I refer to the Malaysiakini report More rallies in Kuala Lumpur next month .

The more the government tries to stifle street demonstrations by using the police and the law to intimidate the populace from airing their grievances in the streets, the more the people will want to demonstrate in public places. If these demonstrations against government policies are an indicator of how people feel about the government and if free and fair elections are held in this country, the present regime would go down the same road as John Howard’s government in Australia.

Something is not right if people are taking to the streets to protest government policies. I assume that the street protests in Pakistan, Burma and lately in France have inspired our people to be more vocal in voicing their feelings in public. The government cannot assume that those who demonstrate in the streets are ‘crooks’, as eloquently said by our de facto law minister Nazri Aziz. They are real patriots who care about the nation and have its interests at heart. As the saying goes ‘One man’s crook is another man’s hero’.

In the global world that we live in, the foreign press and media are free to report on demonstrators being hurt by baton-wielding FRU cops and sprayed with acid-laced water. Such acts paint a poor picture of our leaders in the eyes of the world. Surely we do not want our country to be compared to other Third World countries where demonstrators are known to be maimed or killed by the police force or the army and ruled by despots.

The government has to rethink their policies, particularly those that does not go well with the voters who are at their wit’s end in watching their standard of living decline due to entrenched corruption practiced by those who are entrusted with power. Pak Lah needs to spend more time in this country to rectify the weaknesses of present government polices rather than going on a global tours as what he is doing now.

As a first step, he should replace his long-standing ministers who have held their portfolios for ages and whose hands are full of corrupt practices. He needs to bring the big fishes to court for their misdeeds to regain public trust in the next polls.

He does not seem to command the people’s respect. The people’s perception of him, whether true or false, is that he is surrounded by sycophants who do not tell him the truth of what is happening on the ground. He is perceived as a weak leader unlike his predecessor. He must have regretted saying that he ‘pantang dicabar’ (dislikes being challenged) as more and more people are marching in the streets regardless of what he says.

Rather than using police force to quell dissenting voices, it is better if the men in blue are used to keep the peace in this nation and to fight crime, which is getting from bad to worse.

A rude awakening is in store at the next polls for the present regime. The present leadership still thinks that the younger and well-educated voters will fall for the feel-good factors like in the last election when the government won big. In Australia, John Howard lost not because of scandals and corruption. Their economy was good. He lost because Australians thought he had overstayed his welcome.

The same can occur here as scandal after scandal causes more money from the government coffers to go down the drain. It will cause voters to ditch the present regime and give the opposition more voice in the august house of Parliament. Although they face arrest for participating in an illegal rally, those who march speak for the majority of Malaysians who can see that the present regime is weak and full of corrupt people. Don’t say you (the government) have not been forewarned.

I am reading both negative and positive things about Hindraf recent rally. From my point of view, most of the leaders of Umno, MCA, Gerakan, DAP, Keadilan and so on are not from the grassroots and they will not understand the grievances of the people. If you have never been hungry or been bitten by mosquitoes, how you can be emphatic for the people?

Most of the young leaders come from well-to-do and influential families. They are there just for the power and glamour. They will not understand their parents’ struggle and will not be bothered about other people’s struggles. All they want is power and money.