I would like to refer to the letter Unemployed grad problem partly due to employers by Arbibi Ashoy.

In his letter, he indicates that there is a correlation between unemployment and race. This could be true to some extent as the Malays form the largest number of the population - but it cannot be used generally.

From being a employee from the smallest minority ethnic group in the country, today I manage my own company. Through my 30 years as an employee - and as an employer in the last four years - I have seen how the lack of good attitude amongst our graduates and their indiscriminate churning out over the years has led to the current rate of unemployment amongst graduates.

What is the meaning of being unemployed? To many of those with the right attitude, there is no such thing as unemployment. They would work at anything until they get employed. But for the larger majority, they would just wait and wait.

I have graduates who have come for interviews and when asked for a decision on whether they would accept an offer, they say: 'I want to look around first'.

After one year they are still waiting for the 'right job'. Some have the cheek to call back and ask to be employed. Most of them do not want to dirty their hands. Being a graduate means a office job working eight hours a day in an air-conditioned environment. Those with that attitude can be forever unemployed.

The glory years of economic growth and the pinching of employees amongst companies during that time has given young graduates the impression that getting the right cushy job is their right - no matter their attitude and standard of education.

I have had one graduate who worked temporarily, having qualified with a major in geography but who did not understand the concept of scale. And there were those who did not take up my job offer the minute they were told that they had to go out and do field work.

Here, the education system has failed us. Geography is no longer given importance and yet you have Geography at university level. Hence you have students doing geography without the basics at Form Six level.

In this respect, we are one of the very few countries where geography is not given importance anymore, although it plays an important role in this age of sustainable development.

People with the right attitude are always employable and in my experience, I believe our cultural and ethnic backgrounds play a part. I could be wrong but most of our local graduates carry a lot of baggage with them and seem to believe that being a graduate - no matter their standard of English - automatically guarantees them a job.

But there are a small group which does not fall into this category. They manage to throw off their cultural baggage and do well on their own and are very disciplined and faithful to their religious beliefs.

These are the few who understand what a university education is all about and are aware of the opportunities available other than a salaried job. And these are the same people who as Malaysians can work together as Malaysians or do business with.

After 47 years of independence, we should look at each other as Malaysians and learn rather than categorising by ethnicity.