I'm reading a book by Ben Carson entitled The Big Picture , many points makes me go hmmm. One was about affirmative action. Its appplication in preferential treatment in Malaysia came to mind. I never quite took the effort to figure out the full picture of what affirmative action is. As I know it, in the U.S., it involves giving opportunities to African Americans that they would not have otherwise, or forcing doors of opportunity open. I wonder how much talent is needed as a prerequisite to benefit from affirmative action, in comparison to Malaysia's hak istimewa. One given from people in power to those who are not, the other given by people in power to others alike themselves. Former PM Mahatir had observed that long-term preferential treatment lead to no good, complacency instead of a drive to success further with the tools so liberally given. How long is long-term? For Malaysia, it is now and has been in the past years. For America, that is not known yet, and the outcome may be very different. This matter interests me because I came to know of affirmative action as advantageous (well, dhu probably because I only heard about this matter from its advocates!) but disturbingly, these advocates are people that I have (yet?) to disagree with on various topics and have been people I look up to. And I do see the good of affirmative action. I see that if rigorous standards are set into place, then as a minority, I see invaluable opportunity in affirmative action. I need to find out more about this. As for the Malaysian version, I need not say anymore as I cannot without becoming, say, emotionally unstable.