I refer to the letter JJ didn't mean to insult student by Abdul Kadir Azhari.

Incident 1 I am unclear how Jamaludin Jarjis' comments on S Samy Vellu's importance as a scholarship distributor for Indian Malaysians is particularly relevant to Sheena, since the event in question had nothing to do with scholarship distribution or anything related.

Furthermore, the fact that he brought it up once to interrupt Sheena and then repeated it, could easily have been interpreted to imply that all Indian Malaysians present there should be indebted to Samy Vellu for his assistance in the provision of scholarships for this community.

Kadir alludes to this as much in his letter. Such an implication would sound ridiculous to students such as Sheena, whose education, as I understand, is being supported by her sister, Dr Sheela Moorthy. This is not to imply that Indian Malaysians should not feel gratitude towards certain Malaysian political leaders, rather that such sentiment is appropriately expressed by the individuals themselves and not insinuated in an artificial manner at a public gathering.

Incident 3 Based on Kadir's observations, I would concur that JJ's comments were unlikely to have skin colour as their basis, and may have been misinterpreted as being racially discriminatory. However, it is not clear why discrimination based on appearance and dressing as opposed to skin colour, would suddenly now make the 'joke' more palatable.

Amazingly enough, Kadir almost makes it appear a criminal offence for Sheena to have been dressed the way she was at that event. Not only are JJ's remarks excused as being intentionally misinterpreted by Sheena, in addition she now finds herself implied to be partially responsible for those remarks in the first place! Perhaps this runs in line with the mentality that blames women for being raped because they were dressed provocatively in the first instance?

Kadir's last sentence in his letter is a very telling one. The fact that a minister apologised for a sensitive remark that has clearly upset someone (regardless of whether it had been misinterpreted or not), is deemed to be a 'great and generous' gesture on his 'honourable' part.

This conjures up a vision of mighty and faultless leaders to whom the general population is obligated to in unending adulation and subservience to; a vision which probably holds true for Kadir and JJ.

It shouldn't come as a surprise then, when remarks that flow from this worldview receive a jarring reception by others who come from another world where ministers are civil servants and are held accountable to the general public that elect them.