The case of the Lingam video tape scandal is about two non-Malays – VK Lingam and Vincent Tan – taking advantage of a number of Malays holding very senior positions in the judiciary. This was possible because of a very serious flaw in the system – the New Economic Policy (NEP).

The NEP has given rise to a weakness that's being exploited by Lingam and Tan – it is a weakness of character that exists in places where it should not exist, in this case the highest positions in the judiciary.

And why does this weakness exist? It exists because the affirmative action policies prescribed by the NEP remove competition, allowing weak individuals, whose only strengths lie in their abilities to conspire and connive with the politicians of the day, to get themselves promoted to powerful positions.

Join Umno and make some noise. Just as in the old USSR, join the party and you become a member of the elite Politburo. And why do people try so hard to please their political masters to get into these positions? Because the money is good once you get there. And it's not the salary, perks or pension that people are after - it's the patronage of the rich and good-paying businessmen.

The brilliant system of the NEP, the system that has almost totally eliminated non-Malays from senior positions, is seen as a symbol of Ketuanan Melayu or Malay Supremacy. And the Umno-led government has been boasting about this to win the votes of the majority.

But is it ‘supremacy’ when two individuals are buying and selling high court and appeals court judges with holiday trips (just how much is a holiday to New Zealand, really?) and expensive gifts?

These judges are willing to sell their souls and principles so easily because they know that if they don't, they will be the isolated fools who don’t do what their top bosses do. The Lingam tape scandal shows just how the non-Malays are getting around the Umno-promoted ‘Malay Supremacy’ concept.

This is not a celebration of Malay supremacy; it's a mockery of Malay honour and integrity. And this is the result of the NEP’s affirmative action policies. It's happening everywhere, and the Lingam scandal is just one lucky story that got out, thanks to Loh Mui Fah and son. There are tens of thousands of such scandals going on everyday.

Anyway, the Lingam video is about fixing the appointment of the chief justice and some court of appeal judges – these events don’t really affect most of us. But the real scandal that affects us all is that the fixing and buying and selling of government approvals have reached disgusting levels in every sector. One need not list these sectors because it is almost exhaustive.

There is a cost to all this and, as usual, the cost is always passed down to the end-consumers – the people of Malaysia. It's being paid by the poor Malays, mostly because Malays make up 60 percent or more of the population.

So does the NEP leave the middle-income and lower-income groups of (mostly) Malays feeling very ‘superior’ to others, when they are actually paying for the excesses of the government?

Go ahead and continue with the NEP’s affirmative action policies. As a character in the movie ‘Jurassic Park’ said, ‘Life will find its way’ – for the non-Malays too. Businessmen, especially the non-Malay businessmen who don't want to stand in line to get their turn, will get even more inventive. Soon there will even be a catalogue over everybody's head – from the chief justice to the attorney-general to the chief secretary and even to the prime minister.

Chaos didn’t erupt for the first time when the Lingam tapes were released, this actually happened 20 years ago when the Lord President was removed and the entire judiciary was turned upside down on its head. The Lingam tape case is just the fallout of that earlier episode.

I don't know what people were thinking when they continued to vote for the same coalition. But keep it up and the next tape that surfaces in 10 years might be even more interesting.

If the Lingam tape episode is likened to a scene from some Tamil movie, the tape that might surface in 10 years time could be like a scene from some James Bond movie, in which senior ministers sell off the country to foreign powers. Our newly purchased submarine could end up in the hands of arms traders and even the Petronas Twin Towers could end up with casino operators from Las Vegas or Macau.

One can extrapolate anything from the Lingam tapes, why not these possibilities?

So keep at it, keep the NEP going and keep the affirmative action policies alive. The majority of Malaysians will ‘feel superior’ at the expense of one race's honour, integrity and long-term economic welfare, not to mention that of the nation too.