Allow me to respond to the letter of Joe Fernandez's letter entitled 'Preposterous to say PM ashamed of Indian roots' (Jan 2).

First of all, let me state at the outset that I am against racism or communalism. I have never voted for Umno, MCA and MIC in my life simply because they are mono-ethnic parties. On this basis, there is nothing wrong for Dr Mahathir to have Indian origins.

However, the political question is whether Mahathir is honest or otherwise to project himself more 'Malay' than the Malays all these years by whipping up anti-Chinese sentiments. During the Suqiu controversy, Mahathir certainly wanted to out-Malay the Malays in PAS and Keadilan who accept Suqiu as the legitimate aspiration of the Chinese community.

Is it right for a half-Indian, half-Malay to promote the ideology of 'Malay domination' to its extreme in the form of Umno Baru, and at the expense of the Malay masses (also represented now by PAS and Keadilan), Chinese, Indians, Ibans and Kadazans?

May be the constant urge and tendency for Mahathir to outdo other Malays and Muslims have nothing to do with psychological inferiority complexes. But it certainly has to do with political opportunism that thrives on racial and religious insecurities.