I refer to the letter written by Gabriel Luke Chandran entitled [#1] Deaths: Do we 'forget and accept' the situation?[/#] , (March 15). I regretfully lament the days at school when friends were abused by the racist-clad term 'keling', which is synonymous to a person of Afro-Caribbean descent being called 'negro'.

There were often painful situations when being Indian in a multiracial school meant that you were darker in complexion and subject to being teased about skin colour, language and religious practices. There were students who fought and got into trouble with the school, and there were those who withstood the shame and embarrassment.

Teachers and school authorities do not help, in fact a lot of the times, they are the culprits. So do we turn our heads away in disappointment and walk away, or do we ask them why 'keling'? Why me?

The government says the recent clashes in Kampung Medan are not a racial issue. So is it a gang-related problem or a socio-economic problem? I believe we fail to recognise that gang-related problems and socio-economic problems are inevitably tied to race. We have to accept that Malaysians and all issues related to the people are race-sensitive. Why do we continue to label our problems with 'zero-race' terms, and push the issue of race under the increasingly failing carpet of unity and tolerance? What do we fear? Racial disharmony, riots, another 1969? Aren't there signs of something wrong already?

We are sitting on the horns of a dilemma. We have a choice, either to deal with it with honesty, fearlessness and transparency, or keep pushing it until that carpet becomes a mountain of hatred, disappointment, fear and chaos.