I was rather surprised to read Dr Mazeni Alwi's letter ('It hurts, Mr Rajendra', May1). I enjoyed reading Cecil Rajendra's poem, The Kingdom of Purplaya . Finally, someone said it, I thought. And I believe that it is an opinion shared by most non-Malays.

I shall try to pick on some of the points that I found interesting in the writer's letter. My intent is to clarify and I hope my letter is not construed in any other way.

Firstly, there was a point about how Malays are divided. Is that a sign of weakness? Should racial unity be given primacy over other forms of unity, like ideological unity for instance?

I denounce anyone who calls for a racial unity - of whatever race - as fascist. So, I am not sure why the writer should at all be troubled by the so-called 'Malay disunity'. If anything, he should be proud that Malays of Malaysia are thinking out of the box. I certainly wish 'my people' were as divided in thinking.

Secondly, was the act of 'accommodating' the non-Malays a product of magnanimity as claimed? I don't think so. In fact, it was nothing more than real-politik at work. What could our founding fathers have done? Chase all those ' pendatangs ' (immigrants) out of Malaysia? By the way, does anyone remember Uganda? Malaysia would have been worse. Thankfully, our founding fathers compromised. And the compromise wasn't just from any one side in particular; all compromised.

However, I don't think our Constitution is farcical, as the poem implied. The Malay special position was a must, particularly in the 1950s when many non-Malays had mixed loyalties. Over 40 years have since passed, and yet the non-Malays still remain ' kaum pendatang '. And the Malay special position is threatening to become Malay hegemony, or Malay dominance.

A few days back, about 200 people attended 'The Malay Agenda and National Unity Conference'. One of them was Assoc Prof Abdul Aziz Bari of the International Islamic University Malaysia. He said, "The Constitution has set the ... Malay dominance as a constitutional resolution, [but the new interpretation of] the special rights of the Malays has diluted [it] and there are attempts to 'Malaysianise' it and not to 'Malaynise' (sic) it." ( NST , April 25)

Now, that statement, in every way confirms what Rajendra had brilliantly said. I don't think Dr Mazeni shares Dr Aziz Bari's political views, nor would want to be identified with him simply because of ethnic similarities.

We have erred in the past. But let us not forget those errors. Most importantly, let us not forget that we are equal in every which way...