I refer to the letter Spineless BN apologists, be gone! I wonder how Democrat knows that the complainants in this Letters column vote for Barsian Nasional at general elections?

Indeed, the BN wins each election handsomely and one reason could well be the delineation of constituencies, where urban constituencies which tend to vote opposition have one MP representing 40,000 people while rural constituencies more favourable to the BN can have as few as 2,000 people.

At the same time, I agree there are urban voters who don't like the present regime but see no better alternative which will provide some modicum of economic opportunity, systems which nominally work, political stability and a semblance of personal and religious freedom.

Quite frankly, besides PAS and its Islamic system and Parti Sosialis Malaysia with its socialism, I don't see what the rest of the opposition has to offer in terms of alternative economic, educational, medical, housing or infrastructure development policies.

While DAP may have earned some brownie points over the AP issue, what else does this party have to offer besides that?

It is high time we face some unpalatable facts in that the Western concepts of democracy, free speech, free press and human rights are not an Asian tradition. Asians have mostly known feudalism, patronage and cronyism, and which places priority on economic well-being.

While the Western-educated or Western-influenced among us (myself included) may give top priority to issues of democracy, freedoms and human rights, it appears that the majority of Asians think otherwise.

Asian leaders and parties who have been in power for a long time know this fact and exploit it to their advantage whether in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand or China.

President Suharto of Indonesia was ousted only after he removed subsidies on essential items. A Singaporean told me that Singapore adopted a policy of filling their peoples' stomach and emptying out their brains, and that appears to have worked so far.

Not surprisingly, the Thais re-elected Thaksin because he has brought some prosperity to them, despite whatever allegations favouritism and abuse of power, some quarters level against him.

The list goes on but the lesson for the opposition here is that they must cater to the priorities of the Asian electorate if they ever hope to become the next government, They cannot hope to win on issues of secondary or tertiary importance to the majority.

I should also remind readers how despite all its Western-style democracy, free speech and free press, India is still burdened by corruption, bureaucracy, lack of transparency, inefficiencies and cronyism. Ditto for the Philippines, by the way.