The Batu Sapi by-election should be an eye-opener that Malaysia does not need a third force . A third force would only split the opposition's votes and hand victory to the incumbent BN's government. A more suitable option would be to have a two party system where the opposition can contest against the BN on a one to one basis.

Hindraf should abandon its aim of contesting the election on its own under the guise of representing the third force. The Indians by themselves do not have a sizeable majority and any campaign based on its own racial origin would certainly not get any support from the Chinese or kalay electorates. In such a scenario the most likely outcome would be to hand victory to the BN combined parties of Umno, MCA and MIC.

Hindraf leader Waythamoorthy should realise that there is already adequate Indian representation in parties like DAP, MIC, Gerakan and PPP. Their complaints and grievances that PKR has not done enough for the Indian community should be viewed in the context that within two years of wining th election, in five of the Pakatan states the latter had elevated Indians to a position that they had never enjoyed before under the BN administration.

In Penang, an Indian was appointed the second deputy Chief Minister, in Perak an Indian was appointed as the speaker of the legislative assembly, and in Perak and Kedah Indians were appointed as exco members. All these bear strong testimony that within a space of two years Indian positions in many appointments far exceeded what BN could not do in 52 years of its governance.

A better compromise or option would be for Pakatan to select a few mixed seats for NGO's or certain prominent individuals with no political affiliations to contest under the Pakatan banner. That way, Pakatan at the same time can ensure that quality candidates which may be lacking in its own party can be sourced from outside the party membership..

For the future, Pakatan should not use the BN's formula of selecting candidates on a racial quota basis. Living in a borderless world of globalisation, Pakatan should depart form the BN's race-based politics.

As Malaysians we should be comfortable with candidates of any origin as long as the person selected can represent the interest of all communities irrespective of racial origins. By this implication Malaysians can expect any Malays, Chinese or Indians or even Ibans or Kadazans elected should be capable of articulating the grievances of any one of those communities they represent.

It should depart from the old outdated BN concept that only Umno can best look after Malay interest, MCA can only look after Chinese interests and MIC can only look after Indian interests. In short the old adage that it doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches the mice, should be the order of the day.