It is sad to hear that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again labelled yet another peaceful and decent group of Malaysians as "extremists".

I refer, of course, to his speech in the MCA general assembly in which the Umno president targetted Chinese educationists.

Though I am English-educated, I respect the Chinese educationists who have fought hard since colonial days for their rights to mother tongue education. They are no different from the Muslims in PAS who strive to preserve the Islamic education system, or Indians, their Tamil schools.

Malaysia is no longer a British colony. While we must improve the proficiency of the English language to face the challenges of gobalisation, we must reject and oppose mental neo-colonialism, as well as English chauvinism.

Mahathir should remember he is elected by Malaysians, not appointed by a foreign power to rule Malaysia as governor-general.

However, I am not surprised at Mahathir's outburst. Everytime he faces personal and political problems, he inevitably likes to find scapegoats and labels others as "extremists", "fanatics", "communists" or "CIA". without thinking of the feeling of other people. It is socially irresponsible, to say the least.

It is also a reflection of a very unhealthy psychology that lacks the capacity for self-reflections and self-examination. It stems from cultural insecurity and spiritual inferiority complexes.