When I was studying in United Kingdom, I experienced first hand racist remarks such as 'black bastards' and 'go home, you are not wanted here', just to name a few. The first time I heard them, I was stunned. Then I realised these remarks were just made by the lower-income class whites who actually felt threatened by the presence of foreigners in their country allegedly stealing their jobs.

Malaysia may practice race-based politics but our forefathers have groomed us well, that we must always respect the other person no matter of what their race and religion and especially foreigners. We will never allow our children to shout and scream to another foreigner and this makes Asians outstanding people in terms of respecting values and cultures.

The killer in the Virginia State University shooting incident is not a product of the Asian culture but of the American's. He had been living in America for the past 15 years. One can only develop so much of hatred after going through so much disappointments.

There are many immigrants living in the US making an honest living but no matter what form of discrimination one might face, nothing can justify taking another human life. From this tragic event, many unwanted questions have been answered while at the same time prompting many more issues to be discussed.

The Americans need to ask themselves where they are heading. Will the Americans put as much effort that they have in massive inventions and technologies that go beyond space to adapting themselves to the rest of the world?

The rest of the world may move a little slower and not see eye-to-eye on how the future should be. Should that be reason enough to lose respect or tolerance of one another? Being a superpower comes with great responsibilities and, of course, a tendency towards arrogance. It is this arrogance that prompted the Virginia State killings.

Back to my university days. I tolerated the verbal abuses then as I was only going to be there for only a short while. I also had a strange experience of being pounced upon by a teenager who just wanted to surprise me (which he did). It's strange to think that a fully-developed country has little or no respect whatsoever for people of different races and cultures.

Ask any who have studied in the UK or US, they would share some form of discrimination. Ask a foreign student in Asia? Yes, there may be some form of discrimination but I guarantee no one will shout in your face 'f*** off white bastard' as you are walking down the street.