I wish to respond to the letter Pray tell me, my place in this country ...'.

My friends and I was having a round of 'teh tarik' yesterday. We were discussing something along the line of 'If I were a Malaysian non-bumi, I would ...'.

The first completion to that was 'I would be very upset' The reasons being that if I were a Malaysian non-bumi, I would have been disadvantaged in many ways.

If my kids do well, there's no guarantee that they will get a government scholarship. If I am not a well-to-do non-bumi, it will be doubly hard. But you see local bumiputeras with average scores getting into courses with government money and not studying hard.

And if I were a Malaysian non-bumi, it will be harder for me to achieve anything. My rights as a citizen is less valuable than my bumi counterpart.

There are many other reasons that we discussed.

We emphatised with our non-bumi counterparts on the hardships that they face. And many of my friends agree that what we have now is not conducive to promote a sense of unity. Our so-called unity is actually very superficial.

Underneath that, there is a simmering discontent. Since there are many non-bumis in Malaysia, this feeling must be quite widespread. The situation is actually quite fragile and others can easily take advantage of it to drive all of us apart.

I want to let our non-bumi Malaysian friends know that there are many bumis like me that can relate to the situation that they are facing now. We feel that the system and environment that we have now does not promote unity.

We also suspect that the current situation will, unfortunately, get worse if no action is taken now. Why? Because our kids in school hardly mix with each other. They will grow up with little understanding of their fellow Malaysians, and with the suspicions that exist, it will be worse.

The strong unseen resentment will only erode the greatness that we all want to achieve as Malaysians.

At that 'teh tarik' round, we all felt and agreed that we are all (our non-bumi friends included) in this country together and we must complement each other's strength to compete with the rest of the world. Regardless of your ancestor's homeland, we are all here and now in this land called Malaysia.

So how can we remedy the situation? Firstly, let's ask this - given the current situation, what can we do as individuals to change the situation? We should all be openly discussing the matter and try to help find a solution.

Since we all are in non-policy making positions, we should concentrate on what can we do as individuals in order to ensure that we can all feel like true Malaysians.

If you have kids, teach them about the cultures of other races. Tell them that this is the country they are going to inherit from us and in this land they will share with other Malaysians regardless of race.

If you work in the office, discuss unity openly so we can create as many groups of people possible that really want to forge a real Bangsa Malaysia. Let's also try to understand each other's culture more.

There will be extremists on both sides - forget about them and continue to move forward with your like-mind friends and colleagues. Hopefully, one day there will be enough momentum for a real Bangsa Malaysia to take off.

Maybe we can learn from our East Malaysians. I have been to both Sabah and Sarawak and I really feel that we should emulate them.

Let's focus on our common goal as Malaysians - that we want to move ahead in this competitive world, and in order to do that, we need everyone to go forward with the same vision.

And to those in decision-making positions - please have a re-look at the NEP's implementation. Help all Malaysians, regardless of race. Poor people come from all races. Let's work to help them. Stop the help to undeserving ones - regardless of race as well.

Implementing the above as policy will be an immense confidence-building gesture will also wake up our bumi brothers to the fact that they are on equal terms with other Malaysians in that only the deserving will get help.

Hopefully, our small local acts will have a big collective effect.

Any other constructive, practicable suggestions? Let's us all hear it.