It took no less than a royal commission to recommend the formation of a special body to check on the police. Yet the BN-dominated parliament chose to ignore the commission's findings offering instead a bastardised version that completely misses the points the commission was trying to make.

Wouldn't it be interesting if the commission’s wise men be given a chance to comment if indeed their findings and recommendations are adequately reflected in the parliament's lackluster response. After all the commission was duly following specific terms. Was it shortchanged?

Now a new royal commission has been set up to check on potential judicial abuses. The government, as if wary of the leeway given to the earlier royal commission, has made sure that this time around the terms are so narrow as to effectively render impotent beyond ascertaining if the former chief justice had acted improperly. Another wasted opportunity?

And then there is the Elections Commission which is supposed to ensure the proper running of free and fair elections. However, its chairman had chosen to deflect any of its shortcomings as being beyond its powers such as blaming the National Registration Department for phantom voters or blaming the parliament for not enacting adequate laws. This self-helplessness has undoubtedly made it the government's favourite commission.

What is obvious from all these is that the government is afraid of any kind of independent scrutiny that may erode its self-perception of being a popularly-elected power with the right to be the ultimate and only arbitrator of what is supposedly right or wrong for the people. Meanwhile, any abuse of power by that power itself is left unchecked. This is democracy, BN-style.

Any protests to the above indiscretions are effectively curtailed by draconian laws which are ultimately rationalised as necessary to protect national security and racial unity. After 50 years of BN rule, racial relations are still so fragile that people are expected to ignore the truth just so that we can get along. Perhaps next will be a Royal Commission on Race Relations, except that its terms will be to find ways for more of us could visit each other during festive open houses!

Racial tension is a convenient factor for BN to spin into what is essentially an issue of unbridled greed. Don't we get it?