'Your feelings have brought fresh hope to those who have been on the verge of writing Malaysia off as a failed state. Thanks for the glimmer of hope you've given us.'
Rasheed Jalaludin: Mariam Mokhtar, you are not alone. Your words is a fresh breeze blowing across this politically polluted land we call home. Your feelings have brought fresh hope to those who have been on the verge of writing Malaysia off as a failed state. Thanks for the glimmer of hope you've given us.
Imran Shah: I feel saddened that whilst I work my tail off to put four kids through school as well as tertiary education all on my own, I have relatives who keep on producing children with no idea or fear as to how they will get an education as most of them are on meager income.
So when will the ‘government must help attitude' ever going to disappear? The government cannot keep on supporting the continuous bloating of the bumi population that's always needing assistance.
2genMalaysian: I am a Hindu. Mariam, I read your piece with tears in my eyes. The fact is the ordinary Malays I know are humble, polite and generous people.
Like you, my father came from Sri Lanka with nothing, worked hard as a door-to-door barber, got married, had seven children and through hard work, produced two lawyers, one engineer, one doctor, one lecturer and one guru besar (headmaster) - all without one sen of help from the government at the tertiary level. Today, his grandchildren (our children) are carrying on in the tradition he set.
The moral of the story? You don't need crutches and handouts if you are prepared to work hard, and stop blaming other races, especially the Chinese, if things aren't handed to you on a plate because we are all children of God and no religion encourages discrimination in any form. To the politicians, I say do not pit us against one another.
Suhaimi Said: I, too, am a Malay - a son of a padi planter, with little money to go to school. There was no facilities - I studied under kerosene lamp. On weekends, I tapped rubber, and I only managed to get through my OSC (Overseas Cambridge School Certificate).
I then went to night school, managed to get my HSC (Higher School Certificate Cambridge), and through the encouragement of my employer, I studied at Lincoln Inn's and managed to obtain Bar-at-Law. And now at 65, I still struggled through thick and thin.
It is my belief that NEP was never on my side and I chose to fight for the rakyat through a genuine political party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
David Dass: We must envision a society where someone is cared for because of his needs. It should not matter what his or her race is. From before independence, many Malayans/Malaysians already functioned on this basis. And many continue to do so today. Unfortunately, today much of the discourse proceeds on a ‘us against them' basis. That is wrong.
Not every Malay or Chinese or Indian is waiting for government projects or contracts. Most people are concerned with getting a quality education, a good home, a good job, decent pay, good medical attention and such other ordinary stuff. That is the business of government to provide.
The poor need assistance and it should be irrelevant what their race or religion is. Our leaders should create an environment that enables individuals to realise their true potential.
Gk: I believe many Melayu are like you, Mariam Mokhtar. I conclude that Melayu are the greatest victims of NEP, not Malaysian of other races. Just look at their cronies and you get what I mean.
These ultras and extremes want the Melayu to be what they define, but for sure, they failed miserably as not all Melayu are 'lembu' like what they would like to believe. Let's discard Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan once and for all. Enough is enough.
Zainal: Mariam, you are not alone. My wife, my 20-year-old son and I agree 100 percent with what you wrote, and we let our non-Malay friends know that we do not support Ketuanan Melayu.
Freemsia: It is pretty obvious Prime Minister Najib Razak is afraid of losing support of Umno members and the extremist Malays by saying that Perkasa is not so extreme. This is another clear proof that 1Malaysia is nothing but rhetoric and a total farce.
Disgusted: Najib really speaks as the Red Indians said of whites - with forked tongue. On one hand, he says special rights for bumiputera, which was created by his father under NEP, would not be taken away, and on other hand, that his New Economic Model (NEM) policy would be inclusive of all ethnic communities.
What is confusing is how can you treat everyone equally and yet a certain race is given special preferences? After 41 years of NEP and special assistance to bumiputera, Umnoputras still say Malays are backward. This only points to one thing - either the system was faulty or the race is indeed mentally and physically handicapped compared to others.
Perkasa and Umno are actually insulting the Malays by saying that they are not capable of competing with others on a level-playing field and that they still need NEP to survive.
Kgen: The good thing about Perkasa is that it tears Najib's 1Malaysia to shreds. Najib tries to con non-Malays with 1Malaysia while he uses Perkasa to hold on to the extreme Malays.
Najib is trying to have his cake and eat it too. Different messages for different ethnic groups. The problem is that the world has changed and different messages don't work anymore because we have a free flow of information.
Najib to meet Obama this month
Peter Chen: It was Mahathir Mohamad who squandered so much of the rakyat's money, and spent millions just to have a short meeting with then US president George W Bush. I wonder how much Najib spent to get a few minutes with Barack Obama.
Robert L: I hope when Najib meets Obama, the US president will say something about Anwar Ibrahim's trial that will leave Najib in no doubt about America's concern about the failure of the democratic process in Malaysia. Perhaps it might be better for Najib not to go to America.
Ahmad Iqhbal: Another ‘meeting' arranged by (consultancy firm) Apco, just like TDM (Tun Dr Mahathir) had arranged a ‘paid' lunch with the then US president.
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