Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticisms of the leadership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi sound harsh and hurtful. But to some, such criticisms reflect the reality on the ground a true picture of growing dissatisfaction among the general public in the country.

Being an ordinary man, Mahathir is in a better position to gauge the feelings of the people. When he was the prime minister, there were lots of 'yes men' and cronies around him who were to eager to say anything good to please him.

That same thing is happening to present Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. When he took over the reins of the administration, Abdullah made promises to be more transparent and pledged war on corruption and abuse of power.

His anti-corruption drive with the arrest of some of 'big fish' here and there and his government's slogan of being 'Cemerlang, Gemilang dan Terbilang' have convinced the people that this is the man who can cure all the social ills confronting the country.

But after three years on the job, things are getting no better and, in fact, are getting worse. The cost of living goes up; the price of oil and electricity goes up; the incidence of poverty and hardship increases; corruption is rampant and transparency and good governance are lacking.

The results of the recent election in Sarawak speak volumes of the people's anger against the government. The Dayaks in particular, are unhappy with both the state and federal governments.

In the eyes of the federal government, the Dayak community is a forgotten lot and their interests ignored. The situation is made worse when no Dayak is made a minister from the community's 12 members of parliament.

Under Mahathir, at least there was a Dayak minister and also a Dayak party. With the de-registration of the Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), the Dayaks now do not have any party.

Following the demise of PBDS, a group of Dayaks, mostly pensioners, submitted an application to register what is known as the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) to look after their interests.

But forming a Dayak party is so difficult under the present government because nobody listens. It took only days for the government to register other Sarawak-based parties but until now, the MDC is in limbo.

Officially, no reason has been given for the delay in registering the MDC. Privately, the MDC members have been told that the state government does not want another racial party to be formed. But no one dares to say anything about Umno, a party for the Malays, or MCA, which is for the Chinese, and the MIC, which is for the Indians. MDC is being tailored along the lines and concepts of these three big parties.

As a result of the complaints by the state leaders, the Registrar of Societies has failed to approve MDC's application. By not approving the application, the ROS is not only lacking in transparency, but also infringing on the rights of individuals to form an association or a political party. This lack of transparency, in the eyes of the general public, is against Badawi's 'Cemerlang, Gemilang dan Terbilang' concept of government.

Arising from the fact that there is no Dayak minister in the federal cabinet as well as the absence of a Dayak party in the country, grouses and complaints from the Dayak community are becoming louder. The prime minister may not know all these problems as the people who are surrounding him are only too eager to please him.

As Mahathir has now become an ordinary man, he knows all these problems. Thus, there is some truths in Mahathir's harsh criticisms which should be regarded as a wake-up call for Abdullah and the government. Failure to realise this now may lead to bigger electoral loses for BN when parliamentary election comes in two years time.