I refer to the Malaysiakini report Victory glee, hero worship dominate PKR meet .

I feel that the Pakatan Rakyat states have not been fairly judged by critics and commentators. Whilst we might dwell in the new-found environment of liberal expressions of views and opinions on the Net, we must not forget that we have to be fair in our comments.

There are many things which the Pakatan-led states are trying their very best to change but have been met with stiff resistance because these institutions refuse to recognise the Pakatan-led state governments as the legitimate state government which they ought to owe their allegiance to.

The police force for one, is a force that knows no other government other than one led by Umno and its compliant coalition, the BN. Besides Kelantan, the chief police officers still believe that they are governed by their political masters at the federal level which is still in the hands of Umno-BN. This leads to the fact that they do not pay much heed to the calls from their chief ministers to go easy when the people assemble peacefully.

These officers take their orders from the inspector-general of police who in turn takes his orders from the home minister who is from the ruling Umno-BN government. Therefore, to say that the menteri besar is not being sensitive to the voice of the people in not doing enough to allow freedom of speech and expression in the Pakatan-led states is not fair.

The fact that there were rallies in the MPPJ Kelana Jaya Stadium where the leaders had the opportunity to say what they wanted to their supporters without being harassed by the police is something of a new phenomena in Malaysian politics. When have we heard of former BN menteri besar coming out openly and meeting the people at stadiums to tell them what the political situation is at the decision-making level?

We have to understand that the institutions of government in Malaysia are just not used to a change in administration like what we see in other countries. Ours is a system which is very Umno-BN to the core and they just cannot see themselves taking orders from a new political coalition. That is one of the main reasons why we saw such a situation in Perak when the new menteri besar took over. The state Islamic department head just did not respect his authority as the menteri besar and refused to follow his directives until the Sultan had to step in.

It takes time to change this mindset but change is definitely coming for sure. In Selangor, we saw the institutions of government being in cohorts with the leader of the former BN administration, setting traps for the members of the new administration to fall in. One even had to experience being detained under the ISA on charges that she was causing racial tension.

These are time-tested ways in which the people can be easily swayed by the Umno-BN dominated federal government. It worked before, so they feel it will be easy for it to work again. But the people this time around have matured and know for a fact that they have to be united if they wish for change to materialise.

It isn't easy to do away with the racial stereotyping that has been embedded in the institutions of government for the past five decades but the people are trying and they are trying hard. It is easy for us to say that since the claimed takeover of the federal government did not materialise, Pakatan leaders are not sincere and have taken the people for a ride. It will also be easy to say that the highly-acclaimed Northern, Eastern and Southern Development Corridors did not materialise despite all the media hype about them.

It will be better for us to remember that because of the Sept 16 deadline, we saw Umno like never before - all worried and sending all its MPs on a study trip to Taiwan just to stop them from crossing over to the Pakatan-led coalition to form the next federal government of Malaysia. All this would not have happened if that date had not been set. The secret service (read as the Special Branch) was watching every move of the BN MPs who were rumored to have had talks with the opposition on the possibility of crossing over.

This, too, would not have been done with such zeal if the deadline was not set. Therefore, it was a means to an end. They now know that the Pakatan coalition is really serious of forming the next federal government and would not stop at nothing until it is realised.

In Selangor, we saw the promise of the water rates being lowered being kept, and for the first time, we saw a menteri besar ask questions which we thought would never be asked, like why can't at least 10% of places in universities like the UiTM be given to the non-Malays? Although it was highly controversial, we, at least, had that question asked.

He was ridiculed at being unable to lead but he has shown what others what being progressive and forward- minded is all about. The Selangor government has provided funds for needy vernacular schools but because the Selangor education department under the instruction of the federal government warned the schools from accepting these funds, does it mean that the Pakatan led states have failed?

They have done in eight months what the BN governments has been promising all this while but has been delaying all these years. Therefore, if we want change to come, we have got to participate and change our way of thinking first. The Indians in Malaysia would never have imagined a deputy chief minister of Indian ethnicity being appointed in the state of Penang but that has happened.

They would not have thought that a party like PAS would field an Indian woman as a candidate for a state seat in Johor during a general election but that, too, happened. It is changes like these that people fail to realise which are taking place and being slowly accepted. Some instead choose to harp on the takeover bid of Sept 16.

One is hopeful that we are seeing a chance for the country to slowly but surely cleanse itself from the depths of corruption and abuse of power which has brought the institutions of government like the judiciary, the police, the attorney-general's chambers and the ACA into such disrepute and ridicule that we have become a laughing stock to the rest of the developing world.

This change is coming although it missed the earlier dateline in September. It will come if the people believe in it and participate in their own little ways to make it come. We need this change as it will set us the direction for the future of this country which will be more unifying than dividing.