COMMENT | Let me say upfront that I am not being an alarmist or fear-mongering. The rantings of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the past few days got me reminiscing about my student days in England in the late 90s.

I met and befriended Surinderpal Garcha (God bless his soul) who arrived on the shores of Southampton in southern England in 1972 at the age of 18 with what he had described as “two shillings in my pocket”.

Like thousands of other Asians, he and his family had been expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin Dada and fortunately found refuge in England.

With his wit and wry sense of humour plus his skills as a hockey player, he built a career, starting off as a printer’s apprentice and ending up as a foreman just before he retired...