I wish to respond to the letter from Michael Chong .

Dear Sir,

Your letter has made several allegations against me with regards to my conduct and which have defamed me as a blind individual.

However, first of all, allow me to thank you most kindly for having been a fan of mine since your younger days. I am certainly touched and honoured to hear this. I have also no doubt whatsoever that you must have attended many of my performances together with David Chew ; hence your knowledge of the kind of music that I specialise in.

Mr Chong, as a huge fan of mine, it is rather unfortunate that you have decided to keep it to yourself and have chosen only now to divulge your long kept secret at this point and time. Since you claim to be an ardent fan of mine, how is it that you failed to recognise me when I came to your office for assistance but treated both me and my wife as non-entities?

At the same time, it baffles me as to why I have not performed at any MCA functions, in spite of the fact that you know about my capabilities. Understandably, your hands may be tied in this respect when it comes to the hiring of artists for your many functions as it is your superiors who call the shots.

Anyway, not all is lost as the MCA being part of the ruling party has another four years to rule the country and now that you have acknowledged my talents, my prospects might just be a little bit brighter.

Once again, my grateful thanks for your very kind consideration with regards to my plight. Before I proceed any further, I hope that you won't find the rest of this letter too offensive, as I feel strongly that I should speak my mind in answering your allegations even at the risk of losing a devoted fan such as your goodself.

Mr Chong, it is most unfortunate that to save your own reputation and that of the MCA, you have chosen to give a false account of what took place between me and yourself at your office on Aug 11.

You stated in your letter that the MCA's Public Services and Complaints Department (PSCD) complaints bureau does not practice queue jumping, and as good citizens, each and every client has to wait his or her turn to have their problems looked into by your kind self.

Mr Chong, are you seriously trying to tell me and the public at large that a ruling made by the government where disabled and elderly citizens be given priority when being served at public counters is unfair and therefore should not have been implemented in the first place?

How is it that the MCA, being part of the Barisan Nasional, could have such different views from that of the government?

Subsequently, in your letter, you accused me of attacking your top officials which you found most objectionable and unacceptable.

Do these officials not realise that it is the rakyat who has been instrumental in giving them such powerful positions in government but having got what they wanted, they feel that they can ride roughshod over their subjects?

Haven't they heard of the saying that powerful positions come with heavy responsibilities? Should these top MCA officials choose to stay in their ivory towers and continue to ignore the needs of the less fortunate, I fear that the MCA may be voted out of office during the next general elections.

It is my hope that these officials come to their senses and show more compassion towards the less fortunate and the lower strata of society. It is most regretful that even having written to Messrs Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy, the former being MCA president and the latter being MCA vice-president, I have yet to receive replies.

It therefore sets me wondering if it is the policy of MCA officials to disregard letters sent in to them by members of the public requesting for assistance in solving their problems. If this is the case, I certainly think that this is a sad state of affairs and that it's time they change their attitude.

To continue, I wish to take you to task with regards to several allegations which you have made against me pertaining to my employment status with RTM. First of all, you accused me of not being able to get along well with my ex-colleagues.

For your information, during my short stint with RTM's Radio 4, I had no opportunities to meet my ex-colleagues whatsoever as all my programmes had to be pre-recorded, whilst all the other DJs did their programmes 'live' in the studio.

How then could I not get along with my ex-colleagues when I did not even have the opportunity to meet up with them, let alone socialise with them?

Next, I think that it is most irresponsible of you to say that I accused the staff at RTM of being racial. I remember only complaining to you with regards to the discriminatory attitude that RTM adopted towards me as a blind person.

At no time did I complain about racial feelings at all. I wish here to categorically deny your allegations in the strongest possible terms and I personally think that both you and your informants are bankrupt of ideas when trying to run me down as a blind individual.

Mr Chong, in your letter, you stated that you treated me and my wife with the greatest respect, although you claimed that I had attacked several of your top officials verbally which you thought was unbecoming of me. However, I remember clearly only relating the bad experiences which I had encountered with these officials and not attacking them as you claimed in your letter.

From my observations, the MCA complaints bureau only chooses to handle high-profile cases, so that it can get good write-ups in the press to impress the public and at the same time help the party to gain political mileage.

Finally, Mr Chong, I suggest that you allow me to have a public debate with you on a one-to-one basis at a place and time of your choice, so that the public can judge for themselves as to who is telling the truth.

It is my sincere hope that you will react positively to my suggestion and looking forward to your early reply and thanking you in anticipation.