The in-fighting between Team A and Team B in MCA, and the dog-eat-dog game among Umno, MCA and Gerakan are certainly interesting. But as a whole, all of them share anti-democratic and anti-liberal values. Whoever wins, the Internal Security Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Universities and University Colleges Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act remain intact. There will be no improvement in human rights, too. The economy will still be under the management of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and catering for the benefit of a small group of Umnoputra.

So, for me, the more important focus of the ordinary people is to strengthen the opposition to provide effective checks and balances against the Barisan Nasional. Only by having more opposition members of Parliament and state assembly representatives could we the ordinary people hope to strengthen our bargaining power vis-a-vis the government.

Only with a strong presence of opposition in parliament and state assemblies, could trade unions, Bar Council, consumer associations, human rights groups, environmentalists, feminists, free press advocates, minorities and youths bargain with more chips.