The 49th MCA annual general assembly in Kuala Lumpur recently was indeed a tame affair without much excitement.

It was not the party's 'peace plan' that muzzled the crowd. Rather, it was the presence of an all-imposing 'peacemaker' — Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad — whose opening speech effectively stunned all into silence.

He said:

"Extremism breeds extremism. When an extremist group from one race does not respect another race, then the other race will retaliate with more extreme actions. This will escalate to an open hatred among the races."

He said racial polarisation had turned worse over the years compared to his time.

"When I was a university student, my roommate was a Chinese. We did not have any problems staying together and we were good friends. To this day, he still practises his culture and I am no less a Malay and a Muslim.

"But in universities today, students of different races can't even sit together in the lecture hall. There are no ties of being Malaysians among them."

I wonder if Mahathir ever gave a thought to how all these came into place? Why it did not happen in his time but it does now?

In my opinion, the said 'extremism' started with the introduction of National Education Policy and National Development Policy, initiated after he took the helm. Mahathir, as the prime minister, enforced these affirmative policies to try to narrow the gap between the various races in Malaysia.

The plan and its intention seemed noble but the implementation and unchecked action of the downstream policy implementers narrowed it into a launch pad for corruption and suppression (of other races).

It debased the education system, and spawned a 'privileged' class. The quality of local universities took a dive along with English proficiency among the students. The result was an outflow of bright and talented minds to greener pasture.

The NEP and NDP did not meet their objectives as planned.

The other races also felt they were unfairly treated with the denial of varsity allocation though they were better qualified. They became more protective of their right to an education of their choice. Hence, their insistence on maintaining the

status quo .

If the teaching of science and mathematics in English is proven to be a better option, I think no one would be foolish enough not to adopt it. It is better for people to have a choice than to force them into doing something against their will.

Mahathir acted in bad faith when he accused these Chinese educationists of being extremists and breeding Malay extremism when it was actually his policies that were responsible for it!

It may be possible that those present at the AGM were too disgusted to react to the threats, hence the 'tame' affair.