It was really shocking to me when I read that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad asked Malaysians to vote BN because BN is a "devil we know".

What a desperate plea from our Ex-PM. Is it because he can offer no other defence for BN and thus we are asked to support a devil?

And these are the words from a man who had taken part in the Merdeka movement which was an even more "drastic" move for the rakyat in the 50s.

At that time, our forebears were asked to take a leap of faith by leaving "the empire on which the sun never sets", kicking out a master who had ruled us for more than 100 years and to entrust nation building to a group of people who had had not much experience in building anything.

At that time, we were asked to forsake the protection of a great military power and to face the deadly threat of communism and communalism among the rakyat. We were also under a constant threat of invasion by Indonesia and Philippines.

Yet, we took the leap and we survived it. In fact, we did quite well during the last 55 years compared to some basket case countries (but quite badly if compared to the star performers).

Thus, what is so scary about changing the ruling party? Is BN more powerful than the British Empire?

Is Pakatan less experienced than our first generation leaders who had much less education and experience (most were low level civil servants or minor businessmen)?

Do we have a Parti Komunis now? Are Malaysians more disunited now? And is there a new "Konfrontasi"? No no no.

So why we are asked to support a devil rather than taking another leap?

I am not saying that we must change the government, but Dr Mahathir's statement is simply distasteful, and can even be called an insult to BN which can be considered a "B" student (its grade is now bordering on C or D).

I didn't see BN supporters lodging police reports or staging demos when they are being called devils.

So I think from now onward, BN should be known as the "Beast National".