The merger of Keadilan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat is most timely and presents a clear and present threat to the ruling front. Malaysia today has been divided into so many social segments and interest groups due to the ruling party's effort to divide and rule.

Unfortunately, the many factions within Barisan Nasional are now fighting fiercely and our house of cards will soon come tumbling down. Our country is no longer united. The ethnic Malays are divided, the Chinese and Indian Malaysians, too. The ruling party itself is divided.

The new Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or Keadilan for short, offers a breath of fresh air as the largest multiracial political party in Malaysia. No racial factions within a party but one single party with one central committee, a party which every Malaysian can feel a part of.

I am not an active member of either party but with such prospects in the horizon I am once again optimistic about the political scenario within Malaysia.

The ruling front speaks with a loud voice behind all its media and propaganda machinery, but in actual fact it is weak, self-serving, opportunistic and divided. Under a strong authoritarian leader for so many years, the ruling front is devoid of fresh blood.

I remember a wise man telling me that an authoritarian leader is like a huge tree in the middle of a field. It covers the rain and sun and no vegetation is allowed to grow around it. This is the scenario in Malaysia where any leader capable of leading the country based on his own conscience, foresight and vision, is either in jail, retired or politically assassinated.

There is another story of a boy on the beach who kept throwing seashells back into the ocean. When an elderly man asked him what good it would do, he said "at least I am doing something". I am throwing my hope and weight, small as it is, behind the fresh new party in the upcoming general election.