Thank you, Amir Muhammad, for saying that black is black and not grey ( [#1]Something fishy about quotas [/#], Dec 20). As a Malaysian not of bumiputra descent, I would like to state that I believe the quota should stay, but if and only if it helps the poor and needy regardless of race.

Malaysia is in a unique position in that we have a strong middle class. Because of that we have not been plagued by the troubles that our neighbouring countries are seeing. But as we move towards the knowledge economy, the digital divide is becoming bigger as the days pass by and having groups of people debating about special rights and quotas will not help the country.

The short-term fear that I have is that this current tiff between the government, Suqiu and GPMS will tear the very fabric of society and bring about a replay of May 13. I was not born then, but from the stories related to me by my parents, I do not wish to go through it.

The longer-term fear I have is that Malaysia as a country will be downgraded to a "has-been" because the government, politicians and pseudo-politicians have decided to talk about special rights and quotas, instead of taking an objective view of what needs to be done to move Malaysia into the new economy. One of the change gurus have said that in order to change, the sacred cows must be sacrificed.

I have seen how the quota system helped my Malay friends to get better opportunities to better their lives, yet I also see the same quota system leaving other friends by the wayside because they're Indian or Chinese Malaysians. This is what I do not like about the system.

I think it is time to stop shouting about the obvious and collectively work towards building a nation that has got more intellectual capital, a country that thrives on the knowledge-based economy. Singapore with just three million people has far more intellectual capital than Malaysia, a nation of 22 million people. Imagine how powerful Malaysia can be if we can just tap 50 percent of the population to contribute their intellectual capital!

Malaysia Boleh! But our current crop of leaders Tak Boleh!