COMMENT | Columnist Mariam Mokhtar in her piece “The farce and tragedy of the word bumiputera” concluded that this was not solely a Malay problem but a Malaysian one.

I wish this was so but unfortunately, it is not. First of all, there is no such thing as “Malaysian”. I know people get upset when I say this but everything from the Constitution to the political system is not reflective of a unified polity.

Someone like me - and I am sure I am not alone - understands what it feels like to be “Malaysian”. I served king and country at a time when the polarisation was less severe. When there was this feeling, this post-Merdeka feeling, that we were all in this together.

I served alongside Malays and non-Malays who understood we were part of nation-building and we worked alongside a civil service apparatus which not only complemented our mindset but was staffed by a diverse group of bureaucrats who believed that the country came first...