I watched Dr Mahathir Mohamad's interview on BBC's Talking Point . Kudos to the woman who asked about Chinese being treated as second-class citizens. It was interesting to watch Dr Mahathir's emotional response. It showed as always this is an issue closest to his heart - the Malay dilemma.

How can Malays work as drivers or kadams to rich Chinese businessmen? To him, working as drivers to Chinese businessmen or office boys are second-class citizens. He said "even Malays feel like second-class citizens."

There are two points to be made from Dr Mahathir's usual shallow and simplistic response.

One, the woman from Malaysia was referring to the special privileges enjoyed by Malays - the quotas on corporate participation, schools and colleges, discounts on properties, promotions within government and semi-government agencies, and awarding of government contracts to only to bumiputera companies.

We shall not argue on the morality of the policy as certainly there was a place and time for this kind of affirmative action. Many agree - Chinese, Indian or Malays - that the NEP was necessary at the early years of Malaya. Many would also agree, Malays especially, that the poor today are not because they haven't tried or are lazy or dumb, but because there is abuse in the system. It would be interesting if the government could do a study to see if the disparity between a rich Malay and a poor Malay is further today then in 1957.

Secondly, what is wrong with being a driver, a clerk, an office boy, a janitor even? Does Mahathir have a driver? Is he a Malay? From his answer he has alluded to a shame that is attached to working in these jobs, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There is no shame in a man making an honest and decent living whether he works for a Chinese, Indian or Malay.

There are those who uphold a philosophy called 'Ketuanan Melayu' and it is these people who believe in the supremacy of the Malay race. It is they who believe that other races in Malaysia, even though born in Malaysia, are guests in Malaysia. There was even a gathering of certain Umno politicians not too long ago who carried this ideology further with the idea of brandishing the kris and the violence attached to it. So if there is Ketuanan Melayu, then where does that leave the other Malaysian citizens who fall under another skin color?

This used to be a sensitive topic but today only the government believes it is a sensitive topic. I have had kopi with ordinary factory workers in Merbok, Kedah - Malays, mind you - and they tell me their struggles to make ends meet - school books, school bags, uniforms, food, housing etc. They are not lazy people. They hold good and honest jobs, but inflation has caught up and the benefits of the affirmative action are not trickling down as it should. It gets stuck somewhere in somebody's pocket. Wonder whose?