I'm not surprised that Kee Thuan Chye should feel he is Malaysian first . After all, his family has been here almost 200 years. We're first cousins.

Our grandfather's grandfather was an influential Province Wellesley sugar planter in the 1800s who has a ‘lorong' named after him. His father - our great, great, great grandpa - was the one who sailed from China to the then British crown colony of Penang.

Unlike Kee, I'm not declaring the same sentiment. Instead, I'm asking why are we still second -class citizens after two centuries living in this land. Why is a second-generation Malaysian like Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, whose father is the Javanese immigrant Joyo Erodikromo, treated like a first-class citizen?