I would like to comment on the letter Consider the position of minorities elsewhere .

In Malaysia, racial discrimination is institutionalised, in Singapore perhaps it is done tacitly. In the public sector in Malaysia, it is no coincidence to note that the majority who hold the top posts are the bumiputeras.

In the private sector, if the company is owned by a non-bumiputera, by and large the top positions will not be held by non-bumiputeras. Two years ago, my friend read an advertisement in a Chinese daily. The vacancy was for the post of a receptionist cum clerk in a large firm, the requirement being female and the ability to speak and write Mandarin, English and Bahasa Malaysia, etc.

My friend is of mixed parentage (Indian-Chinese) with a Hindu name. She had all the required qualifications and experience for the post but she did not get the job. The decision makers of the firm told her after the interview that they wanted a Chinese.

Though this may be an isolated incident, the point is that non-bumiputeras practise racial discrimination against non-bumiputeras too. This is a fact.

At the first Pan-African Conference in 1900, the great African-American social justice activist and scholar, WEB Dubois made a prediction. He said, '... the problem of the 20th century [would be] the problem of the colour line, the relationship between the darker and lighter races of men in Africa, Asia and in the islands of the sea'.

Though we are already in the 21st century, his prediction still holds water.