I belong to the Homo sapiens group and like Malay Malaysians, I too have blood flowing in my body. Unlike them, I believe in another god, speak another language and have a totally different culture, yet I call myself Malaysian.

However, some Malaysians think that I am not fully Malaysian and I wonder why. They tell me that I ought to be grateful, I wonder what for? I work, pay my taxes, yet my children will not be able to study in government-run colleges, I wonder why.

If I am a Malaysian and I hold a blue identity card and a red passport, why can't I get a discount to buy a house here? Why can't I get a civil service job? Why can't my children study in local universities? Why am I being discriminated against? Why do job advertisements in the country say "bumiputra are strongly encouraged to apply"?

Why do we treat people differently because of their ethnic origin? In that case, we should be taxed separately; since we don't get government incentives, we pay less tax.

Dear Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, you as a physician will know that we are all equal. You have the power to change the system. Multiculturalism is here to stay. Please treat us with dignity and do accord us our equal rights as citizens.