I am very pleased to have noted that in Ann Joo's letter - in response to my open letter published in March before the general election - that she is very upset about a lot of things that were not right during the time that Anwar Ibrahim was in the government.

It does not strike me that she is now any happier at the state of things, because it is evident that the horrid stuff she outlined is still the order of the day.

I cannot speak for Anwar on whether he did lift a finger to protest at his powerful boss or whether he was instrumental in creating them.

But I do know that of all the those in the cabinet who were collectively responsible for the things Ann Joo mentioned - which included non-bumiputeras and non-Muslim leaders - only one of them has publicly disavowed most of them and chose to go to jail in defiance of the government in power. It is still in power, thanks, I presume, to the vote of Ann Joo.

My heart goes out to all those who feel that they are oppressed, irrespective of race or religion. It is convenient to just pour out our bile, but tougher to actively look for a solution.

But one man dared to venture a solution, to go against the prevailing tide of conformity and subservience, at great personal risk. That man - the highest-level Malaysian government official to have abandoned power and its trappings on matters of principle affecting public good - remains on record to be Anwar Ibrahim.

All that I can plead to Ann Joo, as a remedy to her anger, is to do a bit of soul-searching like many of us have done. Maybe she can then see some things more evident to the critical eye - that poverty, discrimination and oppression does exist in this country that we all love.

They come in various forms, some announced, some subliminal, some institutionalised, some socialised. But one thing is certain - their perpetrators and victims cross all racial and religious lines.

And the irony is, she will also see that the one angle that these things are viewed from, is the very thing that it is not exclusive to - race and religion.

That, Ann Joo, is the result of communal politics, the basis of which the government in power has outrightly declared and structured itself to. It is time to grow out of it. It is time to no longer be influenced to see things in simplistic 'we-against-them' terms. Have we been allowed to? Or, more pointedly, are we allowing ourselves to?

One thing is certain - the beneficiaries of this political racket, who cross all racial and religious lines, will not free us of this inhibition for as long as they know they can raise emotions from us the way they were expressed by Ann Joo.

Ann Joo delights in wanting to send Anwar to jail for not doing the things he was supposed to do when he was in the government. I suppose that would mean that all the present cabinet members, by Ann Joo's logic, should also be in jail for still not doing the things they should be doing even after Ann Joo voted for them.

After seeing the trees and the forest, I no longer wallow in self-consuming anger. It is the first step to clarity and objectivity. So, no, no need to send them to jail, let's just vote them out. That is, if they let you.