BlueRider claimed malaysiakini entertains Malay- and Islam-bashing articles, which is why, he said, the Umno regime is 'scrutinising' the news portal. But in his beef, he asked for the right to respond, whereby he declared a ridiculous proportionalism based on the fact that 60 per cent of Malaysia's population is Malay-Muslim. Well done; just include all the indigenous people - the Orang Asli and Asal - into this number.

And as though not bad enough that Malay-Muslims already enjoy all kinds of special rights that were nefariously built into the constitution by the British colonialist and the Malay political elite, and have since been protected and promoted by the Malay-Islamic state, BlueRider just can't seem to fathom the idea (like Mahathir) that he, like everybody else, hasn't the automatic right to space in this medium just because he's a Malay-Muslim, but that he has to compete for that space. Too much state spoon-feeding has spoilt the likes of BlueRider, who demands more state crutches.

Chia Kwang Chye's remarks that the government is monitoring malaysiakini 's content highlights how sanctimonious the ruling political representatives have become under the decree of an autocratic regime where power is highly concentrated in the hands of one man, Mahathir Mohamad.

All Chia can do is what all Barisan Nasional coalition members will do - if only to make themselves look remotely relevant and important - and that's to canoodle to Mahathir's daft whims and demands. In the end they all look like gutless wonders - without the spine to stand up to Mahathir's autocratic demolition of human rights and political freedoms of their own people. So much for democracy and representative government in Malaysia.

Charles Moreira, in his complaint against PAS bashers, asked what their priorities were when doing so. He claimed that people who criticise PAS are, ipso facto, champions of Barisan Nasional. I've seen much similar cockamamie from others - like Shaukat Ali who, a few weeks ago, argued that as the Malay-Muslim population booms, the inevitability of a Muslim-dominated government and an Islamic state in Malaysia will make cases by critics such as me 'exercises in futility'. Shows how much Shaukat understands what the critics are actually saying, and even less about politics.

Back to Moreira: what are the critics of PAS's priorities, he asked, if they aren't investing their time into helping to forge a stronger opposition coalition and possibly an alternative government to Barisan Nasional? Perhaps Moreira misses one crucial point: none of the opposition parties, first of all, seem earnestly willing to resolve their political and ideological differences. And I don't expect them to any time soon either.

Moreira also fails to see that the Barisan Nasional system of political governance is much like the British colonial system of 'divide and rule'. It's the only way to protect and reproduce to political and capitalist classes in Malaysia - by keeping the races apart. Conversely, I haven't seen one alternative policy proposal by any of the opposition parties that will directly and effectively challenge Barisan Nasional's policy dominance. That's not to say its policies are credible. Look carefully and you'll see how much of these are sheer bunk.

There's another problem. Malaysian voters are either blissfully ignorant or, to put it plainly, too afraid to rock the cowardly regime. They'll vote in, again and again, the devil they know than not. The real devil, though, is in the details, and the devil sits amongst the policy elite. Only a handful of people in Malaysia are qualified to undertake stringent and independent policy analysis. But they've all been cowed by the regime.

Furthermore, we're dealing with a political economy that's racked by massive corruption, cronyism and nepotism that reaches all levels of society and ranks up to the top echelon of the ruling regime. We're also seeing a Malaysian society that's already breaking down amid greater criminal violence and selfishness. Plus we have seen the regime embed its aversion for political liberalisation. All of which make Moreira's pool playing and Bangsar coffee slurping analogies seem singularly absurd and banal.

Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib

of PAS PJ Utara said a clean and incorruptible PAS government, as evidenced in Kelantan, would forever "destroy" a secularist Barisan Nasional government of the rich and the corrupt from ever regaining national power. Such rhetorical flummery, such strong words, and these are everywhere, and all without substance. Alas, again, the devil's in the details. Let's see PAS's policies at the national level first.

When I travel through Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis, all I still see is entrenched economic poverty that is ripping apart the social fabric of the Malay spirit of communitarianism. This is just what Mahathir wants in order to throw PAS out of power. Mahathir is the most racially divisive prime minister in Malaysia's short history. Worse, he's also the most divisive premier of Malay-Muslims.

Now, I understand how this can manifest itself at the level of the state, and I understand also the causes are borne by the Barisan Nasional regime starving the three states of crucial finance sharing. I can see how a disproportionate financial burden on PAS state governments would force them to raise state taxes, though reluctantly, as a means to raise crucial finances for state budget bottomlines.

I also understand how raising state taxes may incur the political backlash of poverty-stricken voters against PAS governments. But I've not seen any evidence of moves by PAS to produce policies independent of the centre vis--vis investment policy, for example.

Given a low technological base and surrounded by good public infrastructure, it seems to me that PAS has squandered precious time and money mapping out its fundamentalist Islamic state vision instead of working on economic and social policies that'll lift the living standards of its state constituents - regardless of race and class.

There's another problem: PAS hasn't any runs on the board to crow about, which is why PAS can't win political support from non-Malays who, after all, genuinely fear PAS's brand of Islamism and will vote in Barisan Nasional each time.

Moreover, PAS won't win the political support of the more secularised, urban Malays who've tasted capitalism in all its forms. PAS's rhetoric has also missed golden opportunities of shredding Barisan Nasional's policies that are full of holes: grandiose pipedreams that have massively drained the national wealth. The opposition parties need a swift kick up the backside.