Step closer to Bangsa M'sia: Upko

He said the proposal by the Government to get rid of such identification in official forms should, therefore, be implemented immediately as it would enhance the objective of achieving the concept of 1Malaysia.

Towards this end he fully supported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on the tearing down of any barriers that distinctively separate Malaysians by their race.

"The biggest barrier in achieving real unity is when you categorically identify yourself with the racial composition that you belong to, instead of being called Bangsa Malaysia.

"I have brought up in Parliament the issue of official forms having the three main racial categories namely Malay, Chinese and Indian while the rest including Kadazandusun are categorised as 'dan lain-lain'," he said.

As a further step, Bumburing, who is Tuaran MP, suggested the Government do away or erase the individual's racial and religious personal information on their respective National Identification Card, or MyKad.

"Since we all come under Bangsa Malaysia. By looking at the name of the person, we can tell that Samy Vellu is an Indian, Chong is a Chinese, Mohamad is a Malay and Bumburing is a Kadazandusun while Anak Jugah comes from Sarawak.

"And there are other details in a person's names that tells a lot about the individual. Although political leaders do not or may not condone discrimination against any individual, however, we can't deny that by having these details in an individual's identification card, it will give opportunity to some form of discriminatory actions by certain people.

"We should just be called one Bangsa Malaysia and by this, we can erase any hints of any discriminatory actions by any officials especially when dealing with job applications and any other form of assistance and/or applications that require the filling up of forms by an applicant.

"So if the Government wants to promote the 1Malaysia concept this should be the ultimate decision and action by the Government, and that is to wipe out the racial and religious identification in the MyKad," he said.

In another development he denied having received an invitation to speak at an Usda function on the eve of Malaysia Day as reported on Sunday.

"I have no knowledge of any official invitation to speak during a function entitled "Malaysia Countdown" to be organised in Tuaran by the NGO on Sept. 15.

"I am surprised by the news, even the title of the supposed talk that I would be delivering has been given and it says in the report that I am confirmed attending.

"I wish to clarify that I have not received any official invitation to speak during that function," he said here.

Bumburing said he supported any move by any organisation, especially NGOs who organised an event of this nature as it would provide the younger generation with a platform where they would be given an opportunity to rightly and fully know that Sept 16 should be remembered as Malaysia Day and be given its actual place in Malaysian history as it will give a true picture the formation of Malaysia in September 1963.

Nonetheless, he said a forum such as this should be organised in a more appropriate environment to avoid any political interpretation from the people at large.

"When we are invited to attend a forum such as this and are invited to present a talk, we need to get clearance from our political party that we represent because what I will be saying in any such talk will be taken as being the stand of the political party that I represent.

"I believe that a forum such as this should have balanced representation from political and non-political leaders if and when political leaders are invited. In this way, both spectrum of the society will be given ample opportunity to be heard. However I say this without denying the full right of any NGOs to organise forums according to their format," he said.

Bumburing, meanwhile, agreed with the view that Sept 16 should be officially declared a national holiday commemorating the formation of Malaysia 46 years ago in 1963.

"August 31 has been celebrated by Malaya as National Day since 1957, but we must put history in its right perspective and declare Sept. 16 as a national holiday," he said.

On another note, Bumburing said the assurance by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman to do something about the frequent blackouts in the East Coast was indeed commendable.

"But, it should be remembered that the constant blackouts are not only affecting people in the East Coast but are causing great inconvenience to the people statewide.

"I have brought this issue up in the recent BN leaders meeting in Kuala Lumpur and as a follow-up to that, Upko President Tan Sri Bernard G. Dompok has brought it up at the following Federal Cabinet meeting and the Prime Minister has promptly asked the appropriate Ministry and agency to take remedial action. But until today we are still awaiting for such action to materialise," he said.