The prime minister in his speech on the 9th Malaysia Plan in Kepala Batas recently was quoted to have said, "We want to develop the country according to our own way and not the Western way and because of this, we want Malaysians to become a race with strong moral values".

There are so many problems with that statement but I am not inclined at the moment to counter every problematic point except for two points.

I do not think the 'Western way'- presumably a reference to mostly the First World countries situated in the West - is a way devoid of strong moral values, Mr Prime Minister. It would be safe to say that the Western way is opposed to violence, corruption and would have a respect for so many values that we in Malaysia also share.

The other point is that Malaysians as a people, rather than a race, we would like to ensure that strong values are appreciated and practiced not just by the rakyat, but also by politicians and government institutions.

Thus, we want for instance that the police force, an institution under the executive, to adhere to strong moral values including democratic principles of non-violence, fairness and justice. We want our institutions of democracy, including the three arms of government that is the executive, judiciary and parliament to be free of corruption.

Let's begin with the setting up of the IPCMC. It's as simple as that.