'Do we honestly think that Najib would dare to convene a royal commission of inquiry to investigate his own mentor? Umno is Mahathir and Mahathir is Umno.'

Form royal commission on Dr M's 'squander'

Azmil Tayeb: Lim Kit Siang, you are right suggest the setting-up of a royal commission. But setting up the commission is one aspect, interrogating Dr Mahathir Mohamad is another.

He will apply the same tactic like the Lingam tape case to say that he doesn't remember, has not seen project cost, blah, blah, blah. But he has shown that he is not so forgetful because he remembers everything and this is clear from his write-ups in his blog. He is just a liar.

Tired: Please, stop calling for royal commissions for every controversy or problem that crops up. At the rate we are going, we will very soon have to privatise royal commissions or outsource the task.

And the biggest irony is this - the findings of the royal commissions that we have had have either not been implemented or were not accepted by some quarters unhappy with the outcome which did not favour them.

So this is a proposal - when Pakatan Rakyat comes to power, I hope they will appoint Lim Kit Siang as a royal commission minister to investigate all the wrongdoings, embezzlement, fraud, corrupt practices and failed or controversial projects carried out by the BN government.

I am sure he will have his hands full. To show Pakatan means business and how serious they are, the portfolio should be recognised as equivalent to that of the prime minister's.

Rakyat: Do we honestly think Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak dares to convene a royal commission of inquiry to investigate his own mentor? He'll definitely find ways to extricate himself out of it.

Umno is Mahathir and Mahathir is Umno. These two entities are inseparable. Najib is just an embodiment of the party. Anyway, good try Lim Kit Siang.

Cala: Barry Wain's book on Mahathir is going to be just one of a long list of books on the latter. Biographies and autobiographies, authorised or otherwise, will both surface. When the time comes for Mahathir to meet his creator, even more will be written.

Some by local writers while others by foreign university scholars. Some by persons who suffered under the ISA and some by his ex-cabinet colleagues. Remember how Mao Zedong was judged as a tyrant even by his own party cadres?

Similarly the true self of Mahathir cannot be hidden for long. The issue really is when, not how. After all, history is written by ordinary people no matter what the official version maybe.

Shared dilemma for BN and Pakatan

Azizi Khan: We have to understand one thing. Malays are not babies in cribs. We cannot keep protecting them and hiding them away and say they need ‘looking after'.

How did the other races survive in Malaysia without affirmative policies? Did we consider that? Do we honestly believe that only Malays need help to survive? Yes, as a Malay, I am ashamed that I am viewed as ‘lazy' or can only function in government departments.

My race and religion have absolutely nothing to do with my ability to compete with every other Malaysian. I say scrap the policies and help everyone equally. We are all Malaysians. As long as ‘special position for Malays' exists, we will always be looked down upon by everyone else.

Not only that, racism exists two ways too. Until equal opportunity employment laws exist in Malaysia, employers will still be ‘raping' the labour force based on race, religion or whatever they see as a criteria for their employment needs and we will never get out of this rut.

Gk: The shortcomings and inferiority complex of the Malay community that were mentioned by the writer can only be eliminated by putting back meritocracy into the system - no other way can solve these problems.

At the same time, there should not be any element of ‘Ketuanan Melayu' in the implementation so that other communities do not see the success of Malay community as due to ‘crutches' provided by the government. Only then will the Malays will have pride in their success and non-Malays will have confidence in the ability of the Malays.

Put it this way - whoever takes charge of the government should eliminate this mistrust among the various communities that has existed since Merdeka. If not, failure is what we would see. Rome was not built in one day anyway.

Should suicidal people be penalised?

Kgan: Counselling, not punishment, is a better way to treat suicidal victims. Society must protect the weak and the helpless, not throw them to the wolves. And while we are on archaic laws, it's time to remove oral sex and consensual sodomy from the statute. Or are they useful to BN as political weapons?

Wira: A law to punish is basically a deterrent law. But what is there left to deter a person who, at that moment, wants to give up his own life? Do you think any punishment would be sufficient to deter him?

Mythots: Penalising this symptom is a superficial way to settle a deeper problem. Just like drug addiction, it is addressing only the symptom and not the root cause.

What we have to do is to get to the root cause and provide solutions. Sending these people to jail doesn't solve their problems, which later will become society's problems if it is not addressed sooner.