With reference to K Balagaru's letter, [#1]The point is, reassess[/#], Feb 14), the biggest problem with affirmative action in Malaysia is there is no real assessment of the policy. The government/political machinery has been moulded over the years to use the truth sparingly for its own narrow and selfish aims that the real effects of policies are no longer known.

All progress is relative not absolute. For example, if, as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak say, it's true that Malay students are only taking up less than 20 percent of university placings after so long, then perhaps the Malays have not made any progress at all since that was the same statistic 25 years ago.

What is important is real progress, not an artificially created one. Even if one were to use protection for development purposes, in the end, one would still need to benchmark oneself correctly, not artificially.

What is more important today is the rate of progress. The main point of Singapore Premier Goh Chok Tong's controversial comment is the Singapore Malay progress has increased relative to the Singapore Chinese and hence there is a closing of the gap between the two. Singapore Malay's real rate of progress is known because the gains are based on an open competitive system.

If we and especially our politicians deny the truth today, what assurance is there that 25 years from now, when we have no choice but to globalise, we can accept the truth?

Those who deny the truth will still have to pay the price for it in future. Our children will pay the price for our own weaknesses and reap the harvest of what we sow today.