Just the other day, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched a national five-year campaign to promote good values among the rakyat.

He said the country's aim to become a developed nation hinged on the cultivation of correct values and culture among the people which include '... transparency, trustworthiness, integrity, fairness, honesty and accountability'.

Now, allow me to digress momentarily.

Vernacular schools have been playing an active role in providing education disregard of the background, belief and race of the students. The existence of these schools alleviates in a way the burden on the government in terms of resources and management.

These schools have benefited many from generation to generation. Their contributions toward nation-building all these years deserve due recognition. However, the government has never been sincere about them.

This can be seen from the 'Skim Pinjaman Buku Teks' implemented by Education Ministry which explicitly promotes discrimination and partiality. The 'Dasar Kelayakan Pinjaman Buku Teks' as printed on form Lampiran 1 (SPBT 1-Pin.7/01) (SPBT 1A) is nothing but a clear manifestation of disparity and unfairness in the distribution of textbooks to students.

When the government starts a project, whose money do they use? Ours. The proud multi-racial raykat's. When the government distributes benefits, whose money do they use? Yes, you are right. It is also ours.

But who deserves benefits? Apparently, not all of us. For not all of the rakyat have special rights.

Now, can someone please enlighten me whether the 'Skim Pinjaman Buku Teks' advocates the good values espoused by our prime minister which include ' ... transparency, integrity, trustworthiness, fairness, honesty and accountability'?

Are national policies being made and implemented with these intended good values? If yes, please accept my apology. If no, then, there is certainly an urgent need to instill courtesy and good values among our policymakers.

The mentality of the rakyat reflects the impact of government policies. In other words, policies shape the mentality of the rakyat. Therefore, it is important to have policies that advocate good values. To do so, logically, policymakers should first possess these good values.

By the way, are our children reading the same textbook? Yes, of course. However, the difference is that some are provided by the 'Skim', while others have to be bought with their parents' hard-earned money.