Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has drawn flak from multi-racial Malaysians from all walks of life for his stand that he will work with the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry to draw up guidelines meant to reduce the number of 'pan-Asian' faces on TVs and billboards.

It spells of discrimination and worse still, attempts to identify sections of Malaysian citizens whom he deems are more Malaysian than others.

Would Malaysian personalities like Maya Karin or Ramona Rahman who are of German-Malay parentage, or those who have British-Malay genealogy like Paula Malai Ali and Harith Iskandar be construed as 'pan-Asian' and therefore not be allowed to appear in advertisements?

Zainuddin's recommendations are pathetically discriminatory and unconstitutional. It contravenes Article 8 of our Federal Constitution which clearly reads that 'there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the grounds only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender'

Models used in advertisements on TV and billboards are the prerogative of the advertisers. As Malaysian television programmes are watched by all our communities here, it would make sense to have models whose features cut across all the ethnic groups.

It is not as if Malaysia has 'Malaysian-looking only areas' and 'pan-Asian only areas' in which to place billboards similar to the denigrating signboards 'For whites only' versus 'For coloureds only' seen during segregated America and apartheid South Africa. All billboards and advertisements in Malaysia are seen by every passer-by including expatriates and migrant workers.