The colours of Malaysia

THIS is a sad cartoon.

Those who grew up on Lat's cartoons can see the tragedy in this portrayal of Malaysians seeking asylum under the flag from the divisive lexis.

Tragedy, because Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid, or Lat, has, for the last 35 years, always been the idealistic Malaysian, and his cartoons have always portrayed the Malaysia he grew up in and the Malaysia we dream of.

I have always been enamoured of Lat's cartoons because they are colour-blind.

True, it was not all glorious sunshine in our country; we did live through the madness of May 13 when Malaysians killed Malaysians.

But save for that stint of insanity in our history, we have largely had good years.

I want to remember the good things we had, the good friends we had, and much as I am beginning to dislike using this phrase, "from all races".

The childhood I had in my hometown Kroh (Pengkalan Hulu now) and Penang, was similar to that of Lat in Perak.

I had friends from every race, I think, except in those days, we normally thought of each other as just friends, not as members of different racial groups.

Today, most of us still keep in touch and though we do not meet as regularly, we are still friends. You see that in Lat's cartoons over the last three decades as he rolls out his own life story.

Where did we take that wrong turn in nationhood that we ended seeking refuge under the flag?

I was in Australia last week and my two children, who study there, broke fast at a Thai restaurant, with my son's girlfriend, Mel, and another one of their friends, MJ, who is staying with them.

My mobile phone kept beeping and I received several emails on my Blackberry. As I read them, I started getting agitated and placed a few calls to Kuala Lumpur.

My daughter caught snatches of the conversation and asked whether there was a problem back home. I try to keep such things away from the children but am learning to accept that they are grown up and know what's going on.

So I told them about the racial tensions, about the politicians up in arms, at each other's throat,...