In response to Pensioner's letter Very equal rights overseas, I would like to say his assessments are far from true. He states he too has lived overseas in the UK and found 'Malaysia far ahead in terms of recognising immigrant populations.'

Pensioner states that '... we forget that we are Asians and that we will never be accepted as white'.

In no developed country would one expect an Asian to assume to want to be white, In fact, the very essence of law in these countries is to recognise the varied differences of immigrants from all over the world and their right to practice their cultural beliefs .

Pensioner also mentioned that in this country we have people with Chinese names, Chinese ministers, political parties, Chinese hospitals, associations, etc. Is he stating that developed countries do not have these?

There are Chinese communities throughout the US and they, in fact, do have Chinese clinics, Chinese political parties, etc. There are people in the US federal, state, county, and local governments that still have their Chinese names and of course, there are many Chinese businesses as well as many other ethnic businesses and associations.

However, over there, your ethnic make-up is not demanded on documents (requested but not required). Your ethnic make-up is not listed on your driver's licence, your passport or your identity card. You are not given discounts or penalised for your ethnicity when buying homes, when taking loans, or when pursuing an education.

In the US, anyone whether Chinese, Indian, black, Japanese, Mexican, etc has the right to run for president. There are no restrictions, one only needs to secure the votes.

In Malaysia, there are but a simple handful of ethnic persuasions - Malay, Chinese, Indian and then, of course, the often heard 'others'.

However, in the UK, Germany, Canada, US and likewise there are Malays, Indians, Chinese, Arabs, Mexicans, Japanese, Thai, Azerbaijans, Bangladeshis, British, Portuguese, Lebanese, Syrians, Tongans, Scottish etc.

Malaysia is a peaceful, nice, calm place to live in. However, it does in fact have institutionalised discrimination and policies (whether good or bad) based on ethnicity. This differs dramatically from Western countries that do not recognise institutionalised racism but instead protect all races.