A couple of days ago, I sent an e-mail to a friend in KL criticising the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) against several opposition leaders recently.

I was most surprised at his sarcastic response. He said, "Yeah, the Malaysian government can never do anything right, only white foreign governments can."

There was an article in today's online edition of the Malay Mail which carried the story of a guy who was stabbed during a robbery attempt at a rest point along the north-south highway.

He pleaded with a PLUS officer who was eating at a nearby stall to help him and his family. He was not only ignored but the PLUS officer continued eating.

These two events appear disparate but there is a common theme to be drawn from them - i.e. the people in Malaysia have become increasingly apathetic and insular.

My friend argues that he has a good life in KL - he has a good career, has a car and a home. He says the government has done a lot for Malaysia which has enabled him to obtain the creature comforts he has now.

To me, life is more than a career, car and home. In any case, the standard of living of Malaysians have steadily declined if measured on purely material terms.

High inflation means the good life is now out of reach for many more Malaysians. But what is material wealth when the country is spiritually bankrupt.

The poor robbery victim could not understand why nobody came to his and his family's aid. But, is there any wonder given that there is no sense of justice in the country?

Under the ISA, the Home Affairs Minister and the police can detain a person in jail for eternity without him having any recourse to the justice system. In any case, who can trust the justice system to bring about justice - the courts, official media and even the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) are nothing more than government appendages.

If you are on the wrong side of the fence, there is no one in Malaysia who can help you and who wants to help you - the only people who are willing and able to help have already been neutralised by the government through its underhanded means.

Malaysia is paying the price for the government's gross mismanagement of the social, political and economic environments in the last two decades.

It will pay a higher price unless real reforms are implemented soon. The new Employees Provident Fund (EPF) head justified the bailouts of politically connected companies by saying these are good companies and in the long term, depositors will reap the rewards.

You just have to look at the Japanese economy to expose the folly of his arguments - the Japanese economy has been stagnant/declining for the past decade due to the hefty price paid to prop up uncompetitive companies in the 1990s.

The lesson to be learnt is that there is no substitute for real reforms- don't hope that foreign money will somehow return due to economic cycles. The world has changed and Malaysia is in danger of being left further behind - Malaysians can't afford to be apathetic and insular at this time.