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To be fair to Pak Lah, he never promised us to reform Malaysian politics and governance. He only wished it. He wished that government officials will not practise corruption. And he wished that those who do will be severely punished. What else could he do? After all, we already knew that. But we had hoped against hope.

It is not as if he can come down strong on them, like remove corrupt ministers from his cabinet. That would trigger a rebellion in his party that may result in his ouster. His replacement may not have the kind of fatherly personality through whom we dare hope. He is our hope medium.

He also wish for a greater and a more even prosperity for all Malaysians. Short of an egalitarian approach like that attempted by Karl Marx, the free-market approach is just about the most available. But then that could translate into free-everything, says his party. Where would their 'ketuanan' edge be? But from his public statements, he nevertheless wish that people be less greedy. We believe firmly that he is fully capable of wishing that.

Every morning as I read the news, I wish that things are a lot different. But I am comforted by the fact that there is someone in the highest office in the land sharing that same wish for the last 365 days. For these, Pak Lah has all the credibility of a symbol of hope, like that hero in the Hindustani movie I saw last night.

We all know that the script for our movie is written by someone else, directed in the shadows by someone else, and the producers are the 2,000-odd delegates at the triennial circus of money-grabbing intellectual-dwarfs. So, in all that reality, Pak Lah has had a magnificent 365 days carrying the duties expected of him.

Quite an improvement really, after 21 years under a megalomaniac who actually knew how to make his scary wishes come true. A benign leader is good for us. So here's wishing Pak Lah 20 more years of not doing anything.

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