I am glad the press had the courage to bring the matter of leaving bright students out just because they did not belong to the right race. The official responses of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi indicate that it is the bureaucrats who are the culprits in the exercise. If such malpractice is not brought to the attention of the top, no change can take place.

The next interesting question to ask is: What have the MCA, Gerakan and MIC being doing all the last 30 years when this abuse has been taking place? To claim that they represent the interests of the Chinese and Indians would be a farce. If they had even once brought it up to the prime minister, many Chinese and Indians would have been spared from being rejected by the education system.

Even in this case, it had to the press who brought up the matter. After the revelation, one Chinese minister made a plea to the bureaucrats to be fair. Imagine, a minister having no courage to speak strongly in such a case of flagrant discrimination and having to make a plea to the servants of the government. What representation are we getting?

This is why it is very important to have a free press. I hope the press will have more courage to speak out for justice in future since the politicians who claim to represent us do not.