BY: AKMAL AZIZ

Sports is for everyone to enjoy, savour and appreciate and this is why there is a need to get rid of the prevailing practice of organising sporting events along racial lines which impedes the fostering of better interaction and understanding among the races.

This country is multi-racial and multi-religious and it is important to keep the peace by having sporting events and competitions open to all races in a show of respect and tolerance for each other’s race and religion.

It doesn’t do any good to organise sporting events where there is no inclusiveness as it does not promote the camaraderie and feeling of peace and harmony between the Malays, Chinese and Indian communities.

While foreigners, tourists and visitors to Malaysia are generally impressed on the surface with the mutual respect and tolerance that the three communities have for each other, underneath there lurks that raw nerve that can be easily inflamed to trigger an issue with race relations.

There is no harm in trying to get the major Malaysian races together and there should even be a Malaysian Family Games that can be organised for all races in the hope of being able to scout for potential talented persons.

But the idea of having race-based sporting competitions should be abolished as it does not create unity but instead it sows discord and suspicion and envy among the races and this is why the government of the day must look into this matter seriously.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher