Kuala Lampur, Nov. 3 -- It's most disappointing that there was a severe backlash against the recent action of the Malaysian authorities to fast-track the citizenship of seven foreign footballers.

According to the authorities, the players' grandparents had resided in our multiethnic country a long time ago, possibly prior to the implementation of the Malaysia My Second Home programme.

Their residency, the authorities pointed out, gave legitimacy to the players' current status of naturalised citizens.

Given Malaysia's diverse population and cultures, one would obviously expect Malaysians to be magnanimous enough to embrace the players from Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands and Spain wholeheartedly. That's the richness of life in diversi...