionately distributed to all states including Sabah and Sarawak. In future Malaysia Plans more provision shall be made to states like Sabah, Kelantan and Terengganu; all of which records significant number of poverty rate.

To achieve a better distribution of national wealth, the relationship between state and federal governments must also improve. Political differences between the state and federal governments should not hinder the best interests of the people. Issues like oil royalty should not be politicised. Other aids or funding from federal government should not be disrupted just because the state level government has changed.

Geographical factor is another factor to consider in achieving national unity as proposed under 1Malaysia. We should not be thinking as Sarawakians or Kelantanese or KLites, instead, we should be thinking and moving forward as Malaysians. The policy should promote greater co-operation between the two
regions and improve on the integration of the people.

Arts and other cultural aspects of Malaysia should also be enriched by the amalgamation of the myriads of cultures available in Malaysia. Thus far, this kind of togetherness could mostly be seen only during festive (especially the Independence Day celebration) seasons. This should not be the case. Fashion, performance arts, music, etc.; must be able to portray the essence of unity 1Malaysia tries to achieve.

The gap between the more affluent urbanites and the seemingly impecunious rural folks also needs attention. The disparity between the two categories of people could be redressed by means of certain revamps in areas of education and economy. The teaching of English for instance, must be more thorough and progressive in rural areas as to allow the students a better footing in competing with urban students. Economic opportunities in villages and other rural areas should also be increased as it will help to raise the living standards of villagers without having to move to the city.