I refer to the letter by Ashish K, [#1]Bizarre erasure of the past[/#] (March 21). Indeed the basis (asas in Malay, coincidentally also a Sanskrit word) of the Malay language is Sanskrit. No doubt, the Malay language together with other languages spoken on the Indian sub-continent like Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi are all offshoots or variants of Sanskrit in the same way that European languages like Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French are derived from Latin.

So why are our political and religious elite so anxious that the wool be pulled over the collective eyes of the Malay populace with regard to their heritage and origin? Perhaps this has to do with fear; more specifically the fear of losing power and hegemony over the Malay race.

Malay political and religious leaders have never been credited with placing much trust in the Malay population. In their simple and naive minds, the moment the Malays find out about their Indian and Hindu origins, the Malays will abandon Islam leading to a loss of dominance and power on their part. Such an attitude is nothing short of an insult to the intelligence and good sense of the Malay race.

So every attempt is made to bamboozle the Malay population into believing that they are unique and different instead of stressing commonality and brotherhood with other races, especially the local Indian minority. In the current context, they are accorded special rights and privileges.

While there has been no physical destruction of historical artifacts from the pre-Islamic age (at least, we are not in the same nefarious league as the Taliban in Afghanistan), nevertheless our political and religious elite have been guilty of the moral equivalent of vandalism against the historical record by their deliberate distortions or misinterpretation of events in our pre-Islamic history.

When will we open our eyes?