Information Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir's decision not to allow Kadazandusun programmes on television is certainly a decision against national integration and cultural development.

It is also an insult to the Kadazandusuns when he said - as reported by Sabah's Daily Express on Aug 7 - that such programmes would only promote racial segregation.

If programmes in the Kadazandusun language could promote racial segregation, why then are there Chinese and Tamil programmes on television? Don't these programmes promote racial segregation? Or are only Kadazandusuns prone to racism?

Kadir added insult to injury when he suggested that Kadazandusuns could appear on television with other ethnic groups like the Dayaks on programmes like 'Malaysian Orchestra'.

Does he seriously think that allowing a few Kadazandusun faces on television can make Kadazandusun viewers happy? What many Kadazandusuns want is to be able to watch movies, talks shows, documentaries and news programmes in their own language.

Today there are Hindi, Arabic, Tagalog and even Spanish programmes on television. Just how many Hindustanis, Spaniards, Filipinos and Arabs are Malaysians? We have an Information Ministry which cannot even cater to its own population, yet at the same time is more than willing to air programmes in foreign languages.

Well, so much for racial integration. Now I see why many of my Kadazandusun friends do not appreciate Independence day as much as other Malaysians. There is simply not much to appreciate being a Kadazandusun Malaysian.

By the way, I also remember a recent debate on the appointment of the prime minister. One side said that a bumiputera should hold the prime minister's post.

Well, what they actually meant was that a Malay Muslim should hold the post. This is because Kadazandusuns and Dayaks are bumiputeras too, but we don't see much hope in someone from these two communities holding the post.