I’ve followed with great interest the bitter disappointment of hardworking top students denied opportunities in our racially-charged education policies such as A daughter devastated, a mother with no answers and Driven out because of education policy . My heart goes out to those whose spirits have been crushed by the blatant selection based not on academic excellence but on race. I’m sure this is only the tip of the iceberg.

It must be mentioned that Malaysia probably has the most racist government in the world. Nowhere else would you find colleges, training schools and courses open only to one race. The matriculation program is reserved for the bumiputra with a token 10% for other races. Nowhere else is there legislated cheaper price for one particular race for buying a house, government- linked investment funds open to one race or even preferential purchase for new share issues along racial lines.

It is sad to note that discrimination along racial lines is woven into every fabric of our society. Not only in education but also in civil service and GLC employment, loans, scholarships, permits, licenses and entry into professional bodies, race is a determining factor. This institutionalised racial discrimination disguised as affirmative action goes far beyond the intentions of our founding fathers in enshrining certain Malay rights into the Federal Constitution to ensure that Malays are not left behind.

Although Malaysia was stridently vocal in condemning the apartheid system of South Africa before it was dismantled, our leaders have ignored the fact that we practice economic apartheid in our own backyard. There is simply no other word to describe the situation here.

Fifty years of racial discrimination policies coupled with racial politics has taken its toll on the nation. Our best and brightest go off in frustration to contribute their energies to the economies of foreign lands. We are falling behind in competition for foreign investments. The academic standards of our universities are declining year by year. Half-a-century after independence, the various races are more polarised than ever before.

Why have the marginalised non-Malays put up with such an unfair government for so long? Election after election, they have helped to vote in the Barisan Nasional government which blatantly continues to marginalise and deny them of economic, education and other opportunities.

To be sure, the minority races have been misrepresented by raced-based political parties such as MCA and MIC which claim to fight for their rights but are no more than Umno’s running dogs tasked with bringing in the minority votes while having no real power to effect any changes in the country’s discriminatory policies.

But we cannot entirely blame the minority electorate because there was no real alternative. Not until now that is. The political tsunami has also swept away some ingrained psychological blockages in the non-Malay electorate such as the fear of racial strife in the event of BN losses, the lie that only BN can guarantee peace and stability and more than anything else, the notion that the opposition cannot govern.

With a real alternative to BN in the form of Pakatan Rakyat, there is simply no reason for the majority of non-Malays to vote for a wholly unfair government. I predict that BN’s share of the minority vote will collapse spectacularly in the next general election. The Malay supremacists in Umno won’t even know what hit them.

But does it matter? If the Malays are united in voting for BN, the voting pattern of the Chinese, Indians and other races don't matter much but not so. Non-Malay votes do matter as can be seen when they saved BN in 1999 after the Malays were split over the Anwar debacle.

We must also not forget the natives in East Malaysia who have also been marginalised along with the Chinese and Indians. The native parties are restless; they too have seen a hopeful opportunity for change in the light of the recent political tsunami . Creating so many small seats in East Malaysia to act as a bastion of BN support may come back to haunt them in the next election.

We can expect Umno to veer to the right in championing Malay rights and ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ for their political survival. But there is a catch here. Wielding the Malay hegemony weapon is a double-edged sword as the more it is used, the more it alienates the non-Malays. Furthermore, it is also a blunt weapon as not all Malays are convinced by racial rhetoric. Many enlightened Malays can see that Malay hegemony is only a device to win Malay votes for an oligarchy to hold on to power while benefitting few on the ground.

The fact is that the Malays have become too diverse and matured to be swayed by one political party with a single concept of racial hegemony. Some of them can see the huge benefits to the nation with meritocracy and fair policies which take care of all races. Many of them are confident enough to let go of the crutches of affirmative action.

Umno can save itself from being swept away into political oblivion by eschewing racial politics for the multi-racial politics of Pakatan Rakyat. However, Umno is a one-trick pony and cannot or will not change with the times. Like the Kuomintang Party of Taiwan, it must spend a well deserved stint in the opposition camp on self-reflection before it can re-invent itself to be relevant to a multi-racial Malaysia.