I read with utter disgust de facto Law Minister Rais Yatim's threat over the reports lodged by BA Youth against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Rais has no right to tell the rakyat who they can and cannot lodge a police report against.

BA Youth are an organisation representing the tax-payers in this country, and they have the right, under the Federal Constitution and Malaysian law to seek the assistance of the police if they suspect any wrongdoings by a leader.

Part of that process is lodging a police report. Is the good minister suggesting that we should seek his permission if we intend to lodge a report against a government official or a minister? Who is he to determine if the police report is malicious or not?

Furthermore, I find Rais Yatim's remarks extremely patronising and not in line with Pak Lah's pledge to maintain and uphold democracy in his maiden speech . If the report is indeed malicious, Dr Mahathir can seek respite under civil law. He can sue BA Youth and they will bear the brunt, if proven in the court of law that their intentions were malicious.

Determining whether their intentions were malicious or not should be done by the courts, not by some minister who feels he has the right to pass judgement arbitrarily.

Pundits may jump on my statement and say that the courts are not fair and that BA Youth will be persecuted. To answer that, the only way we can change a system is to put our trust in it and hope it works for us. The benefit of doubt must be given to the system. We can only work towards reform if we believe in the system and fight to uphold it.

Sadly, the statement made by the law minister reflects the attitude that he has towards the right of the ordinary rakyat to have their grouses addressed by the system. The only way to tackle corruption and nepotism - which should be high on Pak Lah's list of things to tackle - is to empower citizens to report incidences of abuse.

Statements such as the one from Rais certainly does not do any good in according Malaysian citizens this right.