We read the letter Medical course choice not a divine right with much admiration, particular when the writer, Dr Musa Mohd Nordin, informed us of his credentials a doctor doing 12 hours of teaching at the Law Faculty of UIA for their six-month certificate in medical law and presently engaged in teaching master students biotechnology and the law. Wow!

Dr Musa, your authoritative professional capacity certainly would remind us that your verdict should settle the matter of the university admittance hullabaloo for what it has been, nothing more than just the petty grouses of some overzealous, protective but misguided parents.

You were brilliant by starting off with the statement: 'The straight As students and their families seem to think that 4As give them the 'divine right' for a place in medicine at local universities.'

Indeed, how dare these parents! What is so great about academic excellence when in your case, your university in Cardiff only required 3Bs from you? Don't these people have a sense of proportion?

But wait, maybe we need those 4As after all, because further down your letter you conceded that 4As would be one of the criteria, though not the pivotal one. Of course academic excellence is not pivotal. This is so obvious that one wonders why these 128 students wasted their precious time studying.

Then, sir, you made references to a couple of UK universities and provided additional information, that non-academic qualities and achievements would be equal requisites as well. That is a reasonable process. But alas, you may not have realised it, but you forgot to inform us what criteria - both academic and non-academic - that the Malaysian system employed?

May we humbly assume that you would have confirmed that the Malaysian university admittance scheme had applied those criteria that you highlighted for our enlightenment? Perhaps then, the decisions of the scheme may be made available for public scrutiny, as a transparent and accountable process. We have no doubt you will support this suggestion.

Oh, by the way, Dr Musa, can you please exercise your professional authority to elicit from the university authorities why their initial response to the outrage had been nothing more than a feeble and totally unacceptable 'computer error'?

Would you agree this clumsy excuse didn't do them any credit? It would only vindicate the unjustified outrage of the aggrieved parties.

Sir, can you also share your wisdom with us as to why the initial allocation of courses for several outstanding students did not even meet any of their respective listed preferences. We are a bit puzzled when, in some cases, the students had indicated at least nine preferred study options.

Yes, nine choices. And not one of these had been considered appropriate for those affected students. We can only conclude those 4As students must be utterly hopeless, clueless and ignorant. After all, what can you expect from 4As students?

It's amazingly breathtaking the way you came out swinging just in case we haven't yet abandoned our sympathies and undeserved support for these 128 whining, whimpering whingers.

That was one beautifully executed blow below the belt when you referred to one father, just one , who would not accept his son's assigned university, as indicative of the unreasonable nature of all those who had complained. Well, they did say 'brevity is the soul of wit'.

But what else can we expect of these birds of the same feather?

But wait, there is more. To demonstrate succinctly that these 128 upstarts were not indeed fit for

medical studies, you then referred to your colleague's suggestion - to expose these impertinent aspirants to the difficulties and perhaps horrors of actual hospital work. That would weed out those sniveling nerds, and scuttle their silly ambitions.

Oh, is this brilliant process one of the normal or standard criteria for selection that we lay people weren't aware of, Dr Musa? Has this been applied universally, and in particular to those originally chosen 790-plus candidates? Did you yourself undergo such a similar experience? How long has such an amazing process been introduced?

There has been some scurrilous remarks made that this has been one of those tactics, like the proposed interviewing process, that diehard bureaucrats are using to frantically 'close the gates' to the great unwashed.

How dare they insinuate such sinister intentions when all along these processes have been standard procedure. I have no doubt the 790-plus candidates originally selected for the medical schools can testify to the fact that they had undergone the said processes.

May we also tell you how relieved we are now that you have expressed dismay about threats to important values like 'benchmarks in quality medical education' and 'educational gold standards' and concern for patients.

Everyone knows of the world-admired gold standards of Malaysian medical schools. Yes, we are with you all the way, Dr Musa. These, too, have our very deep concerns. That is why we want a fully transparent and accountable system rather than the mumbled indefensible 'computer error' that we have just heard.

You remarked that society, presumably Malaysian society, has gone too far in attempting to sway the authorities for what they have incorrectly perceived as a blatant case of unaccountable injustice. I am glad we have you to jolt Abdullah Ahamd Badawi into remembering that, democracy or not, the prime minister must reject such silly voices of the people. They are nothing more than sheep, which ought to be led rather than listened to.

Indeed, the nerve of such people to expect a prime minister to listen to them, just because of some namby-pamby western concept like democracy. Really.

My dear sir, we must confess you caught us with a non sequitur when you brought up the issue of the massive brain drain in our medical profession and that our neighbours can secure the best medical brains for their services.

We agree with you that we haven't yet addressed this issue even till today. Of course, everyone knows that when a country is running short of doctors the last thing it wants to do is to increase its intake for medical training. Can't they see the simple logic of it all? Thanks for your erudite reminder.

But (just a very timid 'but)', we wonder whether one of these neighbours, by poaching and pinching all our top students (fortunately for Malaysia, only those with just silly 4As) may actually worsen this already aggravated situation that you are so concerned about?

Come to think of it, it's such a silly question when truth stares so evidently in our face that we feel compelled to apologise for asking such a stupid question. Sorry, sir.

Hah! The final body blow is yet to come. Dr Musa, you have been absolutely brilliant. The way you sprang on those impetuous but unfortunate 128 with your coup d'etat, your following statement, left most of us breathless in utter admiration. You stated most articulately:

'In my daughter's college, about 10 top notch students have failed to secure a place in the current UK medical school intakes and have to either wait for clearing or apply locally. I dare say, that they are all much better and more well-rounded students compared to those doing Form Six who are obsessed with As and are grossly exam-centric.'

There we have it the official irrefutable verdict of Dr Musa why these 128 students with 4As do not deserve places in the medical schools. We have no doubt that you Dr Musa, the consummate professional expert that you are, have conducted an exhaustive comparative analyses of both groups of students to come up with this irredeemable, damning evidence.

Again, we are struck by your precise articulation of the reality that 'top notch' students don't give two hoots about examinations, nor would they be particularly worried about obtaining good grades like As. Why can't those silly doting parents see things the way you do?

We will certainly heed your reminder not to play into the hands of those racially-biased mainstream media and opportunistic politicians. Unexplainable and illogical as the university course allocation has been, one should not read anything sinister into it.

It is nothing more than a mere coincidence that the two groups are of different ethnic origins that have undergone different examination process.

Things like these do sometimes inadvertently occur, and everyone should respect the decision of our most trusted establishment.

Thank you, Dr Musa.