It was more than a little distressing for a politician to be calling citizens of another race pendatang . I had hoped that the issue would have been put to rest after it was raised (and presumably settled) when it was brought up many years ago in the Selangor State Assembly.

However, it appears that the issue still resides in some politicians' minds, with some choosing to voice such sentiments openly. How sad.

May I suggest that ultimately all of us, Malays, Chinese, Indians and the others, are pendatang. To the Orang Asli, all of us arrived from elsewhere to settle in Peninsular Malaya.

It is debatable from a historical perspective whether it was the Malays or the Chinese who first set foot on Malayan soil. And I don't wish to get into that debate for fear of being charged with sedition.

If we were to look at the history of mankind and migration, even the Orang Asli were immigrants to this country of ours. It has been proved that Orang Aslis were the early descendants of the first people who migrated out of Africa. So it appears that ultimately we are all pendatang of African descent.

Perhaps we should all respect the fact that we are citizens of this beautiful country, with rights and privileges laid out in the Constitution. We need to move forward and look to a brighter future for us all.

We need to bring our country up to speed to secure a brighter future for all of our citizens and the future generations to come. A good start may be to address the shortcomings of the present education system.

To play in the global game of economic progress, our school leavers, whether as high school students or as university graduates, need to be conversant in English. Whether we should teach Maths and Science in English or in the student's mother tongue is best left to the experts in this subject.

This should not stop us from teaching English as a serious language in our schools and perhaps make it mandatory to obtain a passing grade to graduate from school or university.

It is well known that a person, especially the younger generation, will need it to access knowledge in science and technology as well as information on the Internet.

Then there is the teaching of Chinese. Our students need it to prepare themselves to take advantage of the economic opportunities available in China in this and the next century. Will China fall by the wayside? I doubt it.

Historically, the Chinese have always placed heavy emphasis on education. They can only move forward. Will the political situation change to derail this progress? I doubt it. Not with the extensive progress that has already been made and the people having tasted the fruits of its modernisation programme.

Perhaps a little observation about the far-sightedness of the Chinese leadership is in order. In the early 1970s, I traveled to China as a member of an official government mission to promote the use of natural rubber.

At that time Chairman Mao's influence was still very evident. Yet the staff in the hotels where we stayed were allowed a daily 15 minute break to listen to an English lesson on the radio. I wouldn't have believed it if someone else had told me this story but I was there to witness it.

That is being far-sighted and what it means to be a nation of forward thinkers. Even today, there is a dedicated education channel to teach English on Chinese TV.

With that, I wish to appeal to All Malaysians to abide by the Federal Constitution and treat each other as citizens. Let us adopt a mindset that will help this country progress instead of regressing towards the old mindset of who has more rights over another.

Let us all put our shoulders to the wheel (or more appropriately our fingers to the mouse) and help expand the economic cake. We need to do this in order to further the original goals of the first NEP, that is to eradicate poverty and to remove the identification of race with economic function.

The Ketuanan Rakyat concept captures best the original goals of the NEP and is perhaps the reason for its wide appeal to the people.