I have read the numerous letters by ex-Malaysians who have migrated overseas because they were disillusioned with Malaysia. The population of the Chinese Malaysians has plummeted from approximately 40 percent in 1957 to around 25 percent in 2000 although I do not have any figures for the Indians.

The main reason for this migration is that some of them felt that they were second-class citizens (the Chinese) and third-class citizens (the Indians) in the country that they were born in. The high cost of living and non-support from the government have also resulted in smaller families among the non-Malays.

This trend will continue further until somebody stops the erosion of non-Malay rights. Let me give a few examples:

1) In 1957, most government documents were printed in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. At present, some government documents are printed only in Malay e.g. income tax forms. This shows that only the Malay language is important in Malaysia. Signboards must have their Malay wording bigger in size than other languages.

2) Mosques are mushrooming all over the place, even in non-Malay majority areas while the building of new temples and churches are far and few between. When Dr Mahathir Mohamad declared Malaysia an Islamic state, MCA and Gerakan dared not speak out against this. This only goes to show that they're both just puppets of Umno.

3) New Chinese schools are severely restricted from being approved and built even in Chinese majority areas where the demand is high. But new national schools are being built with much gusto even if they are highly underutilised. How can MCA and Gerakan dare to say that they fight for Chinese education when parents have to send their children to far away places every morning because competition for near-homes schools is very stiff. This is especially true for Subang Jaya and Puchong in Selangor..

4) Rich Malays are granted a seven percent discount when buying luxury houses and some of them are even buying an extra house for their second wife, whereas poor non-Malays have to fork out the full non-subsidised amount for their first low or medium-cost house.

5) Non-sensitivity towards non-Malays is appalling and I can see this trend continuing as the Malays become more and more dominant in numbers. Note the various racist remarks by Mahathir over the years as proof. Many times, threats of racial riots (May 13) are made to silence dissenting voices.

Instead of migrating, please have a thought toward the unfortunates who neither have the money nor the talent to migrate overseas and that includes your relatives and friends. After all, the ancestors of the major races in Malaysia are all from different countries, the Malays from Indonesia, the Chinese from China and the Indians from India.

If the French in Canada, which comprises 25 percent of the population, and the blacks in the United States, which comprises only 10 percent of the population, can fight for greater equal rights, why can't the non-Malays here in Malaysia?

Let us all vote for fairness and meritocracy.