Abdullah on the painful truth

This article was in the Today's paper in SG today. The online link.

Abdullah on the painful truth
Take an honest
look at race and religion issues: M'sian PM

KUALA LUMPUR
— Religious and racial divisions have brought Malaysia to the "brink of disaster" in the past and continue to hamper its growth, the country's Premier said in reports published yesterday.
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Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi spoke of the need to confront racial and religious issues in Malaysia in a serious and honest manner.
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About 60 per cent of the nation's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims. The rest are mostly Buddhist, Hindu or Christian Chinese and Indians.
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"We do not want to pretend and say everything is okay. We do not want to be in a state of denial. Tell the truth even if it is painful," he was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying.
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Fifty years after independence, Mr Abdullah said race and religion continue to be hot issues "which we have to manage all the time", The Star quoted him as saying.
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"We have been solving one racial issue after another. We have even been on the brink of disaster," he added, referring to 1969 clashes between majority Malays and the minority Chinese community, in which many were killed. Since then the country has been largely peaceful.
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"People tell me: 'It's nothing. Don't worry, Pak Lah. Everything's okay.' But the more people tell me not to worry, the more I worry. Because some people just say that to reassure me," Mr Abdullah, referring to himself by his popular moniker, was quoted by The Star as saying.
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"But I say: 'Tell the truth even if it's painful.'"
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Mr Abdullah also noted the presence of a "disappointing" mindset with regards to racial and religious issues in Malaysia.
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"It is regretful how readily and very quickly we respond to what we see as a racial or religious issue," he said, adding that both political parties and the public behaved in this way.
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Mr Abdullah was speaking at the National Delegates Conference of Gerakan, a multi-racial party dominated by Chinese members. Gerakan is a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.
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Malaysian commentators have sounded the alarm over the growing "Islamisation" of the country and the increasing polarisation of the three main ethnic communities, who mingle much less than they once did.
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Many of Malaysia's Chinese minority believe the government's economic policy discriminates against them in favour of the Malay majority. — AFP

Made 4 years ago after he was elected. Now said again just before the elections. An act of virtue or another move to garner votes? Do I choose to believe or maybe it's the truth? Am I naive? Or am I too pessimistic? Time will tell.