I refer to the letter Non-Malays shouldn't worry about Utusan's ranting .

I read with dismay the writer's letter concerning the economic state of Malays in the country.

While he is correct to say that the economic state of Malays in the country need to be improved, I disagree with his (very common) premise that if all the non-Malays left, everything in this country would be great.

And that the Malays would be able to take over all the non-Malay monopolies in business and improve their economic standing.

Unfortunately, this is not true. If it were, the people living in the African nations (that have a low immigrant population percentage) would be rich.

A country's GDP per capita is not fixed; it is a function of the people's productivity. If all non-Malays left the country, the country's GDP per capita would drop; leaving the poor Malays equally as poor (in fact, poorer).

The cycle of poverty is not confined to any race, but is similar for all people - Malay, Chinese, black or white. There have been many studies on effective measures to break out of poverty.

Ironically, it is the opposition, not Umno, that is championing these measures. M Bakri Musa has written on many of these ideas; like paying parents to keep children in school, stopping overseas scholarships, minimum wage, etc.

They simply need to be studied and implemented by the government.

I firmly believe that for Malaysia to move forward, we must do two things. The first one is very prevalent in the alternative media today and which is meritocracy, accountability and transparency.

However, the second, which is equally important, is to replace the race-based affirmative action programme to a needs-based affirmative action programme.

The program itself must move beyond just racial quotas to actually meeting the needs of the poor (regardless of race) and ensuring that they have a shot to break out of the poverty cycle.