'My fellow Malaysians, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.' Unfortunately for all of us, this altruistic line does not work in Malaysia. Sad but true. After almost 48 years of independence, our nation is still governed by the divide-and-rule principle and race-oriented policies, actively promulgated by the ruling racially-based political parties.

Many experienced and patriotic Malaysians, including those who have worked for many years overseas, want to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the progress and welfare of the nation by applying to work with various government or government-related organisations and agencies.

However, for most of them, their efforts are futile. Contrary to commonsense, during this K-economy era, their knowledge is not needed to serve this nation. Is it because most of these Malaysians belong to ethnic groups deemed to be undesirable by the various government or government-related organisations and agencies?

Why is it that many civil servants who are empowered to employ staff feel that it is alright for them to ignore the applications of fellow citizens who are suitably qualified and who want to contribute because they are of a different ethnic group? Such wanton and deliberate waste has been happening over the last 30 years.

Hence, besides palm oil, petroleum, and other products, Malaysia generously exports trained citizens; citizens that the nation had spent a lot for their education, be it primary, secondary, or tertiary. Citizens prized by other nations but intentionally discarded by our own motherland.

In a way, we are a good neighbour to many countries because we diligently practise 'prosper thy neighbour' policy by directly or indirectly encouraging many of our talented citizens to leave the country to serve other nations.

While we are losing talent, we are also experiencing another national disaster that compounds the competitiveness of our nation. Unfortunately for all of us, there are among us who believe in: 'My fellow Malaysians, ask not what your country can offer you, ask not what you can do for your country; ask what and how much you can squeeze from your country'.

These are Malaysians who have insatiable greed. Many of them, who might hail from impoverished households, have benefitted from the generous race-biased policy that has paid for their education and enabled them to have well-paid, cozy jobs (easily with four or five-figure monthly salaries) and subsidised houses. In principle, this is alright as fellow Malaysians who need help to improve their social standing should be assisted.

By right, it should now be pay-back time. These people should help to uplift other less fortunate citizens. However, they want more. Despite having benefitted from one generation of assistance and despite their wealth (a lot more than many average Malaysian households), they want the nation to continue supporting their children.

They want easy access to wealth (for example, by having Approved Permits to import cars) to become richer and richer, at the expense of the nation. Pray tell me, how long can our motherland sustain this unending hemorrhage of national wealth?