In YC's letter Team B the real losers, he admitted that Umno delivered the votes and said that MCA's Team A would capitalise on the win to mobilise opinion against Team B after the Indera Kayangan victory.

I agree with YC's implication that Team A is good in 'treating and threatening'. "Support me and you will get this and this. If not, you lose everything!"

But is he kidding when he says Team A's command of the Chinese media would enable it to demand concession from Umno and the government? Chinese education has been a perennial problem with no solution in sight.

I believe state assembly representative Lee Hwa Beng really did intend to deliver in all sincerity, the Chee Wen school to the satisfaction of USJ residents. It was beyond his circumstances that he could not. His turnaround support for Team A did not help either.

The once-vocal Nanyang press has lost its independence and could do nothing to highlight, much less report, on the issue. The muffled English press is also silenced.

Gerakan's silence is no help either. Perhaps we should also question Gerakan's relevance along with MCA's in the Chinese Malaysian community today.

Education is a basic right, yet it has become a 'sensitive' topic. Issues are actually a reflection of the maturity and development of a society. If we cannot even air education issues, how can we hope to survive and compete in a world that is increasingly going global?

Perhaps it is time for us to commission a new national blueprint on education policy taking into cognizance the new global environment in relation to the local environment and needs.

Let MCA be confined to giving handouts like Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman's licence and 30-percent school funds, among others. We should be forever grateful to the wakil rakyat (people's representative) to help secure trading licence, hawker licence and help transfer our kids to the schools of our choice.

We can no longer fight a war with bow and arrow today. Likewise, let's gear our education policy to fit the world today.