People like Chin Hin Low who wrote 'Malaysia going down Argentina's Way' (Jan 11) are blinded by the attitude of the 'one-size-fits-all', simplistic solution to political problems everywhere.

Nobody in a right mind would argue that a stable two-party political system is the best. Lord, have we not tried with Semangat 46 and now with the Keadilan-led Barisan Alternatif?

Is it any accident that all East Asian countries that made good, Japan included, started out as one-party states? And Chin needs reminding that the Peronists did not rule Argentina uninterrupted - even after the return of 'democracy' in the early 80s.

If there is a lesson from Argentina, it is that massive corruption and bad policies can survive dictatorships and even thrive in so-called democracies. We do not even have to look that far to learn such a lesson; just study some of our close neighbours!

The level of political debates here, if anything, only convinces me more that we are not yet ready for Western-style democracy. As a Malaysian, I am not terribly proud to admit this.