While reading YSM's letter ISA amendments appalling , I am reminded of the fairy tale about a wolf and three little pigs

. In the story, the wolf had used its cunning to get at the pigs only to be outsmarted and ending up as the piglet's dinner.

I apologise if some readers find the reference to the pig offensive but I mean no disrespect for I only wish to make a point that all the huffing and puffing by Umno and Barisan Nasional to show off their might and power could do them in eventually, as YSM alluded to.

They can change and amend the constitution, jail all the oppositionists, ignore the rule of law, scream and cry all they want. In the end, their antics could only serve to strengthen the resolve of the ordinary rakyat to purge the bully from their lives.

The government's shabby treatment of its rakyat is repelling. It is always talking down to the people, lecturing them as if they are kids with no minds of their own or telling them lies as if they cannot see through the deception.

It turned Malaysia from a democracy to an autocracy. Rarely were the people allowed to have a say on issues that affect their lives. Fortunately for the ruling authority (or unfortunately for us), Malaysians with the exception of a handful are generally submissive.

Those who choose to voice their dissident views are often punished swiftly and sent to Kamunting for cold storage.

Federal and state policies are often launched with much aplomb. The leaders appear self-assured, gung-ho and righteous with followers unashamedly boosting their ego by giving their unquestioning support even if critics voice caution over the fallibility of the schemes.

Alas, the cultural milieu is such that the leaders who were responsible for the introduction of such policies were not made accountable. If they can claim the credit for success, they must also shoulder the responsibilities for the failures.

I have yet to see any leader apologise for their failed policies. To me they seem more interested in holding on to their power. Only they alone are wise enough to run the country, that they are always correct and right and the rakyat have no choice but to listen and acquiesce.

If their plans and policies did not work, it was not their fault but that of the rakyat. The people were not grateful enough, said many a Barisan Nasional leader.

Is there any leader or a minister who meets the rakyat or his/her constituents with no other agenda than to listen and keep on listening about what's affecting them? The more you listen to BN leaders, the more you will notice how out of touch they are with day-to-day realities.

They, most often than not, tend to shoot their mouths off with such arrogance that they do not realise that they are only showing off their own incompetence and irrelevance. Yet they keep on huffing and puffing.

There are times when I wonder why the rakyat take all these crap. They have a choice. I would be outraged if my wakil rakyat (Member of Parliament) were to be ejected or suspended from a parliamentary session simply because he or she was fighting to be heard, as has happened to Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) and Kerk Kim Hock (DAP-Kota Melaka)! Where is the rakyat's outrage?

Don't we vote for our MPs to represent us to the highest law-making body in the country or state? Reading pro-establishment media reporting on parliamentary sessions led me to believe that while Parliament is in session, there are some MPs who conveniently have other pressing matters to attend to and simply skip the parliamentary proceedings. Sometimes, if they do attend, they fall asleep during the sessions.

Why do we keep on voting for the same MP whose priority is not to represent us in the Parliament? I think the rakyat now know that they have been had. The wolf has blown their houses down once or twice before and they take note. Each time they rebuild, their house is stronger while the wolf is forever full of himself: continuously huffing and puffing and pretty soon he will blow himself up.

Perhaps the wolf will end up blowing himself up the way the Indian Congress Party or Taiwan's Kuomintang Party or Indonesia's Golkar Party did and the three little pigs will live on in a new, stronger house!