Win or lose the Pendang parliamentary and Anak Bukit state assembly by-elections, PAS has indeed made right choices in fielding two professionals, one being a medical doctor and the other, an engineer.

PAS' decision to field the duo counters the stereotype of Malays/Muslims as 'lazy' and 'stupid' by nature. Strangely enough, after 45 years of independence, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad still thinks of his own race in the colonial mould.

Perhaps, Mahathir has been led into believing this because of the flock in his own party. All around him in the party and the government are people whose utmost skill is in knowing how to pander to him.

In the mainstream media too, party loyalists have never needed to prove their intellectual capability. All they have to do is to toe the correct lines by attacking the opposition and defending Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Under such conditions and circumstances, there is simply no incentive to acquire knowledge, either for job performance or personal refinement.