OK, OK, I surrender. Today, as I celebrate my personal liberation from the oppressive academic situation that kept me from writing a column last week, I find myself totally out-punned on this week's top topic of Merdeka.

It seems as if every article, blog and comment I see lately presents a powerful, funny and/or punny case for choosing not to celebrate Malaysia's independence from Britain in favour of 52 years of subjection to Barisan Nasional.

Murdeka, of course, is one of the most commonly-cited concepts, given BN's reluctance to properly investigate a string of notoriously suspicious cases like the shooting and C4 disposal of the Mongolian 'model' Altantuya Shaariibuu, the persistent killing of 'suspects' in 'shoot-outs' with the police, the hordes of mysterious deaths in police custody and the recent alleged suicide of Teoh Beng Hock in the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission.