COMMENT My wife keeps reminding me not to comment on what ministers say, in case I get into more trouble.

Of course it is good advice and I usually refrain from doing so on most occasions. But when the second-most highly qualified minister in the cabinet, Khairy Jamaluddin (after minister Mustapa Mohamed), says it is okay for Umno Malays to be "macais", I have to respond.

When I was growing up, my Chinese friends would be very careful about using the word “macai” on Malays in our presence. In some Cantonese circles, the word meant someone who had been “diperkudakan” — a lackey led by the nose.

Malays of my generation feel proud about our ancestry and character, even if we are all very poor people from the villages.

We would certainly object to being described as "macai", whether by Chinese or even Malay friends. As children, we would never have wanted to grow up to become someone’s lackey.

But I suppose Malays of the new generation, led by leaders such as Khairy, are not at all affected when others described them as “macais”.

According to Khairy, as long as Umno Malays fight to defend their party president/prime minister, they should not feel insulted to be called “macai”. This is indeed the new cultural transformation that Umno has brought to Malays.

I just want to appeal to young Malays to reject Khairy’s “advice”. We must be proud as a people and we should never allow others to use us or depict us as lackeys.

We must be responsible for the development of all Malays by teaching them the right values.

Khairy is different. He lives and works in "the palace" with "the emperor" surrounded by party warlords.

To survive in an autocracy, whether Putrajaya or (for example) imperial Russia, you have to be a “macai” all the time, hoping that the emperor will pick you to succeed — and conversely, if you fall foul of the emperor, you will be banished to somewhere remote.

So Khairy is right to be a “macai” but it’s right only for him. We mustn’t follow suit.

ZAID IBRAHIM is a former minister, in charge of law.