Once again, in his bid to become relevant, Tun M still resorts to his modus operandi of creating enemies of non-Malays.

This is the oldest trick in the book of “successful politics for quick popularity.”

Tun M would bang DAP, the Chinese, and now the Tamils. He does not wallop the Dayaks or Ibans because he needs their votes to be with his attempted Malay ones.

Well, I will explain today why I think nasi beriani kedai mamak is a better approach for nation-building than the billion ringgit and hateful rhetoric of the two-time prime minister, Tun M.

In his latest rantings, he says that all non-Malays must become Malays by speaking Malay and using the culture of the Malays in order to be welcomed into Melayu Malaysia, because Malaysian Malaysia does not work for him.

Tun M is stuck in some lost theory of social integration and assimilation practiced by past countries, but he fails to understand the up-to-date idea of unity with diversity.

When I discovered a mamak restaurant in Balakong named Pelita, I fell in love with their style of nasi beriani kambing or ayam. The nasi beriani ayam comes with several pieces of chicken with five condiments I had never known before in a nasi beriani concept.

The nasi beriani kambing also comes with the same condiments but priced at RM28 per serving, as opposed to the chicken set which is priced at RM18.

My wife and I would only order one set as we could not even finish the amount of rice served. We would eat a third each and just leave the last third after enjoying well made teh tarik.

The Pelita restaurant is architecturally nice with huge ceiling fans that create a nice breeze drawing air from the open veranda way.

 There are several types of seating sections that are most comfortable.

Now, why did I say that the nasi beriani mamak restaurant is a better nation-builder than Tun M and our bloated civil service?

Firstly, efficiency-lah! You order from a smartly dressed waiter who is either an Indian, a Bangladeshi, or an Indonesian, obviously all Muslims, I assume.

He would input in his tablet and the dish would come to you in five or the latest 10 minutes, even if there are 150 other customers seated in the restaurant.

I am not sure our civil service can beat that.

Secondly, the place is clean, spacious and comfortable for you to bring a family, your girl, your office friends or the whole bike gang.

The courteous waiters complement the setting and it is a pleasure to be there even for more than an hour.

Thirdly, I have seen different patrons of the restaurant like the Chinese, Indians and the Malays, of course. And once or twice I saw a few Mat Sallehs or Westerners.

The mix of different races warms the heart and takes you away from the Perikatan Nasional rantings of Islam and the others as enemies or animals.

On the walls of the restaurant, there are pictures of holy verses of the Qur’an and the big name of Allah in Arabic.

Under the umbrella of mamak Islam, everyone enjoys himself and is at peace and cordial to one another.

Perhaps, Tok Guru Hadi and Sanusi could pay this place a visit, but I doubt it.

Dr. Samsuri says PAS is not extremist and I wonder where he was sleeping all this while as a chief minister.

Please do not insult us, YAB. In fact, this restaurant of Islam has a much better politics than a party screaming about Islam and making enemies and derogatory remarks on all others.

Fourthly, I noticed that the Chinese would come in dressed in all kinds of fashion from short skirts and extremely short pants for the ladies.

I did not notice that they had to put on a sarong to cover their modesty coming into a Muslim establishment.

The Melayu in our civil service should learn this. Why? Well, the office and the restaurant are both not mosques, so what the heck is the problem?

Again, this short skirts and hot pants are not part of a Melayu culture…now. I notice that the Indians dress not in the same revealing manner as the Chinese.

Hmmm…perhaps the Indians are closer to Melayu than others. I must ask Tun M one of these days because some say his family knows the Indians extremely well. I mostly know Chinese people all my life!

Fifthly, I noticed that the Indian waiters talked in their own mother tongue among themselves. But when taking orders, the language would be Melayu, hands down.

Sometimes, I would practice my Tamil with the numbers of food ordered! So, all this nonsense that Tun M was spouting about forgetting your heritage in order to show loyalty to Melayu people is complete BS or HS.

I swear in English, by the way, in my writing. I have never uttered swear words in Malay, they are too vulgar.

The restaurant operates well when it does not follow the Melayu culture like in Dol Tomyam, which incidentally serves Thai food.

In Kajang, you have Sate Hj Samuri as the original Sate Kajang and that may be Melayu culture except that the waiters are still non-Melayu.

I think its rival Sate Rono has another Melayu culture, but I think their waiters are Indons.

Growing up in public schools, I have never encountered a lesson that says what Tun M was saying in that interview.

We must all learn and respect Bahasa Melayu as Bahasa Malaysia, but we also honor our own ethnic or religious heritage.

How can we all be Melayu when the Constitution requires Melayu to be Islam?

Although Allah told Muhammad all people can be Muslims, our Constitution makes it mandatory about something never messaged to the Prophet Muhammad about being Muslim!

Never mind! But do all ethnic groups in Malaysia need to convert to Islam in order to “masuk Melayu” and have circumcision and all that in adulthood?

Ouch! Susahlah ini macam, Tun.

So, dear Malaysians, let us all flock to nasi beriani kambing special and invite Tun along if he still has the stomach to eat after reading this opinion piece.

May Allah bless Tun M with an even longer life because so far…dia tak sedak-sedak jugak dari dulu sampai la ni!

(Well, you have to masuk Melayu Penang to understand those last few words!)

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)