Steve Oh's letter makes sense. I fully agree with him, but would like to add that the NEP was basically meant to help all needy people especially bumiputeras who were then the most under-privileged community.

It did not leave Indians out. Sad to say, the implementation of the NEP in the 1980s and beyond was extremely biased and spoonfed a handful of Malay cronies.

However it is not that right to say that the Malays do not need any special help anymore. Somehow, they may still need help of a different form. That is, subsidies of discipline and re-education - to make them know who they are in society and what they must do for the country in line with their position as the founders of Malaysia and fathers/mothers of the country.

The Malays are also an ancient people who did a lot for civilisation, like the Tamils/Indians and the Chinese.

Without them, the Indians and Chinese would not have been able to survive in this country. They taught the Indian and Chinese immigrants all they needed to know about this country, and enabled them to settle down in Malaysia.

They are the most far-flung people in the world, and they are the greatest civilisation between China and India, responsible for bringing the two more famous peoples into contact with each other.

Steve may say that the minority need affirmative action, but sometimes I believe there is a need to aid the majority, as in South Africa and Zimbabwe. This is because the majority community lacks self-awareness and the discipline to progress and restore its fallen civilisation.

Nevertheless, affirmative action for the native Malays (and that includes others in the Malay stock such as the Orang Asli and the natives of Borneo who are non-Muslims and Muslims), should not mean spoonfeeding a few at the expense of others.