True Malaysian who wrote the letter 'NGOs must be fair' (May 22) is anything but. He should be asking himself where this country is going. How is it going to compete in an age where information and investment are borderless and where talent goes where it is appreciated and welcomed?

The signs are already there - falling international reserves, decreasing levels of foreign direct investment, an ever-increasing brain drain, a moribund stock market that no foreign investor wants any part of, a national airline that is a joke in aviation circles, an international airport which is losing customers, etc. ad nauseam.

But True Malaysian is not bothered by all this. Give me, he says, quotas and preferential treatment. Brain drain? So what. Protestors against wrongdoings? Whack them with the ISA. Corruption, collusion and nepotism? That's the unavoidable consequence of affirmative action.

Hegemony must be preserved at all costs. Merit-based policies? That's grounds for sedition charges.

Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.