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After reading Dr Avicenna's Overt racism claim in UK untrue and Hantuimc's The reality of racism in the West letters, I went immediately to the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) UK and the National Statistics Directorate to double check some of the facts that both authors quoted.

I have to admit that both are correct to a certain extent and they are both sides to the coin.

The perception of a foreigner or minority in Britain is highly dependent on demographic and racial distribution. Recently, I went to a barber shop in Birmingham and the Pakistani hair dresser criticised the whites for their laziness in front of his white client. (I do not recall any such similar moment in Malaysia).

Many times, the majority race argue that insults or assaults are independent incidents and have nothing to do with racism and that those in the minority always blame all their problems on racism, ignoring that some problems are mainly self-inflicted.

However, the government has a duty to protect the minority and the weak and I must say that as far as Malaysia is concerned, the government does not have the courage to face race relation as the British government has .

Skinheads and right-wingers are a minority in UK yet their actions on individual minorities do send out racist impression of white British If a few Malaysians made a bad name of themselves, this, too, in today's media centric world, will translate into that 'all Malaysians are alike'.

I do know a lot of Malaysians in Britain choose to stay because of they have been in UK for long and they don't want to return home as they don't know how to play politics (many businesses in Malaysia are politically-affiliated) as good as the locals there.

I can't verify whether Hantuimc actually skipped one year in medical studies or not but I do know of friends who reduced a year of their studies in UMIST and at the University of Buckingham, so that kind of situation is not unheard of, though rare.

To Hantuimc, I would suggest he should research for himself the rules and regulations for the setting up of a clinic first if that is what he would like to do upon returning to Malaysia. From his letter, I wonder to what extent that he has blended himself into British society.

To Dr Avicenna, I wish everybody were as optimistic as him and this should be the attitute Malaysian politicians should have. They should not always talk about racial rhetoric but on how they can improve people's life in general.

If they don't, our next generation would be plagued by racism as today's generation is.

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