I wish to refer to Dr JL's letter Plantation merger: Let's not be too frightened . I happen to be one of those who is indeed very frightened by any initiative by our political leaders, especially when it involved business deals.

The characteristics that stand out invariably smack of racism, nepotism or cronyism and the effects of rent-seeking arrangements which ensure higher costs and lower revenues which work against the success of such initiatives.

Our immediate past prime minister is well-known for his huge ego, which resulted in our showcase Putrajaya, the one-time tallest building in the world in the Petronas Twin Towers, the fast-tracked car manufacturer in Proton and so on. The main complaint against all these initiatives seems to be 'at what cost'? Whenever finance was a problem, Petronas was the saviour as our oil is still available.

Briefly, Putrajaya was built at great cost and its maintenance is going to be burdensome for years to come. Our palatial PM's residence is ostentatious enough to put the British PM's No 10 glorified terrace house to shame. Ludicrous expenses included man-made lakes and bridges for aesthetic reasons.

When completed, only one of the Petronas Twin Towers was occupied. This illustrates how our leaders tend to put form above substance. It is believed the crony who obtained the land title for the original racecourse land made enough to put up his own building nearby. His fast track to mega-bucks is also believed to be oil-driven.

In our haste to be a car manufacturer, car buyers have been forced to pay two to three times more in new car prices so that Proton can remain competitive with others. We are still paying more than necessary in spite of the forthcoming Afta rules.

The highway toll concessions are known to favour the concessionaires leaving motorist no choice but to pay exorbitant toll rates. The North-South Expressway is without doubt a great idea which benefitted the country and the people. But then again, why the secrecy around the its toll concession agreement.

I am surprised that Dr JL thinks we are losing out to Singapore because of our 'village mentality' and not because of our lack of meritocracy. Since the early 70s, non-Malays have been migrating because they are marginalised in Malaysia in terms of education, employment and promotions.

Most of them excel in countries like Britain, the US, Australia and particularly in Singapore. A good example is the ex-CEO of Singapore Airlines who built up Singapore Airlines to be one of the best, if not, the best in the world. Similarly, Professor Wang Gung Wu was credited with the success of Hong Kong University. Both were born in Malaysia.

One of the reasons for India's huge success in IT was its linqua franca being English as a result of British colonial rule. We were in a similar position but unfortunately, because of our nationalistic aspiration to champion Bahasa Malaysia, we are now losing out big time in having graduates who cannot construct a sentence in English properly.

In the case of the Multimedia Super Corridor, I can see again that its failure is due to the familiar 'form over substance' and in putting 'the cart before the horse'. If we trace the success of many IT centres of excellence, like the Silicon Valley, many started from the garage sheds or other similarly humble beginnings. We set up the MSC and invited the top IT leaders to grace its meetings but they came only because they were interested in getting more contracts and not because they like our buildings.

If there is no government intervention and the NEP, in terms of efficiency, the initiative for a giant plantation conglomerate could have come from IOI, KLK or PPB, for example. These plantation companies have proven capabilities. Now, we have a case of Sime Darby's CEO taking the lead when he is not known for his plantation expertise.

Already, the property division is gleefully looking forward to a huge landbank for property development. Do I detect some ulterior motive somewhere?

Finally, Dr JL is already counting the gains to be made by PNB from the increase in share prices of the companies as a result of the merger proposal. If that is a yardstick for the merger, then I think he is missing the wood from the trees.