Not all of us who are critical of the BN would wish that Pak Lah fail miserably in the coming general elections. Most Malaysians are so resigned to the limited choice that we would rather have a strong prime minister than a good one. Out of fear of the murky unknowns of political instability, we have always opted for the devil rather than the deep blue sea.

That fear is real in the minds of those with much to lose considering the active ingredients of communal tension and religious disillusionment that are nurtured by those who benefit by them. But the truth is that fear is validated only by threats of self-fulfilling prophecies from those in power. Whether this grotesque vote-getting ploy will rear its ugly head again this time around will depend very much on Pak Lah's respect for the electorate and his agenda for the future.

The fight against corruption, it seems, is an important part of his agenda. Well, most of us are indeed against corruption. This social perversion will continue to be decried in the ceramahs by all sides. But sadly, the decisive factor will be how much one group can be assured that the other group will not abuse political power for undue communal or religious advantage.

It is a testimony to the fragility of our past growth as a nation that it is the technique that divides which keeps us together. And so it will continue to be the lifeline for communal party coalitions, knowing very well that the solutions they offer are but bandaids against an inevitable time bomb. But this need not be so.

For those of us who believe that social justice need not be couched in racial and communal terms, we wait anxiously for Pak Lah's list of candidates. It is his first real opportunity to move his agenda away from the politics of fear to the thing that really matters - eradication of corruption and social justice.

Will his list still reek of rotten fish uncaught? Or will he succumb to the political warlords hard-wired into the operating systems of his party? Does he fear daggers from amongst the shark-infested Umno supreme council that he only inherited but never moulded, and that will still wield power after the elections?

We pray that Pak Lah will rise to the occasion and, through his choice of candidates, signal in no uncertain terms that this nation will move forward. Away from the undue bondage that fear has put us into, towards a future of social justice for all, irrespective of creed. How else can we compete globally as a nation if we always have to look behind our shoulders at the home front?

If Pak Lah has the courage to initiate surgery, brave Malaysians will support him in droves. This time not out fear but out of hope that the best and the brightest will represent us in parliament and lead us in the cabinet. We owe it to those who come after us that the bastardised products

of cross-patronisation by communal coalitions be chucked into the trash-cans of our history.

If he doesn't, then he is just like any of them, say what you may, bersumpah or no bersumpah . And I would still go to the polls even if only armed with one solitary vote for my alternative candidate who would probably lose.

At this moment of our history, however, Pak Lah has within his reach whatever it takes to make a difference. He may also choose to do nothing significant beyond recycling another bale of soiled bandaids.

The last man who promised us true national solidarity and salvation made us wait for 22 long years and then blamed his failure on the Jews.