I have some comments about the 'Managing inter-ethnic relations: challenges and responses' forum held o­n Feb 20.

In your report It's a long, long road to national unity

, Umno Youth exco member, Nur Jazlan Mohamed was quoted as saying that the Chinese education movement Dong Jiao Zong posed dangers of extremism, with a history of antagonism toward Umno Youth.

Well, the antagonism is mutual, and so is the reference to the other party as being extremist. An example being the threat to burn down the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

Nur Jazlan should know that two wrongs do not make a right.

He also said Malay language instruction in all schools and civil service has resulted in "many government departments and the education sector to be dominated by Malay Malaysians (and) this has caused problems for non-Malay Malaysians".

That is a rather greenhorn and simplistic conclusion. Most people know that the reasons for the lack of non-Malays in the government or education sector go far beyond the language instruction issue. Fair competition is the problem.

Prof Jayum Anak Jawan hit the nail o­n the head when he said that the problem with the New Economic Policy (NEP) is not that the policies were not good, but the failure of the civil service to follow the directive.

As an ex-civil servant, I have witnessed self-interest at play in the implementation of government policies. Many times over, even meritocracy among bumiputera was not practised.

I agree with Strategic Analysis Malaysia chief analyst James Wong Wing O­n, who also spoke at the forum, that inter-ethnic distrust in Malaysia arises out of "the fear of minority groups at being assimilated by the dominant Malay culture (and) the uncertainty over religious freedom". We share those fears o­nly with friends and family, because the Sedition Act is clear to us.

Case in point, in my local university, Islamic studies are a compulsory subject, whether or not you are a Muslim.

Of course, the university's contention was that the British education system in the old Malaya days made Bible lessons and hymn singing compulsory too. Again, it is back to a question of trying to make two wrongs sound right.

To add salt to injury, lecturers refer to you as " mereka yang belum Islam " (the yet-to-be Muslims) and not " mereka yang bukan Islam " (the non-Muslims). And they call it "freedom of expression".

In Malaysia, the fear of being assimilated by the dominant Malay culture is not an illusion. As a non-Malay, marrying a Malay means you become a Muslim convert and your offspring are likely to lose their ethnic identity by the next generation.

Our prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a classic example of the product of such a marriage.

Sometimes, I recollect the past with amusement. Back in my kampung days, my secondary school friends visiting my home during Chinese New Year had no reservations about having a bite, trusting that my mother had prepared everything halal.

When I was a civil servant, my colleagues o­nly drank out of canned or bottled drinks, and abstained from any home-cooked food despite assurances it is halal. Today, I am based abroad and I see fellow Malaysian Muslims eating at McDonalds.

So much for multiethnic trust in Malaysia. Sigh.