The Internal Security Act (ISA) has been used again to crack down on the opposition movement ([#1] Bombs and grenade launchers to topple gov't: IGP [/#], April 11). Could this mean that the Barisan Nasional government is getting more desperate?

Certainly, there was much said recently about the April 14 proposed gathering during which a memorandum is supposed to be submitted to Suhakam. But no crime has been committed and no crime can be committed by a mere submission of a memorandum. Thus with the lack of avenues to suppress this, the government had to use the ISA.

Honestly, I would have thought that the proposed gathering could not bring together more than 1,000 people. That itself would be a tall order, seeing what happened last year. So why has the government become so prickly over this?

My belief is that one has to look at the bigger picture here. The government needs to crack down on the opposition because of what is likely to happen in the course of this year.

The economy is likely to tumble further, the bailouts are likely to continue full steam, the mismanagement and corruption are likely to become more evident and, more worryingly, more people will be losing their jobs, too.

All this could result in a public outcry against the government's handling of all the country's problems and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is ever more likely to find himself in a political corner with not much room to move.

The arrests and crackdowns, the accusations of foreign conspiracy, are just shadow play, a mere diversionary tactic to ensure the public does not focus on the appalling results of his tyrannical rule and mismanagement of government.