I was quite intrigued by the righteous wrath of S Samy Vellu, president of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), last week when he lambasted the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) for de-recognising medical undergraduate programmes offered by the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) in Ukraine.

This audacity of Samy Vellu to confront the abrupt and arbitrary decision of the MMC has clearly put the leaders of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in a difficult position, considering the fact that the entire controversy surrounding the quality of the CSMU came just after scores of top Chinese students had failed to be granted scholarships by the Public Services Department (PSD) to pursue their tertiary education.

The last thing that the MCA leadership, currently preoccupied with the party elections scheduled to take place in the coming September, wants is any untoward incident that could make all the competitors' path to power more hazardous.

Ask an ordinary Chinese person on the street, and don't be surprised if he or she tells you Samy Vellu should now be made the president of the MCA, representing the Chinese community. Such psychological projection would embarrass the MCA leadership, which has long been seen as tame and timid before Umno, its political patron, when it comes to policy making.

This peculiar dilemma faced by the MCA leadership is also reflected in the unwillingness of the Chinese press to probe deeper into the issue. Compared to the outburst of emotion in the Chinese dailies over the plight of the best-performing Chinese students, it may not have been coincidental that the so-called commentators have chosen to be restrained, if not muted, on the CSMU. By saluting Samy Vellu, one shames Ong Ka Ting, president of the MCA. Given the symbiotic relationship between the Chinese press and the MCA, a seasoned editor should know what is best for all.

One of them from Sin Chew Daily has even gone as far as to justify the decision of the MMC, writing that such criticism is unfair as the MMC is duty-bound to ensure the quality of medical professionals in Malaysia. Parroting the MMC, the senior journalist argues that the CSMU's medium of instruction, which is Russian rather than English, is a cause for concern.

Forgive me, I nearly laughed my head off when I read this shallow mind of the journalist: would one doubt the standards of medical schools in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and even China, simply on account of the fact that students there are taught in the language of the country?

Of course, the journalist would have taken an entirely different position if the same fate befell a large number of Chinese students, or if Indians made up a huge chunk of Sin Chew's readership.

All hell let loose

Let's face it: the entire education system in Malaysia is shrouded in secrecy and inundated with racism, completed with the virtually unchecked power of Umno. This has been best illustrated by the recent refusal of the PSD to reveal the breakdowns of the students receiving scholarships by ethnic group. When the PSD said there was a limit to transparency, what it was essentially saying is that by making the selecting process public, the Pandora's box of racism will be opened and all hell let loose.

The insistence that no race factor was at play in the de-recognition of CSMU programmes only shows that the Malaysian authorities are still living in denial and trying to cover the dead elephant with the leather of a goat.

In the latest controversy, if Samy Vellu was fearless, the secretary-general of the MIC and the Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister S Sothinathan must have been heroic. Not just was he bold enough to interrupt Deputy Health Minister Abdul Latiff over the CSMU issue, he is even reprimanded by having his post suspended.

Sothinathan should have been aware of the wages of confronting Umno high echelon. Or he may very well have anticipated what he would receive in return. Some say he is an Indian Malaysian hero, rather than a Malaysian one. Quite true.

But I would still give him credit for his immense courage to challenge the racist mind of the biggest ruling party in the country, something that the MCA and Gerakan have been trying to avoid.

Still, to prove himself a leader with the best interests of the rakyat uppermost in his mind, Sothinathan must from now on do much better than just talking. What would his position be three months down the line? Would he retract what he has said having gone through a short stint of purgatory as a backbencher?

Penang YBs

After the suspension of Lim Boo Chang and Tan Cheng Liang as MCA state assembly members in Penang was lifted just before the general election last year, both of them could not wait to express their profound and heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. One hardly hears of them these days and they truly deserve the title of YB - Yang Bersyukur.

Why back down if your conscience is clear? The uprightness of the two YBs was short-lived, and those who had applauded their courage were taken for a ride.

So, if Sothinathan is truly a politician by the people, of the people, and for the people, he must be given the liberty to resign from the government and remain in the backbench so that his integrity will not be compromised by the ludicrous and self-deceiving spirit of muhibbah in the Barisan Nasional.

Anyway, it was also futile for Umno politicians to warn others against racism. In the milieu of Malaysia, in which race-based groups and politics abound, Umno would first have to dismantle itself and turn multiracial, and then formulate a means-based affirmative action in place of the divisive dichotomy between bumiputera and non-bumiputera, before it would acquire the moral position to talk about curbing racism.

And only then will the Malaysian public begin stop seeing all issues through the lenses of race, and our Parliament will be spared the poisonous racist exchanges.