YOURSAY | ‘People who have no walking disabilities do not need to use crutches.’

Clever Voter: Columnist Mariam Mokhtar is absolutely right; Malays are no different from the rest. They, too, can compete and they, too, have what it takes. A small number of outliers have proven that.

What the country needs is a far fairer distribution of help. Meanwhile, we need to be fair to the rest.

The government has to incentivise a framework that creates the hunger, passion and commitment to contribute and be recognised for succeeding from one’s own effort.

The faster we remove the race label, the better we’ll be known as one country and one nationality.

Progressive: What we have here is, at the risk of over-generalisation, are two Malay subcultures.

The first is the handout Malays who depend on contracts from the government and government-linked companies (GLCs) and they are living it up without really working for it. This group is a minority.

The other group is generally a hard-working group, some working two and three jobs so as to move up the economic ladder. This is the majority and they are wonderful Malays.

But looking back, had it not been for the New Economic Policy (NEP) our nation would have descended into chaos a long time ago. But the original intent of the NEP was bastardised and what you see today is the result.

The huge Sabah corruption is a direct result of the present NEP. If the Malays are to be saved - a drastic rethink of NEP is necessary. And that will only be possible if Umno is defeated by a progressive Malay group.

Freethinker: People like ‘Nasi Lemak Anak Dara’ owner Siti Hajjar Ahmad help build up business mentality and strive to compete in an open market. A snail that refuses to change its shell will find itself trapped by its own decision.

No one can change the fact that the Malays will continue to rule the country, that's why we have sultans and the Agong. No one could change the national official religion, Islam.

These are protected by our constitution and by the population of the country the majority of whom are Malays (minus increasing Bangladesh and Indonesian IC holders).

Making changes means getting out of your comfort zones. How many Malays are willing to do that?

Rupert16: People who have no walking disabilities do not need to use crutches.

But the sad thing about our country is that some people who are born normal have been given crutches from the day they are born, and can no longer walk properly even though there is nothing wrong with them.

Hence they can't run. In short, they are no longer competitive and became dependent on ‘dedak’ (animal feed) and handouts from Umno.

This is how Umno's "I help you, you help me and cash is king" principles have helped them to stay in power for such a long time.

Abasir: The truth of this eloquently stated piece is proved by the silence of the majority of Malays who have yet to wake up to the reality of where this country is now.

All indications are that they never will. The ‘dumbing down’ is in fact Umno's greatest success.

Fair Play: Mariam, in an earlier article, you made an analogy that the Malay lives in a zoo environment. How true.

Because of ignorant and over-protective zoo keepers like Ismail Sabri Yaakob, soon they will become an endangered species that will not be able to survive once these zoo keepers are no longer around.

In truth, the Malays are their own worst enemies. But sadly, so long as DAP is around as the convenient scapegoat, 'zoo keepers' are still needed.

Pat88: Bravo, Mariam, once more you have proved that one does need to belong to one race and one religion to be intelligent.

Lasilomak: You cannot run away from the real world of international economic competition.

Investments and wealth grow in economies where human capital flourishes, unhindered by political interference. And where economies have to both recruit and retain talents to remain competitive and resilient.

The race to the bottom by Malay is also a race to economic abyss for Malaysia.

BernieBaby: When I read Mariam's article, Jamal Md Yunos and the red shirts keeping flashing in my mind. What a waste.

HaveAGreatDay: Dare we hope that change will come to our nation - no, not only for the Malays but for all rakyat of our nation.

The dumbing down of the Malays is drawing the whole nation down.

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