I cannot think of anything that has been more prostituted to defend the racist policies of the Umno regime than Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution relating to the special position of the Malays (NB: the Constitution says 'special position' and not 'special rights').

The Reid Commission that drafted the Constitution proposed that some limited preferences should be given to Malays in respect of land alienation, scholarships and employment in the civil service for a limited period of time. These preferences were to be reviewed within 15 years of Independence, i.e. 1972.

Over the years, the original special preferences have not only be expanded beyond recognition, but have become 'super rights in perpetuity', used to justify the blatant discrimination against non-Malays and non-Muslims.

We all know of very recently arrived Muslims who are conferred these special rights whereas non-Malays and non-Muslims whose ancestors contributed to the nation for hundreds of years (e.g. from the days of Admiral Zheng He) are still treated as 'immigrants'.

As far back as 30 years ago, Muslims from neighbouring countries with mediocre entrance grades obtained university places and government scholarships whereas non-Muslim citizens with better grades were denied entry. This can be verified if the government dares to take the challenge.

Just ponder how wide the special preferences have become, viz.

1) Monopolies and quotas in education and employment;

2) Monopolies and quotas in business licences, share equity, property etc;

3) Discrimination in employment especially in the public sector.

4) Disproportionate representation of Malays in Parliament and legislative assemblies in total disregard for the 'one man, one vote' principle violating even the safeguards in the Constitution. The most blatant example of this is the Putrajaya parliamentary constituency with only 5,079 voters of which 94.8% are Malays.

It really escapes me how presumably educated people like BlueRider (why does he hide behind a false identity - is he ashamed of his views?) can argue that this 'across the board, institutionalised' racism akin to apartheid can be justified as affirmative action.

Please go and study how affirmative action works in the US and UK.

Of course, so long as we are Malaysians and live in Malaysia, we must continue to advocate against this great sin. I believe that it is not only unconstitutional and contrary to international human rights but it is even un-Islamic. Does Islam sanction discrimination against people of other faiths and religion? This cannot be.

However, there is hope. I foresee that with increasing globalisation and internationalisation, the so-called special rights will eventually become a non-issue.

That day will come when the majority of the non-Malays and non-Muslims would have emigrated to countries where they are treated as equals. By then (perhaps in 20 years?), the Malay-Muslims may constitute 80 percent of the population.

Of course it would not be the same Malaysia. I would then expect to see a Malaysia that is much poorer as its human expertise and capital would have been depleted. For this reason, I expect Vision 2020 to forever be a vision, a pipe dream.

Ironically, such a trend would prove the extremist Malay-Muslim view that the non-Malay/non-Muslim citizens are not committed to Malaysia. But I ask: Why should anyone be committed when they are not treated as equal citizens?

If my prediction holds true, we will eventually have a win-win situation, the non-Malays would largely be in advanced countries where they can have equal citizenship while the Malays can have their country back even if it is a shell of what it could be.

I suspect narrow-minded extremists like BlueRider would prefer to be the sole proprietor of a bankrupt company than an equal shareholder of a prosperous one.