BTN is Alright, Some People in it May Not Be

The whole BTN fiasco is a long time coming.

I remember when I attended a BTN course during my college days, one of the songs I had to sing had the line, "Melayu kan gagah di nusantara." Personally, I had no problem with it, considering that I am as much Malay as I am Chinese by bloodline (and culturally, more Malay).

At the same time, I couldn't help notice the look of despise among my Chinese college mates who thought that the song belittled them, because they were not Malay.

Nearly a decade later, my former mentor Tan Sri Hj Subhan Bin Jasmon became the Director of BTN.

He too is both Malay and Chinese by bloodline, and if I know him as well as I think I do, I don't think he would have allowed such a song to be sung again.

At the same time, no matter how well-intended the top management of BTN may have been, BTN is made up of people and some people may have become overzealous in expressing their Malay-ness. And now the issue has come back to bite the whole of BTN.

I hope the good people in BTN do not get tarred along with those who deserve to be told off.