Imagine my anger and disappointment when, after 52 years of being born and bred in Malaysia, I was told to balik Cina by of all people, a policeman on duty!

I was taking a leisurely drive home with my wife and two teenage daughters from Papan to Ipoh at 12.30pm after going on a heritage walk in Papan, where we had been briefed on the early history and significance of the little mining town.

We were flagged down by a police officer at a checkpoint near Lahat. A young policeman approached us and asked for my identity card.

When I asked what the matter was and identified myself to be a doctor taking my family for a Sunday drive, he rudely said that even doctors have to be checked.

He next asked for the ICs of my wife and daughters, who could not produce them as they did not bring their wallets.

He said it was an offence not to carry the IC and when I tried to reason with him - even offering to leave my family there to go home and fetch their ICs for inspection if really necessary - he became verbally abusive and said that if we do not like it, we could go back to China ( balik Cina ).

I was so shocked and angry and wanted to get out of the car to take down his particulars to report him to the authorities for the racist slur, but my family restrained me. We drove away feeling really heavy hearted, disappointed, angry and depressed.

I am still disturbed by a few issues:

1) In carrying out crime prevention or ID check, don't the police exercise common sense? Here was a family of descent-looking people, taking a leisure cruise on a Sunday afternoon in broad daylight on a trunk road (Lahat Road). What was the purpose of checking their ID?

2) I identified myself as a law-abiding professional person taking my family out. But he became abusive as if I was asking for special privileges and insisted on checking the IC of the other members of the family. In this respect, the traffic police are much more courteous in the way they approach drivers who have committed obvious offences such as speeding on the highway. They always greet you with a smile!

3) The police officer knew jolly well that I am a Malaysian citizen. What right does he have to ask me to balik Cina ? This reflects his upbringing and education that brainwashed him into thinking that all non-bumis are pendatang who have deprived him of his rights. I am a legitimate citizen and taxpayer. I am entitled to be treated with at least common courtesy and gratitude for contributing to the policeman's salary (and welfare and pension). I shudder at the thought that there may be many more police personnel and civil servants harbouring such racist sentiments. What was disturbing was also the fact that this particular policeman was relatively young. This does not auger well for racial harmony in the future.

4) My children are pursuing their tertiary education in the US and this incident has really shaken them. They have not encountered such racist treatment even in foreign countries. They are beginning to feel what it is like being second-class citizens in their own country; feelings which began after secondary school when they found out that going into the university is not as simple as having the right (paper) qualifications as is the choice of subject of study. There is such a thing as khas untuk bumiputera in public universities' application forms for certain subjects. The reality sinks in when they see their schoolmates with excellent (paper) qualifications but less than sound financial background being denied scholarships and government aid. Now they have heard with their own ears how they are considered 'alien'.

So, in this season of muhibbah , I am in no mood to fly the national flag!