I would like to suggest that Mustapha Ong reads Martin Jalleh's 'thank you' letter to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, just to remind him that there are many who don't share his feeling of gratitude to the ex-premier .

I would also like to remind Mustapha that the fact that he converted to Islam has sort of sheltered him from feeling marginalised; as felt by the Chinese in this country. Come on Mustapha, you have to admit that you are not the same as the rest of us.

You claim that you do not enjoy extra perks or privileges,but please be honest and let us know how your children fare. Correct me if I am wrong, please.

If any of your children is outstanding in their studies, he or she must have received overseas sponsorship from JPA or Mara. If he or she is an average student, he or she must have been accepted into the faculty or university of their first choice locally.

I am almost a senior citizen. I am of Chinese origin and a non-Muslim. Despite being of a family which dates back to the time of Raffles and Munsyi Abdullah and being nurtured in Malay culture, I still feel that I do not belong here.

It's not that I don't want to belong here but I have come to the conclusion that things like the slogan 'Malaysia Boleh' are not aimed at me. My rights here as citizen is less than some migrants. The children of migrants from Cambodia or Bangladesh have better perks and privileges than mine.

Mustapha is right. Not all Chinese are waiting to migrate. I am not. However, I have told all my children that perhaps they should look for a place where they don't have to convert to be accepted fully. I have also noticed that practically all my senior colleagues send their children away and not many come back.

Is voicing how I feel seditious? There are many who feel the same. Can anybody control how we feel? While Mustapha has such great respect for our politicians - in asking us to wait for them to thrash this out in Parliament - I don't hold the same regard.

How many politicians sincerely believe their claim that we are united among the many races? How many of the Chinese political leaders have their children nicely settled in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc?

Truth hurts and can be unpleasant. I sincerely hope that our new prime minister will try to accommodate people like me in his call for 'Malaysia Boleh'. Please do not consider the voicing of my true feeling as something seditious that I will need to sweep under my mengkuang mat.