The very term Ketuanan Melayu (Malay hegemony) reflects the mind and ideology of the party that supports it. This notion reveals that there are two players, the host and the guest in the society of Malaysia.

It is not whether you are born in the glorious land of Malaysia that make you a true Malaysian, it is the ethnic background you come from. There are certain protocols when the guest are in the host home. You are only at home to the extent the host makes you feel at home.

My six-year-old son asked if he could be prime minister of Malaysia. As always a thousand or so possible answer filled my head, and I as the wise old dad have to give an answer within a a reasonable time. No, you are Chinese?, No, we Chinese are minorities?, Good ambition son, perhaps one day?

Realizing however that as long as we have a political system that is based on race, we will never do any selection based on merit. It will be too sensitive. As long as we have the present ruling elite we call BN made up of three main races, we the 'non-bumis' will always be 'guests' in Malaysia. This is a very hurtful.

What is hopeful though is what Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said about the Chinese at the last Umno general assembly.

The hardworking and industrious have survived and thrived in Malaysia despite the odds.

For the Chinese in Malaysia, from the day we can say "papa, mama", we are told to work hard or you'll go hungry. You will not have a place in university, you will not have a good job, you will not get a promotion etc.

We sweat and we toil so we can have a good life in the land we were born in and grown to love. Yet there is a group of people, powerful people, who say, you are merely a guest here and we can take what you built anytime anywhere.

But that's ok. The very fact that element exists is the very reason our children will continue to work hard. It is the very reason character is built.