i am tempted to write to utusan and give them a piece of my mind.

First and foremost, I don’t write about politics or religion. These are two highly sensitive topics and I don’t see the possibility of discussions involving this two topics to be constructive and open.

My approach to this particular topic (importance of Mandarin), is constructed purely through the logic of my perceptions of the Malaysian business and economic affairs. I don’t have an agenda. I mention things as I see them, not as what I want others to. What I’m peeved about the Utusan article is that they see the requirement of Mandarin competency to be unfair.

If I were to hire for my company, and the position involves a lot of interacting with Chinese nationals or those from Chinese ethnic background, I’d definitely state Mandarin competency as a requirement for the position. However, this doesn’t mean that the candidate I select would be of Chinese ethnic background. On the contrary, I don’t care if the person is Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan, Iban, Sikh… heck, I don’t even care if he/she/it is an alien. You meet my criteria, and I’m agreeable to your terms… you’re hired! It’s as simple as that.

I don’t really care for affirmative action or policies. I believe in social evolution. Nationalism will be part of a citizen’s mindset when he/she has a deep sense of love for his/her country. What makes me sick is seeing some newspaper warping a business decision into something that it’s not.

It will take a lot of shit out of many who felt betrayed and a sense of treason.

I do agree with you and I felt elated to find that you are truely Malaysian. At the same time, it may also be necessary to tone your language to consider the sensitiveness of the majority of blinkered and calcified units.

It is not wrong to say as Malaysians it would be good to be fluent in Bahasa, at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt or disadvantage anyone if he/she learnt and master more than one language, in particular Mandarin as it would be advantageous to do business with China who is the growing economy.

There are, those in Utusan and some communal associations and institution who survived by being communalistic and by harping on religious and racial issues. We had seen that these people had benefited and rising up the political ladders at the expense of the rakyat in totality.

However, it is also necessary to remind everyone that in Malaysia, the Malays form the majority and their interest and weaknesses need to be addressed to keep up with the others within the community. That being said, what we despise is not the need to help Malays in general and the poor in particular; it is the implementation of policies that are suppose to benefit the Malays that was skewed towards a few within the coterie, benefiting a small group at the expense of the vast majority of Malays who are still way backwards.

What all of us wants to see is that the Malays must progress and prosper alongside the other communities. Then, all the communities can collaborate and deal with external threats and opportunities that benefit everyone and benefit the nation as a whole - then, Bangsa Malaysia can become a reality. Till then, we have to grope in the tunnel and scour for the little light.

And if you actually RTFA, you’d see that I don’t speak Mandarin.

I’d return your advise, you should get a grip yourself.

Thanks for commenting, it must have taken you a tremendous amount of time structuring it, considering your IQ level.

Have a nice day.