I refer to your report ' Malaysia to launch ad blitz over Singapore water row '. Allow me to contribute my opinion.

Is the Malaysia-Singapore water dispute a political gimmick by the authoritarian Umno and PAP governments to stir up patriotism to bolster their survival against domestic demands for democratisation and human rights?

If it is, the game-plan must be for Umno to exploit the PAP bogey to build a 'siege mentality' and for PAP to simultaneously use the Umno 'ghost' to frighten Singaporeans into obedience and compliance to the regime.

Both Umno and PAP actually benefit from this type of seemingly unfriendly acts towards each other in public. These two ruling parties can now claim or show to their voters that they are the 'protectors' of their respective countries.

It is an open secret that Umno and PAP actually love each other and also support each other to maintain the so-called 'Asian-valued' authoritarianism in Malaysia and Singapore. It is time Malaysian and Singaporean voters be aware of the possibility of the water dispute being an engineered psychological operation to stir up 'patriotism' and build a 'siege mentality' in both countries.