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The vast majority of Malaysians are sensible people; they're moderates, they want peace, they want harmonious race relations at home. They look for national unity.

Malaysia is a country unlike any other: Full of promise and fragility. Its history, cultural and religious diversity make it a rich, compelling and surprising land.

Over the past months and years, divisions have opened up in Malaysian society. Now it is time for all of us, in government and beyond, to put the bitterness behind us.

In Indonesia, Malaysia, wherever Muslims are living, they don't want to live in harmony.

In spite of the huge diversity in Malaysia in terms of religion, culture, race, ethnicity and so forth, we've really gone very far in developing this country.

I think, from the very beginning, I always knew that I needed to get out of Malaysia and do my thing somewhere else.

It's hard to be a minority. People look at you a different way, like you don't belong, and I don't think many people realize just how difficult it is to live as a minority. Where I come from, we learn to tolerate one another. Whether one is of Chinese descent or Malay descent, what matters is we're part of the same country, the same world.

Without doubt, Malaysia is the great economic star of the Muslim world.

If you don't pay bribes, people think you're odd. It's very sad. I cannot say that I'm proud to be an Indonesian. This is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.