I refer to Mr RN Rajah's (Prim) comments on the decline in the intake of Indian students into the medical faculty of a university.

Of course, I appreciate the efforts by Rajah to highlight the anomaly but I also feel sad at his ignorance and the ignorance of the people he expects to believe. During a recent interview, no less than the PM - to whom Rajah had addressed his grouses - reiterated that the other races have accepted the special privileges given to the Malays, and as proof of this, the PM cited the fact that the BN government has been repeatedly voted in by the electorate.

In short, you are simply wasting your time sending memos and barking at the wall. No number of memos or no amount of protest is going to change this situation as we all bear the testimony of the gradual decadence over the years. Leaders claiming to represent the Indians who are supposed to have the clout have also failed miserably not because they did not try but because there is nothing much they can do. After all, the deputy minister for rural development (G Palanivel) is from the MIC, but you can see that he was not able to do anything tangible.

This sad state of affairs will continue with people like Rajah and other like-minded so-called leaders continue to bark up the wrong tree and lead the Indians to believe that such attitudes and adventures will lead to ecstasy and enchantment. I see the reverse happening. Look at the Indians now who have been brainwashed into pathetic acceptance of their predicament.

Maybe Samy Vellu will keep on saying that he is still talking to the government to get some bread crumbs, or Denison Jayasooria will pile up his cabinet with umpteen studies and researches which will, I am sure, take the Indians to their own misfortune because I was once the very Indian who sat cross-legged and listened intently to these dramas. Even after the government's allocation to the MIC-based Yayasan Strategik Sosial is still crawling.

If Rajah is really sincere in uplifting the condition he should examine why Indians have reached such a pathetic state. I still remember how V Sambanthan's rhetoric had been a curse to forward-thinking Indians. What the Indians really need is the change of mindset and attitude.

When a senior officer of an institute told me that 70 percent of the students were not interested in studies but writing love letters - despite the fact that they were financed for their studies - is just a small piece of the macro problem facing Indians. We have to do a great deal of soul-searching and see why we are in this dire status. The Indians need a revolutionary change in the attitude and that includes the severance of any dependence on the government. Make the mind believe that instead of depending on the government, we can achieve ourselves.

People like Rajah can change the course of history if the sincerity is there. Either we take the path of the Malays and stand accused, including by the PM, that we will never be able to shake off the crutches, or we can choose to change the attitude and live to achieve what our forefathers or leaders could not. The Jews made it, why can't we. Over to you Rajah.