However one may look at it, Malaysia's problem may be one of a class or racial nature. Personally I prefer the latter.

The phrase "racial problem" conjures at once an image not unsimilar to that in the states or South Africa. That general concept however, is quite out of place in Malaysia.

The problem as I believe, is the unequal representation of races in our capitalist society. I have not used the word 'commercial' because of the great numbers of non-Malays, particularly the Chinese, are engaged in the non-commercial, specialist fields such as that of medicine, engineering, dentistry pharmacology and so on. The inability or rather the lack of Malays in these commercial and non-commercial private sectors is more or less the root cause of the racial tension, but certainly one aggravated by the inept existing government. The down-to-earth reason why the Malays have not attempted to partake in these fields, I am not qualified to say. But this I can say, the unremedied racial inequality plus inept government plus Malay military, police and political monopoly is a highly explosive mix. The inevitable I fear can only be another Chinese massacre, a la May 13, if something is not done. Can the government truthfully deny that the greater part of the Malays in Universities and Colleges are still toeing the Arts line? Can they honestly say that they have not actually helped the Malays to be on a par with the non-Malays in the competitive modern capitalist society? The nationalistic pride and feelings of the Malays have been but temporarily satisfied to keeps some crazy radicals in power-There is no new improvement. How can one be as blind and as week and close one's eyes to reality.

Malay 'middle man' in the commercial sector; to name a few, is antagonising to the non-Malays and the general feeling is one of social injustice. That is already in addition to exclusion in political and other public sectors participation. It is right to help the Malays, but the present policies of the government is not only clumsy, short-sighted and openly biased but tentative to culminate into another violent situation. Have not the communistic policies of the government been reflected in the last election? The majority of the Chinese voted for DAP. The Alliance Party no longer realistically represents the multiracial society it so often claims. MCA is effete, a mere puppet of the UMNO radicals influenced by the Alliance Party. Malayanisation is but a diversion from the true issues of unequal racial representation. It is inconsistent and highly dangerous to contradict existing acceptance and realities. The Malays are not being helped to realise their underlying potential

These I believe then are the real issues. The fundamental problem - unequal representation of Malays in all sectors through their own ability and intelligence. The immediate problem -generally incompetent, scrupulous, racialistic, feudalistic and corrupt government in the field of administration.

I do not quite agree that the problem is greatly one of class as so often suggested. The defective leadership directly accounts for the class problem and statistics show that the very rich forms a small of the Malaysian social class. To define the problem as such implies tacitly, communism is invariably the solution. The breathing space afforded by American intervention in Vietnam has sought to ensure that Malaysia is and remains a capitalist country. That being so, I am resigned to the fact that capitalism is here to stay. We must not also forget the other present reality. The Malays are strongly anti-Communist and it's a bit ironic as I see that Communism could only benefit the Malays the most.

So unless and until a better government is in rule, why is Malaysia so far behind Singapore? Does she not have the potential in abundance to out-perform Singapore? What are the causes of this lack of dynamism in transforming the economic bases of Malaysia?

Clearly the answers lie at the top. The leadership factor is the most crucial in developing countries. This deception of Malays and antagonising the non-Malays cannot go on forever. Should we leave history to speak for us? Then again, maybe we had better make history instead?