Race mixing and local politics

Where I come from, Belgium, there are quite a number of mixed relationships and if you look at its neighbouring countries like France, Holland, England....the percentage of mixed marriages is even bigger. I don't have a clue about the US of A, but come on....it is not a rare sight to see those mixed couples (especially in urban area's, whereas in red-neck counties they might be a rarity for obvious reasons).

Well, you might ask yourself now why I'm talking about this subject, but since I've been living in this part of the tiny world....supposedly in a country which promotes itself as one where racial harmony exists and there is freedom of practicing religion and etcetera......you'll notice the harsh stares of the local peeps whenever they see a 'mixed' couple. Are people here prejudiced towards racial mixing?!

True enough, Malaysia consists of 3 major ethnic groups and a dozen or more indigenuous tribes........they have co-habited 'peacefully' for the past few centuries. I said 'centuries'....by now, one would think that everyone has already accepted eachother for who and what they are, but somehow no such luck. I'm basically an 'outsider' but with the looks of a 'local' by now. I'm not a dude who will fight against windmills either trying to better this society, but from what I hear from my friends here, it used to be a 'better' place back in the 'golden' days....and I'm not talking about decades ago.

I'm wondering what people here really want. Basically it should be stability, .... that is stability in economics ('cos that's everyone's purse), and above all also politics (but this issue is kinda 'hot' nowadays)........

I don't really understand the local political scene.....each ethnic group represented by their own parties, thus people voting for their own people.......whereas in the Western world, people vote for the parties which represent a political affluence (socialists, conservatives, democrats, greens, ....etc.)......Ofcourse, it's not all black and white....the grey area is still immensely big.

Meaning that, the near future will tell how this all will evolve, but fact remains......I am your neighbour, you are my neighbour....deal with it.