Writer Sadirah K seems to have confused Malaysia's institutionalised racial discrimination with Western countries' behavioural racial prejudice.

This confusion seems to be quite prevalent among many people here, judging from contributions from many other writers on this subject.

Like other prejudices, racial prejudice is a state of the mind, a pre-conceived over-sweeping opinion against a certain race that is often applied without regard to facts or reason. Its existence is prevalent among societies where disparity of social and economic status between one racial group and another is conspicuous.

It is often said that where there is more than one human being, there is politics. In a similar sense, where there is more than one racial group in a society, there is racial prejudice. This is due to the inevitable difference in levels of development among racial groups, and plain human nature that the strong tends to take advantage of the weak.

However, due to the general recognition of such behaviour in modern times as not only irrational but also immoral, acts of such prejudice have been condemned and curbed through education and legislation all over the world.

In certain advanced countries such as UK, there are even legislation to punish people who practice racial discrimination. The only significant exception was former apartheid South Africa, where the opposite was done: laws were enacted to discriminate against the disadvantaged race.

While laws can be enacted to combat this evil, bias opinions formed at the sub-conscious levels take a long time to correct. And it is only through the narrowing of development gaps and the conscious inculcation of moral values that the battle against racial prejudice can be won in the long run.

In Malaysia's case, the elements of racism are quite different. It is not so much social prejudice as it is a political agenda, whereby pervasive racial discrimination is practised in all facets of national life through legislation and government practices.

Though Malaysia has been practising the most comprehensive racial discrimination in the world, it has not been similarly condemned by the world as South Africa had been. This is due to the fact that Malaysia's racial policy started off as an affirmative programme.

Known as the New Economic Policy (NEP) formed after the racial riots in 1969, it was intended as a temporary measure to enable the Malays to catch up with other races in economic and education development. Under this policy, comprehensive legislation and regulations have been drawn up and implemented in favour of Malays in these fields.

The implementation of this policy soon went out of control as the political party of the dominant race, Umno, gained hegemony of power through the successful exploitation of racial politics. What started off as an interim affirmative programme soon evolved into runaway racism that results in not only a scenario of all pervasive racial discrimination in all fields, but also the inculcation of racist philosophy that men are born with privileges due to their race.

The combination of absolute power and runaway racism has bred the inevitable rampant cronyism and corruption. Added to this misery is the fact that Umno has been dominated by an autocrat whose distaste for democratic practices has resulted in serious corrosion of practically the entire spectrum of democratic institutions in this country, namely parliament, judiciary, Attorney-General's Chambers, police, Anti-Corruption Agency, Election Commission, public media, etc.

In the absence of checks and balances of a democracy, corruption and racism run unabated. The devastating tolls of such a racist autocracy are as expected. Apart from rampant corruption and the trampling of human rights, institutionalised racial discrimination has polarised the nation, smothered meritocracy, lowered competitiveness all round, thwarted academic excellence, and down-graded public services.

However, in spite of these negative developments, the positive achievements of NEP are also conspicuous. It has achieved considerable success in uplifting the educational and economic status of Malays and in creating a large and respectable Malay middle-class that includes professionals and businessmen among others. The more equitable distribution of wealth among the races has in turn given a better balance in a multiracial society which might otherwise be destabilised by such racial disparity.

The unfortunate part is that through excess and abuses of the affirmative policy, which was deliberately done by Umno to enhance its political hegemony, Malays have become over dependent on government assistance, a phenomenon which is often described by the PM and DPM as the "crutch" mentality.

Another ill fruit of such Umno policy is that Malays have been unnecessarily and excessively imbued with racial ideology. Fortunately, many have awakened to the folly of Umno's feudal and racial politics as evidenced by the reformasi movement, and have set their sight on restoration of good governance and democracy as top priority.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's nascent call for the introduction of meritocracy in university admission was only a recent affair, and it was obviously not a move of moral awakening on his part. Rather, the reversal of policy was cruelly forced upon him by the unrelenting encroachment of globalisation.

It is no more the Malays versus other races. It is Malaysia versus other nations in the field of economy, technology and education. Malaysia's ability to survive and thrive in the globalised arena depends on its collective competitiveness in a level-playing field that encompasses the whole region, nay, the whole world eventually.

To be fit and fighting, one has first to abandon the crutches, remove the fats and shake off the parasites; then follow by austere drilling of the mind and muscle. The key to success lies not in the expensive and fanciful hardware as exemplified by spectacular structures, but in the development of the software which is the human mind: knowledge, skill, creativity and entrepreneur drive.

To achieve that, nothing short of full restoration of meritocracy and freedom of thoughts and expressions would suffice.

Are we heading in that direction? Is the present leadership capable of generating sufficient self-renewal to shake off its shackles and make the next ascend?