As a Malaysian residing overseas, I am really shameful and frustrated to learn about the going-ons in Malaysia. I have two issues to raise here.

Firstly, after more than 50 years of independence from British colonial rule, I cannot believe that the childish politicians in Malaysia are still harping on the non-issue of Ketuanan Melayu. Why should the Malays, or rather the Umno Malays, be allowed to lord over other races?

History clearly show that many of these Umno Malays are only legally Malays according to the federal constitution - some have just migrated to Malaysia from a neighbouring country with no proven track record to show they have positively contributed to nation-building.

This unlike the ancestors of many Chinese and Indians whose forefathers had laboured with sweat and blood to ensure that this beautiful nation will be economically competitive the fruits of which all us now enjoy.

In the early days, alongside the peasant Malays; they had fought, suffered and gave their lives for the country against the enemies like the communists and the Japanese and finally stood up against the British imperialists and Malay elites to achieve independence from the British.

Are these not worthy track records for the Chinese and the Indians to be accorded due recognition? Moreover, history has also revealed that the Malays are migrants, like the Chinese and the Indians, from Yunnan.

This is actually sublime apartheid where the minority are being oppressed. Look around us at any country - be it in America, Australia and Great Britain - and one will not see one race lording it over another as well as one stripping the other of many privileges.

In our strive towards modernity, such a feudal mentality cannot be allowed to perpetrate, much more be condoned by the ruling party. It will only draw the nation backward.

I am sure that many, modern educated Malays, both in Malaysia and abroad, are ashamed of what Umno is propagating.

Secondly, the call to abolish vernacular schools for the reason that they are the cause of racial polarisation actually reveals the ‘trapped’ mentality of the person who does not understand Malaysian society.

It is a call by one who is striving to be recognised in his political career as the potential Umno Youth leader. Mukhriz Mahathir fails to comprehend the fact that to build a true Bangsa Malaysia, all the races in the country must be treated equally be it in education, scholarships, employment, etc.

The bumiputera discount for buying houses irrespective of their economic status is just another case where the Umno is robbing the poor to finance the rich.

Granted that we must help the needy, poor Malays, we must also remember that there are also many non-Malays who, just like their Malay counterparts with no Umno connections, have been driven into a corner because of the ‘pro-Umno elite policies’. These are the causes of racial polarisation in our country.

I clearly remember during my childhood in Ipoh, I used to have many Malay friends. We slept over at each others' homes during weekends and the school holidays. We went to camps in Cameron Highlands together.

When we were in secondary school, we rented and shared the same house. We had no problems at all. It was truly the bond of brotherhood and ‘Anak Malaysia’ that bounded us together. We celebrated and visited each other especially during Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali.

No religious councils or any state body would dream of stopping us from doing all these. It was genuine camaraderie and we all enjoyed it so much.

Later, I was to learn that even I had performed much better than my friends, especially the Malays, in school I was to be denied a place to pursue a course of my own choice in a local university besides being denied a state scholarship.

Those other friends of mine, however, were handsomely rewarded with even an overseas education scholarship. It was then that I felt the hurt at being treated as a second or even third class simply because of my skin colour.

I believe I am not the only one who felt that way. The thousands of overseas Chinese and Indian Malaysians must have shared the same feelings.

So Mukhriz and all the Umno elites, I hope you are reading this letter which is written from the bottom of my heart and I hope you will know what can really mend the ever increasing chasm of racial polarisation in Malaysia.