I refer to the one called Adam's Apple in his/her article entitled ''DAP needs a new cause' (July 28). I must admit that I am rather disturbed by one of the writer's point that "It happens to be everyone's ambition to get rich here, not to fight for equality". Could this be true? Why is this the case?

Why do the political parties always have to change the views and stance according to the will and desires of the public? Shouldn't they stand for what is right or just, instead? If this is democracy, then there is something seriously wrong with the democracy we know.

I put forth to you, that all Malaysians should take a good look at ourselves and ask what is wrong with ourselves before we go around blaming others, including the politicians, for our problems.

Malaysia has a classic case of unsustainable development and we are all to blame for it. In Islamic political sciences, there is a saying "A leader is a reflection of the people they lead".

The trend seems to be for the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer. As such the rich will tend to isolate themselves from the poverty that surrounds them, and as a result the poor become poorer and more desperate. This in turn leads to political patronage and corruption running rampant including in the civil society.

This is not a sustainable model, the bubble will have to burst, if not sooner, then later, and we will have what could be a holocaust in our hands. The rich will have to give back some of their wealth, as is the case in the zakat (tithe) system.

Enduring happiness cannot come from the continual activity and exploitation that drives the industrialised world, ie desire for unnecessary products (made to look necessary in our lives) through incessant advertising.

This extreme consumerism has resulted in most of us (especially the Third World countries) going into debt, which we can't possibly hope to repay. As a result, we remain forever in debt including the pay back of massive interest rates on the debt itself.

As we go deeper and deeper into debt, we are driven more and more into raping our environment and depleting our non-renewable resources to pay back our loans.

In the case of Indonesia, her debt has resulted in the unsustainable loss of her natural environment, such as rampant clearing of land for 'cash crops' and timber, to repay their 'national debt' which has resulted in many forest fires of which has even affected us in Malaysia.

The Western hypothesis of a better life is an unsustainable one because it focuses mainly, if not only, on material growth which has plunged humanity into patterns of consumption that is rapidly eating up the world's natural resources and destroying the environment in which we live.

Industrialised nations have led the way, but non-industrialised nations are quickly following their bad example. This earth is limited, the only home we have. As the Prophet of Islam mentioned 1,400 years ago, the Earth is like our mother, and thus he commanded his followers to treat it with respect and dignity.

As the many scholars in Islam has said that a believer is a person who partakes of the earth only what is needed and nothing more. He/she is a guardian put upon the Earth and must defend it as he/she is responsible for its well-being and to pass it on to the next generation as he/she found it or in a better condition, and the latter being the better of the two.

Malaysians should educate ourselves of all these facts and change for better. Once this happens, then a better leadership will follow naturally. Will we not learn from other people's mistakes?