I am a new comer to malaysiakini . Thus I am quite hesitant to respond to any of your articles. In this exception however, Sim Kwang Yang has given us a good analysis of the isolated remark made by our Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad:

"Frankly, I don't think our prime minister is an anti-Semitic at heart. I don't even want to examine where anti-Zionism ends, and where anti-Semitism begins. This topical issue, like all other topical issues in the past, will blow over soon, for that is the nature of modern politics played out in the flickering limelight of local and world media.

"What I am concerned with has far greater relevance to our lives than a single fleeting political issue.

"Our political parties and politicians are like vegetation, while our people are but the soil on which the vegetation grows. The health of the vegetation depends entirely on the condition of the soil. Yet, some particular type of vegetation can actually improve the fertility of the soil.

"If a national leader has made a racist remark in public, then we are all responsible."

Sim's last sentence should be emblazoned in the minds of all Malaysian. The privately held prejudices must come out. Our PM has helped us in that respect. How many of us have held such a view and shared them in private corners when we are sure that we will not be quoted? The PM merely shared what many felt about the subject but are too scared to share them in public.

In a similar way, the complexity of our plural society rouses many prejudices in all of us. If only we can air them and come to grips with that which creates the prejudices, we would do well not only for ourselves but for the nation.