Home - Columns - Letters to the Editor - Thankful plight highlighted
Thankful plight highlighted
Posted on May 12, 2011, Thursday
Letter to the editor,
I WOULD like to take this opportunity to thank journalist Jacob Achoi and thesuundaypost for highlighting the plight of my daughter Teresa Clare Ratnam in trying to obtain a place in the Matriculation programme.
My sincere appreciation also goes to Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas, the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, for his prompt response and promise to assist in resolving this matter.
I am also grateful to The Borneo Post and Marina Undau’s parents for having brought this issue to public attention in 2010. It had made us all aware of the anomaly in the Federal Constitution when it comes to the children of Bumiputeras from the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak marrying other races.
The federal government is lauded for issuing an Executive instruction to overcome this anomaly without delay as soon as this issue was brought to its attention.
However, there appears to be a break in communication between the government of the day, who are elected representatives of the people, and the civil service which implements the policy decisions.
The civil service should abide by the decisions of the government in the best interest of the public in line with the concept of 1Malaysia.
Otherwise it will become mere lip service and not the great country that we aspire to create.
On behalf of Michelle Goh Vivian, Astynnia Gan Tze Ching, Jacklyn Michael Gopal and their parents, as well as the many other children of mixed marriages who are in the same predicament, I wish to thank Dato Sri Douglas Uggah again for his quick and positive response.
Col (Rtd) Ratnam
