I doubt any Malaysian would confuse Umno Youth for Ku Klax Klan, the white racialist party that came into being at the turn of the last century purportedly to defend the rights of the White Christian majority.

Hence, it was indeed surprising (from the outset, at least) that the former should take such great offence to a letter by o­ne Petrof. After all, what Petrof did was to merely put in writing a caricature of what probably has entered the sub-strata of Malaysian consciousness. For most of us, unfair discrimination is a well known and, of late, an accepted reality.

Many rationalise the phenomenon of being discriminated against as the price o­ne pays to be 'allowed' to remain in Malaysia, the concept of citizenship and all that notwithstanding. Some, particularly those better educated or financially liberated, find it intolerable and leave to 'greener pastures.'

(It must be pointed out that Malaysia isn't the o­nly country where discrimination is prevalent or rampant. The unholy presence of unfair discrimination could be felt whether o­ne is roaming in the leafy suburbs of New Haven or passing by the rickety hovels of Johannesburg; the question here, however, is of degree, not of kind.)

Still the question remains: why did the Umno Youth chaps lose their cool over this issue?

In a recent editorial, Umno Youth had rationalised its action as o­ne amounting to defending the dignity of ethnic-Malays of Malaysia. Apparently, the editorial claimed, malaysiakini was 'brave' enough to upload contents that were racialist or "berbau perkauman". Also, the editorial added, it was pointless to engage in frivolous debates with those who don't share the Umno Youth point of view.

I am not sure if this is a syndrome of the post-911 age. But somehow the fact that Umno Youth had chosen to cast aside reason and logic for the age-old, obscurantist virtue of gloire - dignity, bravery and the like - doesn't seem to have troubled them much, even though such infatuation portends ill for our nation's future.

It, therefore, baffles and greatly saddens me when I wonder how Umno Youth, whose members could someday lead our nation, plan to extricate us from the curse of racism if they refuse to listen to or understand the hopes and fears of the cultural minorities in Malaysia.

Really, if Umno Youth isn't yet prepared to deal with the views expressed in the cyberspace, when will it ever be ready to deal with the hundreds of thousands of murmurs and grumbles voiced every day in almost every non-ethnic Malay house?