Since the curtain of 2009 will fall in the coming days and a new decade will follows in the year 2010, one needs to look at the direction our country is heading to. Will the new year herald a nation for the better where the rule of law reigns supreme and integrity and honesty will be the main virtues of our present leaders?

Or will the opposite happen which will lead our nation’s into the abyss? Malaysians as a whole feel cheated that after giving the opposition parties a big win in the last polls in 2008, the political landscapes has not changed for the better. People are still suffering due to rising inflation and both sides of Parliament seem to be suffering from one crisis after another which affects our country’s economy.

Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto opposition leader who managed to glue together the opposition parties under one banner at the last polls has failed to maintain the momentum and the Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers have failed to keep to their solemn promises to uplift the people out of their gloom and doom.

The sodomy charges against Anwar in the courts of law will probably ‘finish’ him off politically if he was to be sent to prison again. One doubts whether there is any other person of his stature in the opposition front who has what it takes to galvanise the crowds to put more opposition MPs in Parliament in order for them to form the next federal government in the coming polls.

One wonders with all the problems faced by the ruling and opposition parties at the moment, who is going to be our ‘white knight’ to lead us out of our political and economic morass which has affected the common people’s rice bowls rather than the elite of society.

A silver lining in having a two-coalition system in this country is that the arrogance of power which the ruling party has been guilty of since independence will be toned down as they will realise that they cannot take the people votes for granted anymore. But it takes more than the snail’s pace of reform for the public to look at the present government through a new prism.

The sentiment on the ground is difficult to read and although the people are still fed-up with the ruling party’s incompetent and corrupt practices, the opposition party’s performances have not not as sterling also. It is a ‘lose-lose’ situation among the local voters here as neither the ruling nor opposing parties in this country have the necessary political will and determinations to instill confidence in us that their party represents the future of this country.

Our country needs a ‘Third Force’ to take us out of our political quagmire but one wonders if good and honest MPs from the ruling party’s have what it takes to move out of their comfort zones and work with the opposition parties for a better Malaysia for all.

Happy New Year and let us hope that come the dawn of 2010, a better Malaysia awaits us if only that politicians on both sides of the divide will have the nation’s interest in their hearts rather than their own personal interests which have impeded our growth.

May God bless us in the New Year rather than us being stuck in this malaise for so long.