No doubt Tunku Abdul Rahman and the other Umno founding fathers must be turning in their graves looking at the religious mess the country finds itself in today. Unfortunately, somewhere along the nation-building road, the Malays have forsaken the spirit of racial tolerance amongst Malaysians in favour of a more belligerent fundamentalist Islamic stance, which Dr Mahathir Mohamad unwittingly promoted. Were Mahathir's to rewrite his book, The Malay Dilemma , today, my guess is that he would have to add yet another dimension to his criticism of the Malays.

In his original thesis, he argued that the spoonfeeding of Malays under the NEP, etc. fostered an entitlement attitude which benefitted the Malays but also allowed mediocrity to flourish. For those who argue that this is a racist sentiment and the Malays have earned their rightful place amongst the captains of industry, banking, senior civil servants, etc, why then is it necessary for the government to keep extending the NEP (since renamed)?

A person not weaned of his/her crutches, will never be able to stand tall. What I find sadly amusing is the pompous attitude of a great many Malays in 'high office' who would probably never had made it to that position were it not for the NEP.

The other dimension I refer to is the gradual highjacking by Malay religious extremists of what was once a religion of moderation and toleration, both amongst believers and non-Muslims. It would seem the vocal, but militant, minority has become the voice of the silent, moderate majority. If the extremist leadership has its way, there will be as much religious tolerance in Malaysia as there is in Iran. The Umno leadership needs to stop pandering to the religious extremists and instead uphold the principles of religious tolerance as stood for by Umno's founding fathers.

Malaysia is a country that has been blessed with abundant natural resources and a colonial infrastructure that brought prosperity relatively easily post-independence. Prosperity also allowed the country to stumble through the periodic missteps of government policies. However, the crisis at hand will require strong political will to restore the multiracial and religious harmony that once existed in the country. Needless to say, PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has an unenviable job.