I refer Mohd Iqbal's letter, [#1] 'Ketuanan Melayu' is historical [/#] (Feb 8) and I must just say that if this is the sort of thinking that is going through my fellow Malay (and presumably, Muslim) brother, than I'm ashamed to be called a Malay and a Muslim. What strikes me as even worse is that, if what I've read about the recently-held gatherings such as that organised by the Malay Action Front is true, then the writer is not alone in his warped, racist perceptions.

And that's what it is really: Rascism in its truest, ugliest form. Saying that the Chinese community "clan like a horde of impoverished Genghis Khans" is just as bad as saying that the African Americans in the United States are dumb slaves from Africa, or that Malays are a lazy bunch of mongoloids (it's funny, isn't it, but genetically, we Malays are actually an off-shoot of the northern Asia (where China is today) gene pool, who were so lazy that they allowed themselves to be colonised for hundreds of years.

We keep on saying that this is our country, this is our land, we have rights to it all - what does this mean, if anything at all? There is no such thing as land inherently belonging to anybody (except God, of course). The Malay race, as we know it today, did not just suddenly pop up from the ground here in Malaysia. Just like anyone else, the Malays that we know today actually migrated from nothern Asia hundreds of thousands of years ago (hence our strong genetic ties to people in that part of the world). It just so happens that we got here first; the Chinese and other races only made their way here mostly in the last 500-700 years ago.

Think about the flawed logic: We got here first, so it's ours. Doesn't that sound a bit like what a kindergarten child would say? But, unfortunately, that's exactly what some "ultras" are saying: It's ours, it's ours, it's ours, and you're just guests. So be thankful or we'll kick you out. That's pathetic and downright lame.

I'm sorry, but I think that the notion of statehood doesn't include the idea that the land belongs solely to any single group of people living on the land, but rather, the state belongs to all citizens who live here, work towards its betterment and improvement. Under that definition, all races, all people in Malaysia have equal claim to citizenship because everyone lives here and calls it home.

I'm afraid the writer, like many others, are getting bogged down in history. They, including our prime minister, has taken to spewing "look at the history, look at the social contract" or, as the writer put it, "Remember the agreement concerning citizenship given to non-Malays more than four decades ago?" What is this but more I'm-your-master-you're-just-a-guest mentality?

Two generations of Chinese and other Malaysian minority races have come and gone. Each and everyone of these generations has worked hard, to serve themselves, of course, but in the course of doing so, helped the nation develop, too. Everyone and all races have had their role, their contribution. And they made it freely for the betterment of themselves, their family, and the nation.

The Chinese, the Indians pay taxes too, just like the Malays. The very fact that this money is collectively pooled and used for the nation shows that the country that we are living in today has been built on the backs of all the races. No one should feel that he or she is mightier than the next, or deserve more.

The only exception to this would be those who are truly needy - give them affirmative action based on their needs, not the colour of their skin.

Please, to anyone who's even thinking it - don't serve up any more of this, "it's mine, you're just a guest" philosophy. It's exactly that sort of talk that started the unfortunate incident in 1969.