On Zaib Ibrahim's "I, too, am Malay

1. I just finished reading this paper bag book which was written by a Kelantanese Malay lawyer cum politician. I was recommended to get this and read and I did without regrets. It was a beautifully written by a man who gave some thoughts about everything around him.

2. In the book some things struck me . He mentioned his friends and classmates whom I also knew; Dr. Nik Ismail Nik Daud, my colleague at UKM; Tan Sri Nik Ismail Mohamad, an ex Airforce chief and Dato' Nik Nasarudin Wan Mahmood, ex MACRES boss. I knew these people when they were in Form 3 at the Sultan Ismail College, Kota Bharu. Zaid spent three years in my alma mater.

3. He mentioned about Tok Awang whom I also remembered when I was young. This man went around Kota Bharu town shouted,"What cat shit Independence, I can have my nasi berlauk breakfast" As Zaid said the message was clear ....what kind of Independence in 1957 had we achieved if we could not feed this man with a cheap but good nasi berlauk Nak Nah? Of course Zaid failed to mention Mat Tok Pek, Tok Wali Saad, these gentlemen were also illustrous.

4. Zaid lamented a lot on what it takes to be independent and progressive Malaysians devoid of corruption, freedom, liberty, integrity, greed, intolerant etc. He also talked about religion in particular Islam citing a couple of verses from Quraan, hadiths and sunnahs.

5. He argued Malaysia would be a different nation had we practices some good governance based of our secular constitution, had we not put up a borad that read,"Ini satu lagi projek Barisan nasional". He criticised many past and present leaders at the same time he respected them for what they are. He had wanted them to have more self integrity and less corrupt. he has wanted more professional civil servants, police force etc.

6. He had wanted the present generation of students to be better educated in schools and universities. Here I agreed totally with him on the present quality of teachers and lecturers. He didn't believe in party politic patronage as we have been observed in many years now. I think I will stop here, go and get a copy of it and read it. Cheers