All caring and concerned Malaysians are eagerly looking forward to the 2008 general elections to teach the arrogant, chauvinistic and insolent Umno-controlled BN coalition the lesson of its life, since it has dominated the political scenario for the past 50 years.

Enough is enough, and all peace-loving Malaysians should stop the BN in its tracks. Malaysians should not allow themselves to be taken for another five-year-long ride by the Umno-controlled BN and its chauvinistic and race-based policies that keep the various communities apart and attempt to promote distrust and suspicion.

It is now or never - the time is ripe for the oppressed and suppressed opposition parties (namely DAP, PKR and PAS) to be honest, frank and open-minded. These parties must look at the larger political picture and deny the BN its two-thirds majority, in both the state legislature and Parliament.

This should be their only objective, rather than bickering on the allocation of seats. ‘Give and take’ should be the rule of the day. And towards the end of the day, the sole objective should be to vanquish the devils of deceit and corruption that lie within the BN.

Many Malaysians see a restructuring of PKR by Anwar Ibrahim. Since his release from prison, Anwar has held very down-to-earth meetings with the various communities. He has touched on various social and economic ‘bread and butter’ issues, which are easily understood and accepted by the general masses of Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.

Regretfully, this cannot be said of the DAP or PAS - they appear to be more elusive and exclusive, and have yet to gain the trust, support and acceptance of all the races. They could do this by adopting more open and transparent approaches to reach to the masses.

The opposition should start uniting under a common goal. And that goal is to serve the people, irrespective of race, creed, colour and religion. Pursuing this goal will earn the trust of all Malaysians and will provide them with the confidence to vote for a change of government.

The DAP and PKR may consider the following guidelines in their negotiations and preparations for the coming general elections:

1. Explicitly talk about the various issues and problems facing each of the communities. Then discuss the specific remedies that would solve these issues without affecting the legal rights of others. Do not merely make broad statements such as those commonly seen in the BN election manifestos (such as ‘safeguarding the rights, as enshrined in the constitution’, etc.).

2. Take a stand on the various religious matters - such as conversion, apostasy, body-snatching, controversial judicial decisions related to child-maintenance custody and religious status and the selection of judges from only one particular religion to preside over certain hearings.

3. Create a new formula that fairly distribute evenly the economic cake that has grown over the past 50 years.

4. Propose remedies to overcome the marginalisation of non-Malays in mainstream public and private services, such as GLCs, banks, business opportunities in Petronas gas stations, government tenders and supplies, promotions and intakes in the police, army, navy and air force, etc.

5. Establish a more acceptable and fair system of placing students in public education institutions, based on a common entrance examination.

6. Implement a programme for regular mother tongue education in primary and secondary levels for non-Malay students to make the national schools more attractive to non-Malays parents.

In contrast, I plead with DAP and PKR not to nominate any one of the five detained Hindraf leaders for state or federal seats. The Hindraf leaders should continue to remain as voices of hope and strength for the Indian community.

Besides, the public wants their elected representatives to solve their various daily issues and problems facing them. How could detained YBs attend and resolve the problems of others when their own problems remain unresolved?

The DAP and PKR can do a great service for the Indian community by jointly and aggressively concentrating their resources to kick MIC President S Samy Vellu out of Sungai Siput. The DAP should magnanimously offer to give way to the PKR in Sg Siput, if they sincerely and truly want to free the Indian society from the crutches of Samy Vellu.

The DAP and PKR should also select different candidates for state and federal levels, and not choose the same representative for both seats. This would provide more aspiring and dedicated leaders opportunities to serve the people more effectively.