Malaysia, the home to a variety of races, religions, beliefs and cultures, comes with its fair share of taboos, most of which originate from superstitions and religious dogma. But there is a taboo that almost all Malaysians recognise, and that is talk about racial equality.

This issue has been discussed over and over, though never openly. Despite rising resentment among the non-bumiputeras, the racial status quo has remained as discriminatory as it has been since the birth of the affirmative action policy known as the National Economic Policy (NEP).

No, on second thoughts, the situation has never been worse. The NEP is currently being abused so badly that even some bumiputera Malaysians are against it.

So, why is the talk of having racial equality such a taboo, especially when we are supposed to be living in a civilised world? Has it got to do with keeping national unity or has it got to do with arrogance and ignorance?

Many of you have heard of the term Ketuanan Melayu and how we are told that Malay Malaysians deserve special rights and privileges. This line of thought is based on the belief that since the Malays were here the longest, this is their country and any special treatment is justified.

Although the NEP was originally meant to help the Malays with the aim of closing the wealth gap between the Malay and Chinese Malaysians, the seeds of racial dominance have inevitably been planted into the minds of many Malays.

Today, supporters of Malay special rights seldom argue that affirmative action is to support the Malays economically. Rather they see it as something they are born with something inherent that cannot be denied them.

Another argument put forth by the pro-Malay special rights group is that they made a compromise by giving the non-Malays their citizenship and in exchange the Malays must be given their special privileges.

This last argument is the most ridiculous I have heard thus far but in their ignorance some Malaysians still think that citizenship is for a certain race to give. This logic would mean that the minorities will always be seen as foreigners who will never be equal to the Malay bumiputeras.

Recently, I had a chat with a Malay Singaporean friend on certain issues, and unsurprisingly the subject of racial equality came up. I told him that the affirmative action policy in Malaysia is discriminatory and unfair to other races, especially when it comes to the university quota system.

(Although, only recently the government has decided to try a meritocracy system which many have viewed as equally unfair and serves mainly those completing the matriculation system over those who chose to complete the STPM syllabus).

In return, he told me about the quota system in Singapore, where over 70 percent of the university places are reserved for the Chinese Singaporeans and that we are fortunate to have a quota system of only about 50 percent reserved for the Malay Malaysians.

I further told him about the silly idea that some people have that if the minorities were given equal rights, the minorities will out populate the Malays in a few years time.

But apparently (according to this friend of mine), this is exactly what happened in Singapore, where the Singaporean government chose to 'import' Chinese from mainland China and Hong Kong to boost the Chinese Singaporean population.

He also said that Malaysia should keep the race-based affirmative action since it is necessary to protect the Malay population. I challenged him saying that if he thought that the racial policies in Singapore are discriminatory, how can he agree to similar policies being applied in Malaysia?

It seems that it is not about fairness (or the lack of it), but he implied that it is all about racial survival. I sighed inwardly. So it all comes down to the need to discriminate other races in order to preserve one's own race.

The argument that the minorities will turn Malaysia into another Singapore is simply unfounded, even if viewed from the Singaporean experience. The Malay population in Malaysia is about 60 percent and on the rise, while the percentage population of the minorities is actually decreasing .

The younger Malaysian population is more educated and more aware of their Malaysian identity and many (if not all) would not even dream of supporting the notion of importing foreigners to boost our population.

At least have the decency of not assuming that Malaysians, or rather non-bumiputera Malaysians, are so eager to decimate the bumiputera numbers.

Creating a level-playing field does not mean that any race has the right to discriminate against the other races, no matter what the population figures are. This is the message we have to get across to the public and something that must be inculcated in our kids from an early age.

Steps have to be taken now because racial polarisation has only worsened in recent years. The situation will only improve if we lobby the government to change the race-based affirmative action policy to a policy based on income brackets.

This is to ensure that only the most deserving people are given special privileges and not only the Malays. There are poor people from every race. It is unfair to continue to provide support to those in the middle and upper classes of our society over those in the lower income group.

It has been more than 20 years since the NEP was introduced. I believe it is time that we worked towards a fairer and more equal system, a system that caters for the different levels that exist in the Malaysian society, without discrimination.

In order for us to compete internationally and to solve problems such as brain drain and national unity, the abuse of the NEP has to stop. No amount of national service can right the wrong done as a result of misusing the NEP.

It is also obvious that if the minorities are the only people to lobby the government, the dream of racial equality will remain a dream. Therefore, I implore Malaysians to rise up together to this challenge, to work against discriminatory policies and to push for good reforms.

Even the government must see that good reforms are viable and necessary for the future of this country and its people.