The letter Medical school ailing from 'know who' syndrome by Product Of The System is one long jibe against Malay academic clinicians at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).

It would seem post-Gomez saga, all and sundry are jumping on the bandwagon of university bashing. The ensuing letter from Artemis Tower similarly typifies this opportunistic, racially skewed and unscholarly approach to the issue.

A lawyer and doctor, the former trained in the discipline of adducing evidence whilst the latter in evidence-based medicine (EBM), have thrashed their years of training and emotionally elected to base their verdicts on personal anecdotes. Both need to be reminded that personal mantras and anecdotes rank the lowest and least evidential in the hierarchy of evidence-based research and scholarship

I am not such a product and I have never worked at the UMMC, However, I must confess that I have excellent relations with colleagues - Malays and non-Malays - at the said institution.

It would seem in Product of the System's worldview, most if not all Malay clinicians are incompetent and substandard, and they would not have made it in academic medicine without unfair government intervention.

Conversely, most - if not all - non-Malay consultants are brilliant teachers and clinicians with hearts of gold, whose only reason for leaving to private practice is being passed over for promotion and other opportunities by their Malay colleagues.

It is most astonishing that Product of the System's measure of clinical excellence is competence in the English language rather than medical knowledge and skills and attitude towards patients, colleagues and staff. Whilst at the language polemics; the Koreans who are at the cutting edge of stem cell research and the Japanese who do not babble a decent word of King James' English have not been the least compromised in their quest of excellence and leadership in the medical sciences.

And Artemis Tower seems convinced that his linguistic artistry and gymnastics would win him the day in the legal courts despite all the hard evidence to the contrary. I shudder the thought of our judiciary being manipulated by linguistic prowess overwhelming the substance of evidence.

And by the way, you can be rest assured that none of us would make a laughing stock of Artemis Tower et al when they make a mockery of the Malay language whilst battling their cases in the legal courts.

Malay doctors, like many of their Chinese and Indian colleagues have a language handicap because many of us come from home environments where English is not spoken. It is indeed shameful that after nearly 50 years of independence, Product Of The System and Artemis Tower see this handicap as an object for abuse and ridicule.

As for the seriously slanderous charge made by both of them regarding the Skim Latihan Bumiputera (Slab) scheme, what is the percentage of Slab lecturers or consultants in each of the universities's major departments, and how many of them are headed by incompetent, undeserving lecturers or consultants?

Affirmative action, of which the Slab scheme is one such measure, is the least worst means of addressing the socio-economic imbalance that has disadvantaged some, the great majority of whom are rural dwellers marginalised from economic and educational opportunities for so long. The alternative is unthinkable.

Of course affirmative action has its flaws. And I sincerely and strongly feel that the poor and disadvantaged of any race deserve help. Sadly, these flaws have been amplified by the abuses of some in the political class and an increasing lack of transparency and accountability. It has to be noted that it is not just the Malay political class that has benefitted from this.