UiTM students should learn

AS A Malaysian, I’m proud of our badminton player Lee Chong Wei who had won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics evem though lack of fighting spirit. His attribution to the games and his struggle together with his coach Misbun Sidek shall be appreciated and remembered by all Malaysians.

Besides world class players such as Datuk Nicole David, I believe that Malaysia is able to produce more such sportsmen and sportswomen in future. The spirit of "Malaysia Boleh" shall always be preserved by all Malaysians.

I would like to relate Lee’s success to the recent demonstrations held by the UiTM students throughout Malaysia. The UiTM students should learn from Lee the meaning of being a true "Malaysian".

Their action was actually a disgrace to Malaysian community. They failed to think and rationalise in the spirit of Malaysians when the proposal to allot 10% of places in UiTM to non-bumiputras was made by Selangor’s mentri besar.

Lee is a Malaysian Chinese who is a non-Muslim and I believe when he stepped onto the badminton court last Sunday, his only intention was to win a medal for his country.

When he plays for the nation without any distinction made towards race and religion, why couldn’t the UiTM students be equally open-minded towards other Malaysians?

The word "unity" shall not only be preached, but must be practised by all races in thiscountry.

Why should sports alone unite Malaysians?

UiTM students should ponder and change their mentality and treat all Malaysians as ONE regardless of religion or race.

It further saddens me that none of our cabinet ministers advised the students not to continue with their demonstrations and the police, too, should not have issued a permit to them to stage the demonstrations. There was no legal basis for the demonstrations ... in fact such protests can lead to racial tensions.

T. GunaSegar
Kuala Lumpur
excsrpts from The Sun