Perhaps I may be allowed to stand by my earlier analysis on the overwhelming mandate given to the prime minister as an aftermath of the historic 2004 general elections, in my article titled ‘ Right man, right time .

Indeed, I might now even want to revise the title to read ‘The right mandate for the right man’. With respect, and in all humility, I have to say that in this connection, those who have the capacity and capability to understand this in-depth analysis, will not fail to come to the same conclusions.

But this having been said, it would be tedious to enter into a detailed ‘blow by blow’ account as to what went wrong. It might be useful therefore to focus on just two dimensions on what was essentially needed in a reform agenda, where Abdullah was the first prime minister to make footprints for reforms soon after taking office.

These dimensions are namely the failure of the backup institutional structure of the government, and the poor ‘calibre’ of the politicians and the bureaucracy to implement the mandate as projected.

My take on the first dimension is that some of the most important social institutions involved for reforms have literally collapsed. The EPU for instance, to all intents and purposes, has simply ceased to function the way it is supposed to, and did, under the Razak government.

It is therefore no longer capable, nor does it have the technical expertise to operationalise and implement the much-needed reforms proposed by the prime minister. It is also known that similar situations exist in other ministries particularly involved in policy planning in crucial technical areas such as research and statistics.

Also, some statuary bodies such as Felda have been ‘hijacked’ for empire-building activities for the benefit of their own bureaucracy against the direction of the government.

Instead of organisational restructuring to facilitate the ‘listing’ of settlers on the stock exchange as advised by the prime minister, the organisation has gone on to create new ‘elitist’ mini-settlements as well as build hotels in Terengganu and in certain Arab countries that will mainly benefit their bureaucracy.

The necessary restructuring to facilitate the ‘listing ’simply did not take place and Felda continues to independently pursue empire-building expansionist policies for the benefit of its elitist bureaucratic shareholders.

On the dimension of the poor calibre of dominant cabinet ministers and other senior policy-makers, we are fortunate with the wide publicity given to this scenario by Zaid Ibrahim as the main reason for his resignation.

What he has emphasised is the ‘fossilised feudalistic mindset’ that permeates the entire reform process that Zaid asserts that those involved essentially speak a different language from the progressive-minded reformers!

On the basis of this indictment, and what is well-known to reformists, there seems no question that the reform footprints Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hopes to implement can never succeed without appropriate ‘safeguards’ being put in place.

Therefore by all accounts, Abdullah must initiate an appropriate institutional structure to ensure the reforms are effectively implemented. There is no point in adopting a bureaucratic approach by simply adding on ‘more of the same’.

This is a matter of life and death to the nation and therefore the reforms need to be implemented not simply by the BN government, but by whichever government that happens to be in power.

The prime minister must surely be aware of the repeated calls for the appointment of an Ombudsman or even the setting up of a structure similar to the National Operations Council for this purpose. Abdullah may have some similar arrangements whereby the reforms can be monitored with ‘checks and balances’ and Malaysians would like to hear of these sooner rather than later.

Finally, I believe it necessary for me to ‘step out of line’ in the traditional role and position of an academic in using this status as an authority for demanding the creation of an appropriate institutional structure as above.

With the greatest respect and humility I have to say that the acceptance of my chapter as the only Malaysian contribution to The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present , by Blackwell Publishing, gives me the credibility and the authority to say that unless the prime minister sets up the appropriate structure to oversee his final reform programme, it will amount to nothing more than ‘wishful thinking’ and regretably the ‘footprints of reform" will end up in being ‘footprints in the sand’.