I am a Malaysian , but bangsa Cina . My parents were rubber tappers. And since they did not want more rubber tappers in the family, they slaved to support their children's education.

In a country where merit did not and still does not matter much, as can be seen in the controversy surrounding [#1]Suqiu's appeals[/#], I had to turn to a foreign university for further education. I landed in Canada, a beautiful country with beautiful people.

Poverty followed me to this beautiful country. With little money, life was tough and even threatening at times. Expensive medical prescriptions were ignored. Torn autumn jackets combined with many layers of T-shirts continued to be worn through the cold winters of temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius. Shoes from our pasar malam that could not prevent frostbite were worn with pride. A balanced diet was irrelevant. Until today it is still painful to recollect the many unpleasant memories.

I was definitely not proud to be classified under a race of superior economic standing in my own motherland. Individually I have been deprived and that classification was nothing more than a torment to me. As I shivered in the cold winter, I told myself that I wanted to be called a poor Malaysian, not an Orang Cina kaya .

In the early stage of my tertiary education, every provincial government in Canada was trying to introduce differential tuition fees. This basically meant that the fees of visa-holding students would not be subsidised and would be increased four-fold. I was preparing for the worst case - to work illegally or go home. Thank God, the issue was strongly debated and only implemented years later. By the time the policy was introduced in my university, I had graduated.

As the issue was being debated, nothing was more assuring then the generosity of the then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He discouraged the provincial governments from increasing the fee. He told them that when you "give him a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he survives forever."

He taught me how to fish and I am surviving. I am grateful to him and his country for accepting those who were turned away by their own country. There were thousands of visa-holding students and thousands of Vietnamese refugees that depended on his country's subsidy during that time.

Justin Trudeau in the eulogy for his father said, "Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The very words convey so many things to so many people. Statesman, intellectual, professor, adversary, outdoors man, lawyer, journalist, author, prime minister." And may I add - "philanthropist".

From the extract of the eulogy in the following paragraph, please compare this statesman to the others who throw their adversaries in jail, spray them with chemicals, give them a black eye, shoot them with tear gas or just kill them as in the case of the brutal murder of the Philippines' Benigno Aquino. As you read on, please remind yourself that the incident Justin was referring to took place about 20 years ago. It is now 20 years later and we still lack such leadership as could be seen from the political happenings around us:

"As I guess it is for most kids, in Grade 3, it was always a real treat to visit my dad at work. As on previous visits this particular occasion included a lunch at the parliamentary restaurant which always seemed to be terribly important and full of serious people that I didn't recognise.

"But at eight, I was becoming politically aware. And I recognised one whom I knew to be one of my father's chief rivals. Thinking of pleasing my father, I told a joke about him - a generic, silly little grade school thing.

"My father looked at me sternly with that look I would learn to know well, and said: 'Justin, never attack the individual. One can be in total disagreement with someone without denigrating him as a consequence.'

"Saying that, he stood up and took me by the hand and brought me over to introduce me to this man. He was a nice man who was eating with his daughter, a nice-looking blonde girl a little younger than I was.

"My father's adversary spoke to me in a friendly manner and it was then that I understood that having different opinions from those of another person in no way precluded holding this person in the highest respect.

"Because mere tolerance is not enough: We must have true and deep respect for every human being, regardless of his beliefs, his origin and his values . That is what my father demanded of his sons and that is what he demanded of our country."

Dear Malaysians, I yearn for such a leader whom we could call our own. Don't you?