Shed old policies in New Malaysia

I AM a strong supporter of Pakatan Harapan and I even participated as a PACABA (polling/counting/barong agent) for Pakatan during the 14th General Election.

I am excited over the new Malaysia under the Pakatan government and hope that we will finally see Malaysia liberated from race-based policies.

However, I am writing in support of MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong’s statement as reported in “Wee raps Mahathir over ‘race-oriented policies’” ( The Star, June 28).

Dr Wee’s comments, which pointed out the reality of Chinese parents of my generation with college-going children, resonated with me.

I am very much a victim of racebased policies, which I felt were unfair even when I was in secondary school in the 70s. These, I feel, denied me a place in a local university although I had better results in the Higher School Certificate than most of my Malay classmates.

My father was a shopkeeper with 10 children to feed, and it was made clear to me and my siblings from a very young age that we had to find our own way through university if we were unable to enter one locally. When I could not secure a place in a local university, I worked for two years.

After I was accepted by a university in Britain, I borrowed money from more than 20 relatives and friends to pay for a one-way ticket and tuition fees for one year. For all the other expenses, I worked throughout my four years in university, at times doing three jobs.

I received no help from the government even though I did apply. Despite this, I returned to my beloved country after my studies and contributed to nation-building by serving in a GLC.

My husband and I both worked for more than 30 years to set up a home to bring up our two boys. We put them through private colleges and universities overseas. Are we rich? No. We were both employees. We used my 25 years of savings for one child and the proceeds from the sale of our house for the other.

This is just as Dr Wee said; we “value education above all else and will strive to give the best education to their (our) children regardless of how little money they (we) might have.”

Please do not stereotype the Chinese as wealthy in order to continue to justify old policies. Help should be rendered on a need and merit basis and not by race.

I sincerely hope and pray that the New Malaysia will truly reflect a Malaysian race, where the words “Malay”, “Chinese”, “Indian”, “Iban”, “Kadazan” and etc, will be used only to celebrate our unique diversities and unity, not to divide and rule. EWIE G Petaling Jaya