Is the country now in the grip of lawlessness, and the solution is zero tolerance of corruption in whatever form it takes and regardless of who is the alleged culprit?

One would think so considering how the red shirts are creating pandemonium in the streets and assaulting Bersih activists. Still despite the prevalent mood of despair, the expose of institutionalised corruption continues unabated and it gives the people hope that evil will not triumph.

Those who thought they would get away with white collar crimes in their clandestine 'corporate heists' and conspiracies to defraud the nation did not expect they would be caught. Unlike the 1MDB fraud where all the prosecutions are done by foreign countries whose laws have been broken, the Sabah Water Corporation corruption case will be dealt with by local courts.

We know about the ones that got away because justice was not done and not seen to be done, so let's hope the judges will punish the culprits without fear or favour and acquit themselves as being above politics and undue influence. Sadly, the local investigations into the 1MDB have not produced any charges despite the incriminating evidence.

As long as citizens are proactive to right the wrongs of a country, whether in individually speaking out like Haris Ibrahim as a 'People's Parliament', or collectively during Bersih 5, corruption incurring the abuse of power to protect the 'corrupt ones' and their institutionalised crimes against the nation will not succeed.

All bad and corrupt governors have a 'use-by' date and sooner or later they will face their Waterloo and the wrath of the people and sharp edge of the law. We must not be afraid to speak out like John the Baptist against King Herod, whom he accused of sinning against God. In times when a country faces a moral lapse in its leadership, the people must act to save their nation.

I have lived in countries where citizens are encouraged to protect their freedoms and democracy by speaking out against corrupt politicians and I have lived in countries where doing the same noble thing is sedition. And I know which country is a true democracy and which is a false one.

Hope for change and good governance will not be extinguished for as long as the rakyat are alive and actively opposing corruption. And the rakyat's aspirations for free and fair elections will never die if more and more citizens walk the talk and not leave all the work to the altruistic and active few...