Losing the two-thirds Parliament majority and four state governments was not part of the fifth prime minister’s first plan, a.k.a. the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The rakyat stamped loud and clear on March 8th that we want our national development thrust in different directions.

You would expect the Mid-term Review (MTR) to reflect a somewhat revised mandate. But it rehashed the same agenda, with add-ons to admonish or tantalise the disaffected back into the BN fold.

Maybe there wasn't enough time to address those concerns and rewrite some of the report. The MTR was launched just over three months after March 8.