I refer to Dr Syed Alwi Ahmad's letter, ' Meritocracy: Not all qualities can be quantified ' .

Can Dr Syed please point out to me, where in the Federal Constitution does it say that the prime minister of Malaysia needs to be:

1) Malay?

2) Muslim?

My rather shallow understanding of politics in Malaysia leads me to believe that your conclusion is more descriptive of the political realities of this country e.g. the leader of Umno is the prime minister of Malaysia and since the leader of Umno is a Malay-Muslim, hence the prime minister of Malaysia will be a Malay Muslim.

My limited knowledge and search of the constitution does not reveal that this political reality is also a constitutionally mandated position.

Unlike Article 153 (3) which does allow for special privileges for bumiputeras including in the area of education, I seem to find that Dr Syed's example to counter the meritocracy argument has little constitutional basis.

Article 153 (3) merely states that there should be quotas for bumiputeras, but does not explicitly state what shape or form these quotas take. Herein lies the room for debate.