Of course, I find FN's letter Chinese M'sians must accept their lot offensive. I had wanted to respond to it like what Grey Yeoh and CK Poh did, but changed my mind.

I think there is no point talking to someone with FN's mentality. Whatever we point out to him, however logically and practical, would be deemed otherwise. This is because FN's attitude, mentality and upbringing are conditioned to respond the way he did. He cannot rise above that.

If I had wanted to be like the racist FN is and lower myself to his level, I would say this: 'Go on thinking the way you do, FN because you and those Malaysians who think like you, are what is giving other Malaysians who are not so lucky (because they are immigrants) the very impetus to succeed'. A lecturer once said that success comes about because of need, not because we are all sitting comfortable and contented with our lot. He is clever and right.

I am actually flattered by FN's comments because he is implying that the non-Malays are far more superior. Or is he saying that the Malays are an inferior race and therefore must be given every assistance just to compete with the others? Are non-Malays of superior stock? If we were, God is unfair. But no, we are not superior.

We are just driven by the need to survive, the aspiration to be better than our fathers, and by our conviction that to succeed, one has to work hard. To drive big cars and live in big houses, one must study hard and actually perform at work. From young, we know that if we don't do well, no one is going to help us, no one is going to bail us out.

But because I am not a racist like FN, I am actually sad on behalf of my Malay friends and family (there is a smart, progressive-thinking Malay engineer in my family). Sad because the NEP has reduced them to a race perceived to be inferior. Like it or not, because of NEP, the Malays are perceived to be less competent at work but their employment in many big companies are tolerated because of the entrenched quota system.

No matter how smart, no matter how capable, no matter how high up the corporate ladder they have climbed, it will always be assumed that they got there because of the NEP, because of government handouts, because they think the whole world owes it to them.

I am really sad for those far-thinking Malays like Mohd Said who want to be able to hold their heads up, not just in Malaysia, but anywhere in the world; who want to stand up on their own two feet; and who want to know the pride and glory of real achievement attained through one's blood, sweat and tears.

Continue the NEP and the Malays will find it hard to be taken seriously beyond our borders in the very near future. Continue the NEP and another crippled Malay generation will be before us. Continue the NEP, Umno leaders, if you can find it in your heart to do so to your own.