While Lee Kuan Yew's insipid allegation is still being talked about, isn't it hilarious that the 2005 Miss USA runner-up Monica Pang plans to live and work in Malaysia. Monica (who is Miss Georgia) was born there to a Malaysian father from Kluang, Johor and an American mother.

"I see a lot opportunities here," says Miss Pang, "but first I must learn Mandarin and later Bahasa Malaysia."

She is right indeed. There would be plenty of commercials, product endorsements, TV hosting, acting, perhaps singing, the lot.

Product managers at Lever Brothers, Proctor and Gamble, etc, would fall over themselves for Pang's signature because for an exotic beauty like her the sky's the limit, not just Malaysia but also Singapore, Taiwan, Hongkong or even Japan and China.

Pang said she also came back to renew her ties with her grandmother in Kluang because the last time they met when she was 13, they couldn't communicate at all - she didn't know Mandarin and her grandma couldn't speak English.

Still, Pang need not rush to learn Bahasa Malaysia because like other foreign-born TV personalities, like Jojo Struys, English is a good enough passport to making a fortune in Malaysia.

After all, Malaysia has more or less (like Singapore) abandoned Bahasa Malaysia. On TV, BM is already seldom heard while BM subtitles in TV programmes is a disgrace.

Thus, Malaysian beauties like Michelle Yeoh (a Dato too) and Malaysian-born artistes, models, etc, can make a fortune here as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Singapore and China where the Malay and Indian girls can only dream about.

Let's face it, the Chinese as well as the Indians are now the global citizens because the Indian or the Chinese diaspora are the ready-made markets for all their business endeavours.

As for the Malays, they can't even penetrate the Indonesian market due to the language problem (can you believe that?) and the low disposable income there. In fact, it is the other way round.