The Malayan magpie is a handsome, territorial bird, which is prized for its song. Walk into any pet shop and you will notice this black and white bird, in tall cages, actively singing a beautiful song.

The male magpies are the ones that are kept as pets as the females don't sing as well. The magpie or 'burung murai', as it is known locally, is a proud bird that guards its territory and will fight to kill any intruding male.

In the wild, the magpies are carnivorous birds that eat insects and worms and are justly feared and respected by their avian brethen.

In order to keep these beautiful birds as pets, they have to be taken as nestlings from the wild and hand-fed with pallets soaked in water, several times a day. As they grow up, they can survive on pallets alone, all their lives.

These caged nestlings then mature to become tame, well-mannered, song birds. However, if they escape into the wild again, they soon perish as their hunting and survival instincts were never developed in the hand-fed cages.

This is the plight our bumiputera brothers and sisters will find themselves in if they keep on being spoon-fed by the government.

The cage is getting overcrowded and the handouts will soon get smaller and ultimately stop, as globalisation comes knocking. Then, when the cages are opened, all hell will break loose and they will start perishing in the wild as in the wild, only the fittest survive.

Heed the prime minister's advice given at the last Umno general assembly - throw away the crutches and learn to fly again like the proud Malayan magpie, which was born to be free and rich in song.