I was shocked to learn that letter writer Mustapha Ong who had unquestioningly defended Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Internal Security Act was no diplomat. He had me fooled.

Of course, everyone has the right to choose one's abode as he says. While that is true for some, many others just do not have the means. If they did, do you think many among the millions of trampled-on, discriminated poor minorities in this country would not have left?

Some of us also choose not to move but to live here because we believe we have the right to make a living here and to be happy and proud of being Malaysian.

But I just have to say: Life here is basically all right with a few exceptions, the biggest of which are the police. We face intimidation from the police on a daily basis — and I don't mean intimidation for our political beliefs because that is another issue altogether.

We are stopped for no reason on the road so that they can accuse us of some offences however minor or even imaginary. They are out in full force come festive seasons, not so much to make our roads safer, but to haul up drivers for driving just a wee bit faster than they should on slow stretches where the speed limit does not make sense at all in the first place. Just ask drivers who have been stopped and they will have interesting stories to tell.

Some of us who have the misfortune to have to go to police stations to make reports also can tell a story or two about their professionalism.

The police are just one of the things we have to tolerate in this country. And that's the first in a long list of many. I'm sorry if I seem to be picking on the police, but that was so that people who are not politically inclined can relate to life in this country.

Mesra, Cekap, Betul ... yeah, right.