Much has been written about the plight of Malaysians of Indian origin. It was particularly painful to read Just Another Indian. However I must add that I am puzzled why Indian parents send their children to unrecognised medical schools in the first place then arm-twist poor minister S Samy Vellu to get these dubious degrees recognised. This is agonising to the medical students and their parents, but I cannot bring myself to sympathise with this lot.

The issue of having two Indian cabinet ministers keeps popping up. Do people seriously believe that the lot of Indians will be any different if there were two - or even three - ministers from the community? On a lighter vein I cannot resist adding that there are indeed a few ministers (besides Samy Vellu) - at least three cabinet ministers I can think of, who are ethnic Tamils but for reasons that are obvious, call themselves Malays!

So, stop harassing poor minister Samy Vellu and let him get on with his job. Even if, as some argue, only a few Indians benefit from his leadership, that's good enough and I hope their success will have a domino effect on the rest of the community.

In the meanwhile, let's not lose hope. Don't forget, we have been blessed with great linguistic skills. Let's capitalise on that and master the English language, dress smartly, get rid of that untidy oily look and we will realise we are second to none. In this globalised world, the concept of nationhood is becoming more and more irrelevant.

Let us look at ourselves as global citizens. Start networking and prosper. Forget handouts - we were never beggars and let's not start becoming one now. When minister Samy Vellu advised medical doctors from unrecognised universities to go and work abroad, he was right one hundred percent.

In my medical practise, I often come across Indians who came from humble backgrounds but have succeeded through sheer hard work. Just look at the scrap metal and lorry transport industries. These people did not wait for government handouts. In time I am confident we will have a tough, street-savvy Indian community in this country, quietly successful and proud that they are self made. It will hardly matter if we do not have so-called adequate political representation. Just look at successful communities throughout the world, many not only have no political representation but have been persecuted by the majority community.

Gentle reader, before you make any conclusion that I talk from an ivory tower, may I emphasise the fact that I come from probably the worst-hit generation of Malaysian Indian students. There were no scholarships, no private universities and no twinning programmes back then. Many of us were saddened but none of us were bitter about it. I even entertained hopes of becoming a senior government doctor despite the glass ceiling that would have prevented me from becoming head of department.

History shows that in every society there were one or two generations who suffered the most but only to produce a subsequent generation that was successful. That is indeed our karma.