I am a Chinese student and have lived in Malaysia all my life. Fairplay's letter Bumi-pushing has to stop brings into view things I haven't considered before, such as non-Malay Malaysian citizens do not deserve equal rights because their forefathers were allowed to stay on in the country only at the hospitality of the host.

He implies that I am not a citizen, but a long-term guest of Malaysia.

I am not against the goal of Malaysia's affirmative action policies, only against its method of implementation. Not all Chinese Malaysians are successful, not all are wealthy, not all enjoy the lifestyle that Fairplayer thinks we do. We may look like that because of a small number of wealthy ones.

The silent majority is always overshadowed by the dominant minority as we tend to notice and remember the rich, not the poor.

As for whether that is racial discrimination against non-bumiputra in governmental organisations, Fairplayer should look into town planning policies and see how blatantly discriminatory some of them could be. Do remember that all citizens pay taxes equally, only that some of us pay to be discriminated against.

We the non-bumiputra have to fund our own places of worship and do not get any state funds for them. We do not enjoy any rebates for housing even if we are poor. Likewise, education where the discrimination is even more obvious.

As for the Malay-dominated public sector, I do not see the government trying to fix this imbalance in their workforce seriously.

As for the prominent Chinese families mentioned in Fairplayer's letter, they have managed to survive and work with the system, so what would they have to complain. I do not understand their point in this. Is it that Fairplay only listens to the rich for their opinion, and ignore the poor?

As for Gerakan's discrimination against the Malays in Penang, do they publicly allow tourist into mosques? If they do, are they faced with regulations or restrictions for access into the place of worship? I hope this letter would give you an understanding to why we feel like second-class citizens.