I read with amusement how the BN leaders are now crawling to the voters and making condescending promises because Election Day - the day of reckoning for some - is approaching.

As for me, I won't vote for those groveling politicians who think they can seduce me with their empty promises. If they had kept a fraction of their promises the last time, and the time before the last, they would not have to make them now.

Someone should go back to the last elections and count the number of promises made and the number broken. They now ask for more time. How long does it take to sack a corrupt cop or arrest a corrupt politician? Sorry, we don't have time for a government to grow up. We expect a competent and mature government to serve us.

It is time Malaysians wake up and realise that they have been used. One day, when they themselves become victims of crime, they may rue the day they voted in a government that has allowed the country to deteriorate to such a pathetic state.

More Malaysians are leaving the country - not only Chinese and Indians, but Malays as well - because some of them can't stomach the religious policing, their loss of freedom and the criminals. Even the politicians have their lifeboats abroad. Many of them send their children overseas and maintain second homes.

I almost choked when reading one mainstream newspaper’s reports of leaders talking about ‘public interest,’ etc. The BN leader (aka Sleeping Badawi, in my vocabulary) is now suddenly awake. ‘Listen to the people,’ he says. But this man with the self-proclaimed ‘big ears’ ain't listening himself.

The people want the Hindraf 5 to be freed, they want the ISA to be repealed, they want the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission to be formed, they want corrupt government officials, police and politicians with unexplained wealth to be investigated, they want lower toll rates, etc. But he has not listened and, if he has, he has not delivered. Add ‘Promise Breaker’ to his litany of unofficial titles.

Then we have Penang’s chief minister - the ‘Koh-laboarateur’ - who has all but sunk the island and turned it into an environmental eyesore. And he has undermined its economy, all while talking about the public interest. The small island does not have decent public transportation and is choking to death with development and he has the chutzpah to talk about the public interest.

These politicians are so tricky that even late American President Richard Nixon pales in comparison. But, fortunately, more and more Malaysians now reject the duplicity of the BN government. Voters must ask the ‘Promise Breakers’ to show proof of their sincerity. Allow the people to march, allow the opposition to receive coverage on television, the radio and in the newspapers and undo many of the wrongs. Then they may win back some of their lost credibility.

For many years, we supported the BN. Despite their shortcomings we stuck with them. But enough is enough. The prime minister talks about helping the poor but jets around in a spanking new multi-million dollar jet, at the taxpayers' expense. If he didn’t go overseas so much, the money saved could feed many poor families.

If publicised, the bill chalked up by government officials and politicians would make your face turn black. But the rakyat is weighed under by higher food prices, because someone in the food chain is making a fortune - either through hoarding or the illegal siphoning off of items. Behind every huge government expenditure you can almost always suspect corruption because the Auditor General has given us proof. Yet do we see the corrupt individuals dealt with? Of course not.

There is talk of a petrol dividend, and the people want the government to share the benefits of its oil. But this is something that shouldn't have needed to be asked. The fact is the government owns nothing; everything belongs to the people. What has privatisation, all these years, achieved? Where is the money from privatisation? Petronas belongs to the people, but how have the people benefitted?

If a pencil costs 50 sen but the government, because of corruption, had to pay 70 sen - guess where the 20 sen comes from? If a helicopter costs RM2 million but the government paid RM2.2 million - guess where the extra came from? So, do your sums. For every mega-project, if there is hanky panky, guess who is paying?

This is where many Malaysians are duped. They say the government will pay and they forget that it is they who will have to pay. Those professionals and salary earners who have their taxes deducted from every pay cheque are the real burden bearers for the nation.

A vote for the BN (apart from the honest and decent ones - ask Dr Mahathir Mohamad to give you a list of who they are because we don't know who they are) is a vote for more corruption and backward politics. The future of the nation lies in truth, justice and a government that really respects the people, not one that insults the people by locking them up and using the police on them when they want to do something that is really in the public interest.

Also don’t let the opposition politicians think they are any better. Don't let them win by default. Make them accountable also.

Many Malaysians have the right ideas but their message is not getting through to other Malaysians. They think their ideas published on blogs or in letters to the editors are enough. They don't realise that they need to get their message across to the people who don’t read the alternative media or the even the newspapers or who don’t even know of the corrupt scandals going on right now.

The only way to ensure you get a better deal from the government you elect is by kicking them out every now and then to remind them that political power is not a God-given right but a hard-earned privilege. This is your responsibility as a citizen and the ballot box is your most crucial place to have your say.