I refer to the Indians need to be spoken with, not spoken to .

I agree with the view that the Umno-dominated bureaucracy under its political masters have been administrating this country with racial and religious bias, resulting in considerable injustice being inflicted upon non-Malays and non-Muslims.

Apart from the examples given by the writer, thousands of non-Muslim citizens in Sabah have been denied citizenship status due to not having birth certificates or having lost their blue ICs, as exemplified by the recent case of an old Sino-Kadazan lady in Sabah who was denied replacement of her lost blue IC.

In fact, I have said in my article that all races in Malaysia other than the Umnoputras have fallen victim to Umno/BN’s corrupt, racist and elitist rule. Thus, my statement ‘Indians had not been singled out for marginalisation’ remains true, as other races have also suffered discrimination.

Regarding comments that Pakatan Rakyat state governments could have done more for the poor such as giving out land, scholarships, youth training etc, I think these are all being done - irrespective of race - within their limited financial capacities, such as land titles being given out in Perak, limited free water in Selangor and Penang, financial assistance for tertiary students and for families suffering the loss of their lost ones etc in Selangor, just to mention a few.

One must not forget that the incomes of state governments are negligible compared to those of the federal government. As an example (as pointed out in my article), the Selangor government’s budget is not even one percent of the federal budget.

With regards to transparency, I believe PR state governments have already started practicing open and competitive tenders when giving out state government contracts as well as inviting open tenders when disposing state lands.

These measures will bring considerable savings, improve qualities of works, as well as boosting incomes for the various state governments.