Barisan MPs are not true 'wakil rakyat' but are instead 'wakil parti' as they really identify with party leaders instead of with the grassroots, the rakyat. So, it's no wonder that when it comes to voting according to what is right, they would instead prefer to 'do things right' and that is to vote according to party lines.

I am, of course, referring to Shahrir Abdul Samad's failure to obtain support from his BBC colleagues in Parliament on the issue everyone is now familiar with.

These BN MPs pay only lip service to meritocracy not realising that meritocracy also means that you ought to support a proposal based on its merit, no matter where it originates, either from your own party or from the opposition. It should be the idea that counts, not the originator. Do what is good for the country, not what is good only for the party. The country should be above the party.

The trouble with us in Malaysia is that we like to claim that we are practicing a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. Do we know that in Britain, the PM comes and goes, but the monarch stays. In our country, the reverse is true, or almost true. This happened during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's reign with him as PM having had to serve under four different Kings.

We are taking too long to mature into a real Westminster democracy because of the BN's paranoia of the opposition. The BN accuses opposition politicians of opposing for the sake of opposing, but they fail to realise that the description also fits them like a glove.

How can the present PM defend his outmoded stand of 'toeing the party line' which is out of sync with his professed new policy towards transparency and integrity in government? Truly, this is 'bikin tak serupa cakap'.

Look also at the current goings-on in the Sarawak elections run-up. The non-BN candidates are referred to as 'opposition candidates'. Why label them as such? As I understand it, an 'opposition' status comes only after the election results are out and the 'wakil rakyat' seated in the legislature.