I refer to to Sadirah K's letter entitled 'De-racialising' the NEP . Sadirah K's views are clear and simple. But yet they are crucial for Malaysia's long-term survival. Sadirah's last paragraph really hit me:

'How do we 'de-racialise' our nation? If we continue with the present process, we will de-humanise one another and when this is done, the justification to treat one another without respect will grow. Without a transcending belief in the human being we can never work for justice and when we do not do so, we not only condemn ourselves but also give no hope to the future.'

It is time we move on. Folks, lets us hold back the criticisms for now and focus on coming up with constructive suggestions on how we can get all this racial baggage behind us and move on. Like it or not, we are here together in Malaysia. We all love Malaysia and we all have our part to do to make Malaysia a better country for our young ones, for our children's future.

Yes, how do we de-racialise? How do we get there? How do we come up with an alternative NEP policy that does not racialise? What must be done to reach this goal? What programme or forum can we come up with that can to lead us to that objective? Who must evangelise the merits and demerits of a new NEP? How do we come up with a new and creative approach that creates wealth? Which platform do we use?

Who must we meet? What must we do to get our government to support it? Which forum must we engage? Who can take the lead? Are they economists out there that can provide alternative approaches? Is there a mechanism that clearly gets the rich bumis of today to help the poor bumis without marginalizing others? Can the government come up with incentives to reward such measures? Likewise, can the rich in all the communities help their marginalised kin? And can our government come up with incentives to reward such measures too?

Let us now be bold and embrace each other. Stop criticising the NEP that we have but instead analyse what went wrong with it? Who is responsible? What we can we do now for our nation to make things better in a true 'Malaysia Boleh' spirit?

Can the rakyat fund Malaysian consultants/professionals to come up with several models of alternative NEP? Should we start the ball rolling by seeking donations from the rakyat to get proper professionals to come up with an alternative NEP? Let them focus on creative measures that help all Malaysians. Creative measures that can help Malaysians to be world's best in securing new opportunities, business and in wealth creation.

If I may be bold, I would also like to seek our beloved prime minister's permission for this initiative. Mr Prime Minister, can we, the rakyat, the ordinary citizens of Malaysia, with the full spirit of Malaysia Boleh get your blessing for this initiative? Let it be independent of political pressure, independent of political parties' agenda, independent of pressure from any NGO. Let it be purely a rakyat's initiative for Malaysia.

The rakyat should move to get our political parties to debate the effectiveness of the measures to be proposed by the professionals rather then harp on racial issues. Can we, with the help of the consultants, organise forums, dialogues and debates before tabulating all the findings?

This should be the first step we take in moving on and not continuing to get stuck in racial-based discussions.