I would like to refer to Johannian in Exile's tirade against Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia co-founder and former professor Zainal Abidin Wahid's stand on the issue of education.

I am not supporting either one of them, but I think the feeling among Malays is that they are actually losing out on many fronts and now, the education issue.

Much as we want to highlight all the successes acquiredby a few Malay millionaires, many especially in the east coast are living from hand-to-mouth existence and in squalor.

To make matters worse, these Malays are really victims of Malay politics — between PAS and Umno — and they are literally being punished for having voted PAS. If Johannian in Exile were to take a few days off and make a trip to the villages in the east coast, he will understand that in spite of all the chest beating by those in Kuala Lumpur, the Malays are still way behind others. Their lives are as miserable as their forefathers' and their future remains uncertain, at best.

To many, even the Mara colleges which is a bone of contention here, is out of their reach. Education is the very last hope for many, hoping that their children will somehow manage to dislodge themselves from the shackles of poverty.

They live in a so-called Malay dominated country, but they are, like a Malay saying "a mouse dying of hunger in a rice bin". I just wonder what would have happened if, by a twist of history, Malaysia's majority population is Chinese or Indians?

Would we be like Singapore, where Muslim children cannot wear headscarves and some sensitive posts in the army are officially declared not for Malays? Would our sultans all be retired off? Or would the non-Malay politicians be more magnanimous than the crop that we have put in parliament now?