Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has really poked the opposition in the eye, especially PAS, stemming the green tide for the time being and, practically putting paid to Keadilan. So what's next?

The carcasses of a few big-time sharks - now swimming around the Barisan Nasional (BN) pond - would look very nice indeed hung from judicial hooks. That should slow down the feeding frenzy of the rest.

For that to happen, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has to be taken out of the Home Ministry and placed under an inter-parliamentary committee which should embrace opposition MPs and perhaps retired judges who shone during their tenure on the bench.

This would really give teeth to the anti-corruption body and put the wind up those who have been skimming off the nation's wealth through underhanded means while in office.

Where the judiciary is concerned, the premier should embark on reform measures to return the bench to its former glory when it was accorded high respect across the globe.

This should help him screw up enough courage to initiate moves to re-try sacked former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

That would go a long way towards healing the festering wounds among a large chunk of the public who were outraged at the manner of his dismissal and their perception that his subsequent trial was manifestly unfair, convinced of executive machinations in the conduct of the hearings.

To correct the wrongs done would be the right and proper thing for Pak Lah to do.

Grassroots politics

As those things take off, the prime minister, as the No 1 slave of the nation, could return power to the people by reinstating local government elections, replacing those now run with elected representatives.

Polls at the local level make supreme sense as they nurture grassroots politics and can serve as incubators for aspiring politicians, thus creating a large reservoir of talent for political parties to draw from for national duty.

What's more, people would be able to feel that they are part of the democratic process, not remote as they are now from their so-called representatives who are accountable only to their political masters.

While they take care of the clogged drains, pot-holed roads and playgrounds under threat from some development project or other, the MPs can go about weightier matters of scrutinising draft laws, thrash out issues of national concern and the like.

And now to a most important point that should be addressed in the atmosphere that is prevailing now; that is, what type of political culture are we nurturing?

Democracy, of course, you'd say. Look again. To help you do that here's something that should warm up the brain:

"The Fascist State organises the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone...." from the Modern History Sourcebook: Benito Mussolini: What is Fascism, 1932 .

Doesn't that resonate eerily here? Big Papa BN wants to do everything for us. Nice Papa is the only one who can give us all such happy lives and so, let's pay obeisance to that particular almighty all our days. That's that the message constantly pounded into us day by all media.

This proclivity is deeply entrenched as seen in the manner how Parliament sittings have been conducted and the fashion in which bills have been rushed through the House at the speed of fire engines.

Prevailing mentality

The thought of fascism struck home forcefully in the days prior to the general election triggered by this remark: "We want the people to understand that the candidate is not important because it is the party that will determine the future of the country."

It came from the erstwhile Information Ministry adviser and now MP for Merbok Zainuddin Maidin as reported in Utusan Malaysia .

That quote has a chilling ring to it. Certainly Zainuddin, a veteran 'journalist', would be the last one to consciously subscribe to this philosophy but the quote has succinctly summed up the mentality of the ruling elite.

This is exactly the attitude that Pak Lah seems to be against when he said wakil rakyat should the coolie of the people.

Can you picture Zainuddin as a coolie, back doubled under the heavy sack load of the public's woes? This is the man who tried his darnedest squeeze to death whatever little press freedom is left feebly gasping in this country.

He actually represents the thinking within the circle the he moves in, who would find Pak Lah's policies hard to digest.

Pak lah's predecessor, Dr Mathathir Mohamad, had such trouble disciplining poteng- prone MPs that he was forced to spy on them through a CCTV linking his office to the debating chamber of Parliament.

It would be well worth recollecting at this point Mahathir's favourite exhortation during election campaigns: Tengok dacing saja, taroh tanda, ta paya tengok calun (look at the party symbol, mark the cross, pay no attention to the candidate).

It must have dawned on him eventually that he had simply hoisted himself on his own petard putting the party ahead of the individual.

The fact that Pak Lah has introduced report cards for all BN wakil rakyat is a left-handed way of condemning them for their irresponsible attitude, not just for absenteeism but also for neglecting their constituencies.

All hailed his move. Not one expressed shame that the BN had been reduced to this. And these are the people who are ruling over us.

Yet another indication of far our political culture had deteriorated. Another sign of fascism that the leader cannot be wrong.

Umno leaders compliant that the party have been turned their position into a vehicle for amassing wealth and power with service to the public sinking much lower on the list of priorities. This reveals the corrupting nature of fascism unconscious or otherwise.

What is forgotten is that political parties are composed of ordinary human beings with all the inherent strengths, foibles and frailties.

So the tired refrain, 'vote for the party, don't care about the candidate', has essentially a false ring about it.

That call has an inherent weakness: the birth of the patronage system which blinds the critical faculties and allows the rise of tendencies that work against the individual's right for self-development.

And vital for that development is the freedom to explore uncharted territories unhindered by the overbearing and stifling presence of authority.

In this era of globlisation, the individual assumes greater importance than the collective or the majority. Only through individual initiative can great things be achieved.

Political capital

Pak Lah himself is an example of the power of one. Never before in this country's history has one man galvanised a people in rallying to his call in such numbers as in the last elections.

This has given him such political capital that Umno warlords must be greatly worried over the high possibility of the status quo being upset.

However, Pak Lah's greatest threat would come from advisers with their own agenda who ring him.

There has always been a natural tendency among leaders to surround themselves with those whom they are comfortable. The leader will rarely get a true picture of what's happening on the ground, and would need a mirror to reflect a more or less accurate view of events taking place.

The media used to be such a mirror but, these days, mainly produces polished drivel shamelessly to butter up the leadership.

The best place for Pak Lah to look for the ugly spots in his administration would be via the opposition bench in Parliament and the Auditor-General's annual report.

The House should be a place of serious debate, not one marked by frivolous attempts at scoring points.

Since Pak Lah has asked the people to work with him, the opposition should be treated with respect as they too represent the public. He should lend them his ears for they can be trusted to give him the unvarnished truth.

The BN's overpowering parliamentary majority is a danger in itself for deepening the hold of fascism. The temptation will always be present for BN MPs to turn into a mob and shut out the opposition voice.

The prime minister's promises and pledges have swung the people behind him. They have delivered. Now it is his turn, or the enormous goodwill earned will melt away as so much ice in the sun.

There is also another invaluable prize waiting for him. If he's able to liberate minds, and freedom expression flourishes under his stewardship, he could turn Malaysia into beacon for developing nations especially Muslim nations groaning under yoke of despotic rule.

Whatever is said and done, the fact remains that Pak Lah has taken on a near impossible task - that of re-making the Malaysian character. That alone deserves respect. For who knows what will flow from his actions.