Sir

As a Chinese Malaysian, I sympathize with the sentiments described in your News story “The Valley of Ghosts” (Nature 436, 620–621; 2005) about the Malaysian government's often-denied ‘Malays first’ policy. In particular, university admissions are suspicious. Malay admissions are based on results from exams called Matrikulasi, taken at Malay-only pre-university colleges, whereas other students have to take the national Malaysian Higher School Certificate (STPM) exam. Reports of ethnic-minority students with near-perfect STPM results not getting a place at the local university have become the norm, and yet objections are often ignored — the government claims that it's a fair game for all.

Personally, I had no choice but to go overseas to study, and my parents had to spend their entire pension savings on financing my undergraduate degree in Australia. After graduation, most of my Malaysian classmates chose to either stay in Australia or work in Singapore, where fair competition and equal opportunities give them better job prospects. Before coming to the Netherlands I did my master's degree in Singapore, where I met many Chinese Malaysians in this situation.

Most of us would like to return to Malaysia, but we know that research prospects for minorities are limited. No matter how talented we are, it seems we still have to travel outside our country to seek opportunities.