Congratulations to Restless Native and his very thoughtful piece on Malaysia's being an 'also ran' in relation to other the Pacific Rim countries and also his concern at Malaysian immigration policies favouring immigrants from Muslim countries.

Could these policies be the result of the government's failure to persuade Malaysians who are doing extremely well overseas to return home?

If we lose our best and attract only those whose essential qualifications must include being of the Muslim faith but not necessarily Bahasa Malaysia speaking, then a severe, continuing brain drain must be the consequence.

As long as this sort of myopic administrative interpretation of immigration policies exist, Malaysia will always play 'catch-up' and our brightest and best will stay emigrated.