After reading Ex-officer's letter Non-Malays not the enemies , a few non-Malay Malaysians have compared the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) with the Singapore Armed Force (SAF) as they believe both practise some form of discrimination against the minority races.

SAF was said at one time not to allow Malay personnel fly their fighter jet planes as it doubted their loyalty if Singapore were to go to war with a Muslim country (i.e. Indonesia, Iraq, etc) and that SAF believed the Muslim pilots may be put in a vulnerable position having to choose between fighting against their 'brethen' or defending their own country.

I do not however agree with the writer's view that MAF is the same as SAF. Although MAF practises flagrant racial discrimination in promotions, I do not believe the armed forces chiefs doubt our patriotism or loyalty in defending our country should we even go to war with China (of course there were cases where disgruntled Malay soldiers had branded Chinese Malaysians communists).

In MAF, we used to have (not sure about now) non-Malays flying the fighter jet planes and commanding warships. Though I must add that most of us spent our entire career in the MAF in peace time and took our career as another form of employment.

However, after experiencing racial discrimination in the Malaysian Navy, I will certainly not encourage my children to join the armed forces or the police.