After reading Kenny Chee's letter, 'Malays the eldest 'brother'', I am prompted to put in my 10 sens worth.

For me, the different social instances described and rejected by Mr Truth are manifestations of the 'ketuanan Melayu' ideology propagated by Umno.

I agree with Kenny that there are Malays who did not benefit from this ideology and that there are non-Malays who takes advantage of their "Malay connections". However, precisely because of that, both Malay and non-Malay should realise that such ideology only serves the interests of those in power. This for me should be the 'big fat myth' that we should fight against.

Discrimination is discrimination. Why would it be incomparable with that happens in the West, whether it be carried out by native elite or colonising migrant race? In addition, Kenny forgets that the Orang Asli were the earliest residents on this land.

A reconstruction of the history of human migration to the peninsula requires the concordance of genetic, anthropological, archaeological, historical and linguistic evidences. It is in fact a far more complicated task than Kenny thinks. The ethnic identity and historical emergence of the Malay people is another subject of evolving study in the academic field even as of today.

Who are the Malay people? Only the Malaysians think that all Indonesians are Malays, thanks to the British colonial legacy and the indoctrination of the state. All Indonesians do not regard themselves as Malays. It should also be noted that there is no such thing as the 'pure Malay race'. From the point of view of genetics, the Malays are a mixture of Siamese, Chinese, Arab, Indian and others besides the Indonesian stock.

Indonesia as a political entity is not an extension of the Malay empires of Srivijaya, Malacca and Pahang-Johor-Riau. It is a Dutch colonial legacy. Note that Srivijaya was a Buddhist kingdom. Even not all kings of the Malacca empire were Muslims. In addition, none of the said empires ever covered the whole geographical area of modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia.

Let's stop using the divisive argument of whoever arriving first deserves more rights. It is not the way forward to build Bangsa Malaysia.