I refer to a letter by VRK entitled National Unity Panel members not impressive in which VRK voiced his concerns over the composition of the National Unity Panel members.

He bemoaned that a preponderance of retired civil servants and not-so-senior members of the government on the panel will result in a bunch of Sir Humphrey's probably doing nothing more than idle talk. I personally reckon one or two bureaucrats may not be bad as the panel would certainly need them to help navigate through the administrative process the panel may possibly encounter.

But VRK is right on this aspect because I can predict that if the panel are made up of only government employees, retired and present, we may expect the panel to be ringing up HQ for instructions on what 'findings' and 'recommendations' to issue.

In that possible scenario, why bother with a national panel? The task of the National Unity Panel would then be better delegated to a senior civil servant in the Prime Minister's Department, unless of course it has been established as just more 'jobs for the boys'.

But VRK is not entirely non-constructive. He praised the importance of such a panel which will be responsible for analysing inter-ethnic problems besetting our society and coming up with recommendations to improve national unity.

But this is where I feel VRK might have veered from his initially correct course when he recommended that the panel should have important personalities from both the government and private sectors. For example, he proposed the president of Petronas, deputy prime minister (DPM), CEOs of Cimb and Maybank as well as the other captains of industries.

He even nominated the crown prince of Perak to chair the panel, saying:, 'Perhaps the panel should be headed by a member of a royal household; the Regent of Perak comes to the mind given his urging recently on the issue of unity."

I totally disagree with his thrust as I feel VRK's nominations have been not only excessively top heavy but slanted towards societal Brahmins, rather than people who actually know about and can come up with solutions on problems of unity.

I don't believe that captains of industry are exactly experts on issues of national unity or have the sort of minds which emphatise with the fears, prejudice and worries of society. For them, the prime objective has always been and is about profits.

I am not even talking about sweat shops, serf-like labour in plantations with some in medieval bondage which malaysiakini in recent articles had shockingly revealed as existing in some Malaysian agricultural estates. Well, there is also the unmitigated evil of a few unscrupulous plantations exploiting illegal immigrants as poorly paid semi-slaves. The lack of official control over such abysmal conditions could and would have indirectly contributed to the frightening rise in crime rates that now plagues us.

Where were the captains of industry then?

OK, perhaps the DPM can sit on the panel as the Chair but I doubt he wants to. Obviously VRK likes a member of the royalty to head the panel. I have no objections to his nomination of the Perak prince as the latter seems to be a fine young man, and if the panel could do with his leadership that's good, but there is no point in having him and the DPM together in one room.

What we really need on the panel are people who have a finger on the pulse on what's troubling the nation and can propose solutions to bridge the politically created rifts between ethnic, religious, social groups. They should be people who have the ability to break down prejudice.

And since I mentioned the rifts in society have been caused by politicians they should be kept out of the panel.

To start my nominations, I think of Marina Mahathir, a dedicated worker for those unfortunate members of our society afflicted by the dreaded HIV-Aids. Her caring compassion has in many ways overcome cruel ostracism. National unity is not just about inter-ethnic problems but the ill-informed prejudice of our society which denies the needy of much needed compassion.

Marina can be the person to span the needs of victims of cruel fate with a more compassionate generous understanding Malaysian society, and help foster an inclusive caring and tolerant Malaysian people. We could do less than bigoted and cruel suggestions to maroon the suffering to some isolated Devil's Isle.

Marina is highly respected for her caring nature and dedication in such a difficult field of social work and I dare say many adore her - the ideal personaility for the National Unity Panel.

Having frowned upon cruel bigoted suggestions to consign our sufferings to Pulau Buang-Dia, we gratefully look across to the other side on the religious front and see that we should co-opt the Mufti of Perlis, a man who has shown his comprehensive confidence and strength in his faith, that he does not need to behave like paranoid neo-cons. Together with moderate leaders from other religions he can help heal the divide by promoting improved mutual understanding leading to a tolerant multi-ethnic multi-religious mutually respecting society.

As a Penangite, I also see the sterling community work of Ong Boon Keong of SOS Penang where his social contributions have been above narrow ethnic considerations. He certainly has a finger on the pulse of the anxieties, fears and worries of the common people, those that the National Unity Panel should be focusing on.

Obviously there are other capable and suitable people for nomination to the panel, but the above three, in my mind wonderful social luminaries, are representative of people I have in mind for the National Unity Panel.

While VRK has correctly pointed out the panel members are being disproportionately made up of bureaucrats, his solution was unfortunately more driven by impressions of prestige, power and position. Let us have people who know what have been troubling our society and who can come up with meaningful recommendations.