In the 70s, to survive, I learned to be more a Malay than a Malaysian.

I was a Malaysian…until Umno told me that I was a Malay first!

For as long as I can remember, in all the time that I was growing up, even when I was at an all Malay Boarding School, MCKK, at SABS Kuantan, then in London and then back to K Hell to start work…I was always a Malaysian. Never a Malay except in the way I live my life according to the culture of a Malay. Islam was always there in the background. You do not eat pork. Go to Friday prayers when you can. Puasa and Hari Raya. Never in your face Islam…Islam was there to guide me in the life that I lead. In everything else, I am Malaysian.

Until I started work with MNI - Malaysian Nasional Insurance.

We had an Indian as our GM and a few non Malays in the office….but there was this “Malayness” about MNI that was there from the very beginning. And I was being reminded of that Bumipura thing often, as I worked in MNI.

We were the second batch of Underwriters sent to the Bombay College Of Insurance. All Malays. When we came back and got sent to the various branch offices all over Malaysia….we worked in an all Malay office. Our first port of call for business? State SEDC, the Dewan Bandarayas, Malay businesses, Malay professionals. Our biggest client : Petronas.

And so it went on, more and more intense as time went by…this Bumiputra focus clouded everything that we did in MNI…and yet, even as MNI focussed on Bumi business, it grew by leaps and bounds because the main Insurance business were with the Multi nationals and GLC who were all Bumiputra driven and managed.

Gradually I learned to be more a Malay than a Malaysian. I was not uncomfortable being a Malay first because there were many advantages in being a Malay, but I was uncomfortable with the ‘them and us’ divide that was beginning to open up between Malaysians. I was uncomfortable that being a Malay mattered more than anything else. And in a multi racial society such as ours, I felt that we should celebrate our diversity, not kill it.

I was conflicted. To do business…any business…being a Malay helps a hell of a lot. To get things done in government, statutory bodies and the various authorities, being a Malay is a plus. Licenses, permits, tenders, sebut harga, concessions in anything, writing letters, education, even phone calls to government departments …..being a Malay is a must. So what is a Malaysian to do, but be Malay first! And this, Umno kept reminding me, was the only way to go for the Malays to be the tuan of our "own Tanah Air".

That was in the early 70s…today I am older, and wiser. I am back to being a Malaysian first. Anytime. All the time. What are you?