Now that the prime minister and Khairy Jamaluddin have provided some 'clarification' to the allegations that the latter had misused his position to amass wealth, what are we intelligent Malaysians supposed to do? Are we satisfied that Khairy is an honest, hard-working 31-year-old who has been victimised? Do we consider the matter closed? Definitely not me.

No reasonable explanations have been given, nor have all the real issues been addressed. What Pak Lah and Khairy have done was merely to say that, 'This is our point of view and position, please believe us'. No real explanations or facts were provided, so there are no compelling reasons to believe them.

First, the ECM Libra issue. While the so-called loan in itself is a joke and makes a mockery of Pak Lah, the real issue here is much more serious. Was there insider trading? Did Khairy and his financiers have knowledge of the impending merger with Avenue Capital Bhd? We all know that any acquisitions of a government-owned financial institution has to be approved by the government and the finance minister, who is the PM.

Now that it is public knowledge, will there be a full-fledged independent investigation? This is what we should demand for. If we let this go, then there will be many more repeats of such transactions.

Second, the issue of state projects or menteris besar being influenced by the powers-that-be to benefit Khairy. One clear example is the award of the Pulau Duyong project to Patrick Lim - Khairy's good buddy - which the whole of Terengganu is talking about.

Another issue that has not been raised is the influence on the award of tenders by GLCs. One example is Telekom Malaysia's 3G tender given to Alcatel. Everyone in the industry knows that Alcatel does not have any 3G equipment of its own (still under development) and that even Huawei of China has a better track record than them in 3G. And who is the present chairman of TM? None other than Pak Lah's brother-in-law.

Surely, no one - menteris Besar or GLC heads alike - will speak up on these issues. It will be political or career suicide.

There is no doubt in my mind that Pak Lah has lost his credibility as prime minister. He had so much potential when he first came to power, but has let us all down. Not just over this Khairy issue, but many others. He has shown that he is weak and has no clear idea or vision of where he wants to take the nation.

As for Khairy, the only way to salvage the situation is to leave Umno Youth and politics. If he still harbours political ambitions, then let him build himself up first - like what Nazir (the deputy prime minister's brother) is doing. Prove to us you have it in you to make it on your own. Then show us you have the nation's interest at heart. That you understand our aspirations despite being brought up in a privileged environment of United World College and Oxford University.

Let us not build Khairy wannabes, those who aspire to reach the top through questionable means. Let us bring our young ones back to the values of our forefathers, where hard work, integrity, patience and honesty meant a lot in the quest for success. Only then will our society be able to develop to the next level and mature.