Rather than rail on at BluerRider, who obviously will not give up his supposedly 'special rights' no matter what the argument or evidence is, the only thing I would like to say is that there is no evidence that affirmative action actually works.

While affirmative action no doubts open doors to the disenfranchised, it is also clear that it does not bring equality. Like any protectionist policy, the best that it can do is to nurture the beginnings of enterprise.

Real achievement is only measurable under open competitive environment. In the US, studies have shown that affirmative action, while it opens doors for minorities and women, it is overall growth and changes in the economy that has narrowed the gap. Like our PM has now realised, protectionism in the long run leads to excesses and back-stepping.

The fact is, under any possible system, there will always be disenfranchised groups. In developed economies, the gap between the rich and poor has increased not decreased. What has changed is that different people become rich and different people gets a chance at the trough of open market competition and changes.

Preventing marginalisation is futile, the point is to minimize marginalisation. The problem with Malaysia is that the NEP implementation has been failed by corruption. The problem with corruption in Malaysia is that its perpetuated by the NEP.

Hence in the end, the only real ultimate solution is meritocracy. Because only through meritocracy can you minimise corruption and when you do that, anti-discrimination, anti-poverty and anti-disenfranchised policies becomes more possible.

Affirmative action is protectionism pure and simple. Its 'welfarism,' its transfer payment, its taxation of one group over another. It is not productive i.e, adding to collective material but just collective social wealth by holding back marginalisation.

Affirmative action is a drastic social tool to correct intractable marginalisation. It is not a panacea for equality despite the propaganda of its advocates.

There is more and more evidence that suggest that it is the changing economic and social landscape that forces more equality among races, sexes and countries. Affirmative action, in the long run, is debilitating to those its targets and in the end, to everyone.