I refer to the letter Get it straight - Africa is made up of 53 countries .

It is very unfortunate that some sections of the Malaysian mass media are still continuing with their character assassination of Africans in Malaysia with their reports and sarcastic way of addressing Africans as ‘Pak Hitam’ (‘Black Uncle’ or whatever).

This name-calling is perhaps purposely orchestrated to put Africans down and make us feel as second-class or a third-class race.

It is true that there are some Africans who commit crimes but the news is exaggerated. How about the majority of Africans here? There are professionals among us who have contributed in building human capital in Malaysia.

Reporting about Africans in this way will only create tension between the Africans and some of their Malaysian hosts and this may have a psychological effect, especially on African students here who require an undisturbed state of mind to concentrate on their studies.

All this put the Africans in a bad light, making others look down upon us. Why doesn’t the media report or highlight the cases where Africans have been killed and wronged?

Instead of reporting in such a derogative manner, why not the mass media and the authorities concerned, together with some of us African professionals, work towards finding solutions and not finger-point and engaging in the showering of blame?

Personally, I am ready to take part in any effort to provide orientation to African students studying in Malaysia from the perspective of an African who has been living here for almost 20 years.  

I give the thumbs-up for the Higher Education Ministry in recently defending foreign students, particularly those from African nations . So far, the measures announced by the Higher Education Ministry are very timely and hopefully, they will produce results.

We have to bear in mind that for better, future cooperation between the African countries and Asia, particularly Malaysia, these African students must be treated fairly and made to feel at home for they are the leaders of tomorrow in their various countries.