It is terrible that Pak Lah - a highly spiritual, fair-minded and non-abrasive man - has to undergo such an uncalled for tirade from the former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The best part is that Pak Lah has proved to be a world-class gentleman and statesman by not retaliating for all the damage done to him by his former boss thereby showing he values humility rather than greatness.

Mahathir must look at himself in the mirror. If so, many cannot agree with him as his deputies then something is not wrong with all of them. Are all of them idiots or insincere to become rich quickly using public money? We may call ourselves democrats, liberals, etc, but every individual has his or her personal style of leadership. Some can even be autocratic within the democratic system. They refused to be corrected or questioned, like Mahathir or Lee Kuan Yew. The opponent or dissident would be systematically and democratically removed or put in cold storage. Democracy can be cleverly manipulated to meet one's desire.

Besides, if we look seriously at university education for the entire past generation, it has been a monologue with no intellectual participation by university students to express their views in the open owing to various restrictive legislation controlling them.

The fact that a few, like Musa Hitam and Mahathir, can speak out and are still vibrant today is because of the training they had during their student days. Since this culture of not questioning the leader has been embedded in the young ministers of today, it is going to take a long time for them to come out of their shells. They will just follow the master in right and in wrong. I think Pak Lah is making an improvement to the education system with a new minister taking charge.

People and ministers must have faith in their leader (the PM) whose primary concern should and must be the well-being and welfare of his people of all races and religions especially in this multiracial country.

Nonetheless, such faith will be broken the moment insincerity is discovered in the leader either in having wrong priorities or formulating policies not directly beneficial to the people but for his own personal glory and goals. I think Pak Lah has got his priorities right .He shall be supported by his ministers and more so by the people of Malaysia as long as he is fair and righteous to all the people, especially the poor and needy.