May I comment on a few facts in Ex-Officer's letter Non-Malays not the 'enemies' .

There is no national policy hitherto  secondly, to get medals and be promoted; thirdly, to acquire influential staff postings in the defence ministry and fourthly to protect a few generals from being exposed in their dealings with companies selling arms and related products to the ministry. They employ rumour-mongering, whisper campaigns and surat layang (poison pen letters).

It has been my experience that high-calibre Malay officers treat non-Malays as equals, interact well with them socially and some even married non-Malay women.

The solution to this unprofessional behaviour in the army is to raise the entry qualifications for cadetship. All potential officers irrespective of ethnicity must have some tertiary education. At the moment, most Malay cadets, unlike their non-Malay colleagues, are poor in English. The current requirement of a basic school certificate for entry is ridiculous and grossly out of date. In this respect, the armed forces should emulate the police force where the cadets are of higher quality.

My brother and I have given 56 years of service to the army, not to mention my father who was killed in action. After serving 20 years, I applied to the army's selection board to retire. Since there was no reply, I wrote to the late premier Hussein Onn Jaafar in his capacity as chairperson of the Armed Forces Council.

I was told to appear before him for a 'chat' for five minutes. When I went into his office, I was surprised there was nobody else around. He said, "Sit down, this is soldier to soldier". The 'chat' went on for 67 minutes.

I explained to him, among other things, the level of discomfort of my non-Malay officers and men. I told him politely that the bullets of the enemies that we have fought against were not selective in their targets. Everybody got killed.

He adamantly said that there was no policy of discrimination and there never would be. It was one meeting that I will never forget. He was a deeply decent man of reason.

As I said goodbye, he said something and burst into laughter. I came out of his office laughing. My lawyer who was waiting outside asked, "What are you laughing about?"

I answered that the PM had just told me to get a hair cut. As I walked onto the sunshine, I faded forever from the profession of arms I had loved so much.