I refer to YL Wong's letter MPs must refer to constituents before stating war stand .

I agree with Wong that DAP national chairman Lim Kit Siang should not have called o­n all MPs to "unite" behind Mahathir before MPs were allowed to debate o­n the motion tabled by Mahathir. In any case, there was no debate at all before everyone who spoke up used the same lines of arguments dutifully churned out by the Umno-controlled media.

Of course, there may be some MPs who are pro-war but dare not speak up for fear of being stigmatised as "traitors". Unfortunately, Mr Lim, the o­nce respected opposition leader, now plays the role of applying psychological pressure o­n MPs to the interest of the undemocratic Mahathir government.

To be honest, I think DAP has very subtly sold out to Mahathir, who always exploit international and regional crisis to enhance his image and authority as a self-styled protector. I am worried if the undemocratic system in Malaysia now includes DAP which is o­nly interested in winning more seats at the expense of MCA, Gerakan and MIC to play the role of window-dressing and permanent opposition under the essentially Umno-dominated regime.

If that is the case, I might as well vote for the MCA, Gerakan and MIC so as to strengthen them to counter-balance Umno within the Barisan Nasional. Or, I might as well vote for Keadilan because it, while anti-war, is more broadly based among all the people of Malaysia.