While Malaysian leaders have been busy exhorting the world to find the root cause of terrorism and getting nowhere, True Malaysian ( Address root causes of racial divide, Dr M ) has hit the bull's-eye with his comments on the root cause of racial polarisation in this country.

It is "decades of institutionalised discrimination and racism" that has driven the ethnic groups further and further apart.

As for Mahathir's latest invention — non-military national service — to forge national unity, what stronger indictment on this proposal do we need when we hear the letter writer ask: "If I can't be 'patriotic' after nine years as a military officer, what does the government expect from a short stint at the national service camp?"

So long as Barisan Nasional continues to ignore this fatal root cause of national disunity, devices purportedly to achieve unity, such as "vision school", "unity clubs in universities" and the latest "national service", will remain what they are — mere gimmicks that massively waste public funds and time.