Some expressed trepidation at Article 153; shortly before independence, the "China Press" suggested that while special rights "may be excusable at the start of the building of a nation," if "the period of 'special rights' is not restricted, or the scope of special rights is not clearly defined, then endless disputes ... will arise later on," and argued that special rights would eventually divide instead of unite Malayans. Nevertheless, at the time of independence, some historians assert, "there was a genuine sense of common citizenship, common aspirations, a common destiny." This was about to change.