I would like to comment on the statements made by our prime minister during the BBC show Talking Point . When Dr Mahathir was asked about the affirmative action for bumiputeras, he mentioned that "every race supports this policy. Otherwise why do they keep returning this government every time". He added that the Americans too practised affirmative policy.

To another question, he said that the Malays felt that they too were second-class citizens just like the Chinese because despite the privileges they remained poor and worked as drivers for the very rich Chinese. But our prime minister failed to mention a word about Malaysian Indians.

I have a few questions to ask our prime minister. Do the Malays work as drivers for the rich Indians in this country? I think there are more Indians who work as drivers for the rich Chinese and Malays. How many Indians live in posh bungalows in Malaysia? How many Indians drive BMWs or Mercedes Benz cars? Just visit any government agency and you will find all the top posts monopolised by a particular community. The same goes to the private enterprises in our country which are mostly owned by the Chinese.

But in most places one may find a familiar trait. The manual work such as cleaning the toilets, sweeping, gardening and guarding the premises being done by one particular community, the Indians. Are the Indians any better than the Malays in economic development? Their share capital ownership is a mere 1.5 percent compared to 18 percent owned by the bumiputeras.

As the prime minister said, "If the same concessions and subsidies were given to the Chinese , they would be way ahead by now". Being the majority and having political power in Malaysia, it is difficult to find a reason why the Malays fail to succeed economically.

It is true that affirmative policies are practised in other nations. But are these policies targeted towards the majority race as in Malaysia? Are the policies targeted towards the race that holds political power in those countries? The affirmative policies are targeted towards minorities who have been left behind politically and economically.

Now, I know why our prime minister fails to mention about the status of Indians whenever he talks about affirmative policies practised in Malayisa. If he does, he won't be able to justify the existence of discriminatory racial policies in Malaysia. This also explains why a recent television programme that highlighted the plight of Indians was not shown.

There are many Indians who do not even know their position economically, politically and socially in this country. These are the Indians who are always loyal to the ruling party and never fail to vote for it in every elections. So, is there a need to win them over?

Finally, I would like to ask whether the Indians are in a position to decide which party wins in the election. The people who are able to do that are the very people who are benefitting from the so-called affirmative policies. If the Malays and Chinese are second-class citizens in this country, the Indians are surely the third-class citizens.