This was a brilliant piece - 'Community bonding to fight social ills', (Aug 3) by Bakri Musa. It has always been my lament that the approaches of the authorities to the social problems experienced by Malaysians has been woefully inadequate.

It is not a problem of Malay kids alone. Indians feature highest for alcoholism, drug addiction, gangsterism and suicides. Chinese kids loiter in places like Sungei Wang Plaza and ecstasy is a predominantly Chinese phenomenon.

Chinese gangs continue to run prostitution, gambling, smuggling and protection rackets. All communities have their gangs distributing drugs.

Dr Musa is right. Reconstitute our urban communities. Bring the kampung to the towns and vice versa. The traditional fabric of the urban community is in tatters.

The social system has been destroyed and replaced by a government managed system which even if inadequate and inefficient breeds a soul sapping dependence.

New housing for the poor rapidly become slums and crime infested areas. They lack all the amenities for the development of community life. Schools are poorly designed and poorly built. There are insufficient schools.

Teachers are poorly trained and lack motivation. The result is that the school environment generally lacks inspiration and excitement.

There must be proper studies made. Our universities must make it their business to understand the underpinnings of our society. They must objectively and dispassionately study and understand the root causes for the social problems plaguing our communities. They should prescribe solutions.

I have always maintained that our communities should be integrated. Inherent in each of our cultures is wisdom which can only be transmitted by interaction in mixed communities. Diversity results in stronger and more resilient cultures.

We must alter our priorities.

There must be massive expenditure on education and housing. International competitions should be held for designs for new townships and for schools and universities. All universities should have, say 30 percent expatriate lecturers.

This would help ensure standards and a cross-fertilisation of ideas. We should aggressively pursue a policy of bilingualism. This would again ensure a receptivity to new ideas.

We must find new solutions to old problems. We should also abandon old solutions which create new problems. Our priorities must change.