At the height of the furor over the raid on malaysiakini a year ago, I wrote a stinging 'open letter' to Khairy Jamaluddin, castigating him and his colleagues at Umno Youth for their infantile behaviour.

Since then I have continued to hear from many who know Khairy - now special assistant to Prime Minister (and his father-in-law) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - and they have told me about his anger and disappointment at my supposedly 'hit' letter.

This essay sums up my responses to these critics.

I am not at all surprised at Khairy's reaction. Yes, my original piece was tough and biting. No, I am not apologising because I was very angry and justifiably so when I wrote it.

My purpose was to smoke out those 'enlightened' Umno Youth leaders who had remained curiously and cowardly silent during the entire ugly episode.

This next generation of Umno leaders have acquired, only too eagerly, many of the unsavory traits of their elders, in particular, their intolerance of criticism and their tendency to retreat and to disclaim any responsibility for the mess they create. Khairy is fast acculturating into this culture.

He is wasting his time and more importantly, his talent by being in this crowd. He is smart, but - unguided and untutored - he will waste that precious gift too.

Over-confidence of graduates

I have never met the man, but he has left many trails for us to judge him. After he graduated from Oxford he spent a few months at The Economist. He should have stayed there and learned something from those seasoned journalists and editors.

Had he done that, today he could be the ideal candidate to head and upgrade the New Straits Times. God knows it is badly in need of one.

Instead, he dabbled in politics with Umno Youth. He once claimed that he learned a lot from that organisation as if he were attending a university! That does not say much about his experience at Oxford.

The only thing he could have learned from Umno Youth is back stabbing, scheming and intrigue. Former Umno deputy president and deputy premier Musa Hitam has said as much about it.

More recently Khairy took a fellowship in Islamic Studies at Oxford, presumably to enhance his religious credentials. Good God, Malaysia does not need any more of those types! To the Islamists he is nothing more than another native brainwashed by those Orientalists!

Khairy is like so many bright but over-confident young Malays we see so often today who think that they have learned it all once they get a degree. This phenomenon is more pronounced among those who have graduated from elite British universities.

Interestingly, Malays who graduated from top American universities think differently. They are all eager to further their studies.

I do not know what those Oxbridge dons do to their Malay students to make them think that with a mere baccalaureate degree they could now miraculously run a large organisation without seeking additional professional training.

To be sure, this phenomenon is seen only among Malays. I see many non-Malay Oxbridge graduates from Malaysia and Singapore pursuing their MBAs and PhDs at Stanford; they seem to be of a different breed from those Oxbridge Malays.

'Explore other avenues'

If I were advising Khairy, this is what I would say: get out of your father-in-law's shadow. It is not fair to him but more importantly, not fair to you. Whatever your achievements, they will be forever tainted.

Besides, you will not serve your father-in-law well because nobody would be truthful to you, knowing that you are his son-in-law. What your father-in-law needs most now, as he has said recently, is the unvarnished and unfiltered truth.

You will not be in a position to give the prime minister your objective advice. You will always be restrained by familial traditions, more specifically our Malay mores of always being deferential to our elders. You cannot escape this cultural trap, so explore other avenues.

If your inclination is towards journalism, then get employed with some other reputable publication like The Economist and Far East Economic Review and polish up your skills. After you have gained solid experience, you can dabble in politics. You would have some substance then. Enhance your journalism qualifications by getting a graduate degree from a top 'J school' like Columbia.

If your interest is in management, then spruce up your mathematics, sit the GMAT, and get yourself admitted to a top MBA programme. Then the world will be your stage.

Get employed with a leading multinational company, learn from the seasoned pros, earn some real money in the process and, after a few years, return home to take over Citibank or IBM Malaysia and be paid as an expatriate.

After you get some solid management experience, then consider entering politics. You would then truly add value to the political discourse.

To those who chastise me for publishing what appears to be a piece of private communication, I offer this: the 'open letter' is merely a literary device.

Khairy identifies himself as 'Special Assistant' to Abdullah and, as such, is a public figure. If he cannot stand the heat, he should stay out of the kitchen.

If he were only Abdullah's son-in-law, then certainly my open letter could be viewed as a breach of common courtesy.

Right now Khairy's resume is padded with his experience in Umno Youth, and being married into the right family. To the real world, the latter may be a considerable asset, but the former is definitely a liability.