Malaysia stands out as one of those very few nations in the history of mankind that won independence without going to war. Hence, come August 2007, as we celebrate our 50th Merdeka anniversary, we should take stock of our peaceful existence and progress. Surely, the government will mark the special occasion by showcasing to the world our many splendoured achievements, many of which we can all be proud of.

But at the same time, we must also have the courage to take stock of the many battles we have lost or are currently losing.

Despite four decades of war, we have hopelessly lost our battle against 'dadah'. The three pillars of society, namely education, the family unit and religion have failed miserably to cushion the nation from the perils of the ravaging drug menace.

The irony of it all is we probably have more places of worship per 10 kilometer radius than any other nations. And while we also probably have more religious celebrations than others, we also probably marginalise people along religious demarcations more than any other nation too. Perhaps that is why we are not seeing religion succeed in the war against drugs.

The family institution is failing while we continue to be marred with arguments involving polygamy. With rising costs, more women are opting for further education and the rise of double- income families using legal and illegal maids is boring a deep hollow into homes and thereby weakening the family pillar of society.

On the financial frontier, while we continue to witness mega-ringgit expenditures, the rakyat are now barely able to keep up with runaway rising cost of living. The untimely increase in toll rates continues to hurt road users while bloating the profits of the highway operators.

Despite having achieved so many firsts for economic well-being, the rakyat is today scraping the bottom of the barrel to stay afloat in the face of so many rising costs such as for water, electricity, phone bills, parking rates and marketing, just to name a few.

Meanwhile, robberies are happening every day and getting very gruesome. Standard security features at home and at commercial areas which include iron grills, padlocks, security alarms, cameras and guards are not helping and we continue to live with fear in the shadow of being the next victim.

Foreign labour is taking over almost all of our skilled labour positions. Our youth and locals have lost that ability to build homes or even repair roofs and broken floors. In short, we are putting ourselves in a vulnerable position with our ever-increasing reliance on legal and illegal foreign labour which fill the construction, manufacturing, housekeeping, restaurant and agriculture sectors.

Our public transport system continues to suffer from a serious paralysis of mismanagement priorities while two cars to a household is a basic necessity today.

The list of failed battles continues on and we must look upon 'Merdeka Lima Puluh' as a station to stop, reflect, take stock and act with decisiveness. We may never have a second chance.