The Malays (or bumiputras) have been blamed for the woes of their non-Malay brethren. This I believe stems from the fact that the majority of the leaders of the country at the federal and state levels are Malays. And the many national policies on education, etc, seem to give preference to them as it is part and parcel of the Federal Constitution.

If we are to look back at the early history of Malaysia, we can easily find documents stating that the Chinese are more than happy if they were given citizenship, because they refused to return to their motherland, China.

Nobody forced them to remain in Malaya then. And it was the Malay leaders who gave them citizenships that they badly needed failing which all of them had to return to China and live in a political system that they didn't like.

All Malay leaders be they in the government or the opposition, believed that the Malays had been shortchanged when the country was under the British rule. So it is now their responsibility to address this issue which brought them to power, in the first place.

If Malay-based national political parties refuse to acknowledge that this perennial problem still exists and do nothing about it, they may be voted out.

This is the wider picture that our non-Malay brethren have to take into account, lest they will be barking up the wrong tree all the time.

Thus everybody must use a cool head when taking part in a debate of this nature.

Any race's development in our contemporary Malaysian economy must be seen in the wider context of the national economy and not merely what one non-Malay can see in his or her plate.

The truth of the matter is that the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, are still ahead in all areas and not just education.

But this situation is set to change as the Malay mind set is fast changing. There are now better qualified Malays in all fields and examination results are showing Malay students performing better.

So no wonder non-Malays feel that they are being given 'second-class' treatment or worse, being treated like 'second-class citizens' as some of them have alleged. These two descriptions do not make sense anymore these days because any Malay can also claim to be treated like 'second-class citizens' too just because his son or daughter is not given a scholarship or study loan.

I hate to say this but most, if not all, of these non-Malays who do that are mostly those who are directly affected by the so-called woes. And their opinions on this issue are predictable, the only difference perhaps is their variation and emotional levels and logic.

What I am really interested to know is what the prominent Chinese families have to say about the so-called 'racial discrimination' in Malaysia. Surprisingly, none of these people have said a word about racial discrimination in Malaysia.

The Chinese whose views I would like to know are people like Lim Goh Tong, Yeoh Tiong Lay, Vincent Tan, Lee Kim Yew, Ling Liong Sik and other MCA leaders

It will also be interesting to hear from Indian political and business leaders like Samy Vellu, Subramaniam, Kayveas, Ananda Krishnan and others.

The one question which I want to ask them is: Is there racial discrimination in Malaysia and does the Malay-controlled federal and state governments practise this policy?

To those Chinese and Indians who are so incensed with racial discrimination, I would like to invite them to investigate whether racial discrimination exists in the PAS-controlled states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

And please also investigate if the Chinese-controlled Gerakan government of Pulau Pinang is also guilty of practising racial discrimination — this time it is on the Malays!

Here is an example. I remember being invited to go on a tour of Penang with 60 other travel writers from overseas, and the three places that the state authorities had arranged for us to see were all Chinese temples! Surely, they could have shown us the tourist attractions of the other races as well.

The truth of the matter is that the so-called 'racial discrimination' practised by the Malay-controlled federal government benefited the non-Malays as well. It is only the small number of Chinese from the working class who are affected and it is this group of people who are complaining the loudest.

It is also interesting to observe the situation in Singapore and ask whether the Chinese-controlled government of Singapore practises racial discrimination. My opinion is that they do, only under the veil of 'meritocracy.'

I hope this article will give other non-Malays and Malays new grounds to cover if they wish to continue with this debate.