Cassel Krishnan said the country’s first prime minister and second Umno president, Tunku Abdul Rahman, had said that Malaysians, regardless of race or creed, must make the country a home and live happily together.

Umno founder and first party president, Onn Jaafar, meanwhile, in his final address at the general assembly in 1951, advised the party against narrow-mindedness.

Cassel, the Melaka DAP Youth chief, said that as a national leader, Akmal was responsible for fostering unity among all races, regardless of political alignment.

“Stop seeing race first and dividing our multifaceted society,” he said.

He added that non-Malays do not question the provisions of Article 153 of the constitution, which safeguards the special position of the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

“We only hope that our nation will be able to progress with unity and harmony, which will only happen if all of us are treated equally, and not as second-class citizens.”

Cassel was responding to recent remarks by Akmal, including his response to former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin on identifying as “Malay first”.

Akmal had criticised the Bersatu president for abandoning his “Malay first” stance taken in 2010, accusing him of shifting his position for political gain.

Akmal also said that he remained a Malay before a Malaysian “because that is my race” and something unchangeable.

He also hit out at Roger Yapp, an MCA leader who said Malaysia did not belong exclusively to one race.

“All this while this is Tanah Melayu, and this will not change. Understand!” he was quoted as saying.