Opposition parties such as Keadilan should be extra careful when making public statements so as to ensure that what they say or do is not something that their political rival Barisan Nasional is being accused of. Otherwise, there really isn't a pressing necessity to think of an alternative to the ruling coalition.

Thus, the so-called justification given by Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail recently for the party's support of PAS' insistence on enacting the hudud law in Kelantan and Terengganu has only evoked a sense of dismay and deep concern particularly among some citizens who are concerned about democracy and the future of this multi-ethnic country.

To say that PAS has the right to enact the controversial hudud law in the two northeastern states merely because the PAS-led governments there are 'democratically elected' is tantamount to saying that the Barisan Nasional, which is elected in similar fashion, has the right to implement unabatedly certain repressive laws such the Internal Security Act.

Getting the people's mandate from the polling stations, as I'm sure politicians such as Wan Azizah are aware of, doesn't necessarily mean that the political party that has come to power is given a 'blank cheque' to do almost anything it wishes to do, which in many cases go against the wishes of the ordinary people. It means that the ruling party concerned must consult the people during its political tenure especially when it comes to matters that will affect deeply and directly their daily lives.

Not to go through this basic procedure is to suggest the inclination of a political party to be autocratic. And this is certainly not a new beginning that we were hoping for.