I have followed with keen interest some of the letters concerning emigration and would like to share my views. In fact, I am thinking of migrating to a developed country, maybe Canada, as I am concerned with the direction Malaysia seems to be heading.

My wife and I are holding good jobs with respectable incomes and benefits, but the Malaysian social and economic environments are getting less conducive for quality living. And being non-bumis, we have seen race discrimination in almost every key phase of our life - from getting places in the universities and scholarships and finally in the working world.

We can live with that, no problem. But the issue here is the future. Based on our current set of social and economic bias and tendencies, the prospects, in my humble opinion, are not bright.

While the global arena is getting more competitive as each day passes, the local political powers- that-be, and even the people themselves, are busy with other issues such as trying to impose more controls on other people, being preoccupied with past glories, focusing on the quota system and other self-destructing activities.

We have since learnt to live with the bumi quota system that is so prevalent in the education and business system. But the next wave of change, I believe, will be very religious in nature and will not likely benefit those seeking personal freedom, fulfilment and happiness in general.

From some of the letters written to malaysiakini and other media, I can sense intolerance building up in both camps - the Muslims and the non-Muslims. This trend cannot be good as religious issues are very dangerous as can result in humans acting in very irrational manners.

So, being a rational person, I will act based on my analysis. I could be wrong and Malaysia could still be the Malaysia that I grew up with, but why take chances? Looking at history, the human race is very capable of hurting others, especially when differences over religious affairs arise not only among different religions, but also among different sects of a religion.

It is disappointing that after thousand years of existence, the primordial desire for control is still very strong. However, I sincerely hope that the simple goodness of the Malaysian human spirit can overcome this rising tide of religious intolerance.