Give 'others' identity on forms, says minister Print
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 08:26
May 12, 2009 - KOTA KINABALU: Natives and Malaysians who are referred to as "others" in government forms need to be identified, said state Tourism, Culture and Environment Mi-nister Datuk Masidi Manjun. There should be a space beside the slot where races are identified in these documents for this purpose, he said yesterday.

Most government forms would normally have the terms Malay, Chinese, Indian and another that reads others or "lain lain" for those who do not belong to the three main races in the country.

"This is a system we inherited from past administrators. I don't think it's intentional because it is from the time before the formation of Malaysia.

"It's time we allowed the various races to identify themselves as it's a matter of pride."
Masidi spoke after launching the Crafts Exotica Exhibition and a book, entitled The Ethnic Traditional House Handbook, at the Sabah Museum.

In Sabah alone, there were no fewer than 32 ethnic groups, he said.

"Apart from wanting to make ourselves known, it will show we are not less Malay-sian than the major races."
Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 May 2009 08:34