your say 'Communal rights cannot be gained merely by the loss of BN political power. They are lost because of the abuses of those in ruling position.'

Pakatan 100-day reformasi taster on the plate

Anonymous: Pakatan Rakyat leaders must speak with one voice, advocating and promoting one policy and one policy only. To have a spirited campaign, Pakatan should have a song that promotes unity in diversity, embraces all races, recognises all languages in the pursuit of knowledge and practises meritocracy in the awarding of scholarships.

And that all tenders must be open to public scrutiny, all scholarships should be advertised on the Internet as well as the basis for which they are awarded. To make sure that everything is above board, let the public view all its actions. Respect the grassroots, and choose candidates from among the grassroots.

What has happened to the registration of the three parties as an entity? Ask the Registrar of Societies. And publicise your request in the newspapers and Internet so that the people will know who is at fault in the registration.

Bersatulah Sabah: Protection of minorities should be defined deeper. Politicians should not simply use constitutional articles to safeguard their rights. It is the people's right. The rights guaranteed in the ‘Perlembagaan Persekutuan' (federal constitution) should be respected alongside the rights for the non-bumiputera and the 19/20 Points relating to Sarawak and Sabah.

Communal rights cannot be gained merely by the loss of BN political power. They are lost because of the abuses of those in ruling position.

Ranjit Singh: Where were all these opposition parties for the last 53 years until Hindraf came about to question boldly and audaciously without fear or favour? Today everyone talks about the second limb of Article 153, yet everyone allowed Indian Malaysians to disintegrate and be denigrated.

Well, that was the past. What Umno had done should not be repeated by Pakatan by playing the similar agenda. At least Umno is making attempts to appease this segment. But Pakatan would rather play politics with their Indian ‘mandores' without actually making an effort to deal with the real forces that determine matters.

Proarte: Lim Guan Eng should remind Anwar Ibrahim that Article 153 of the federal constitution does not mention 'Hak Istimewa Melayu', which only recently Anwar claimed Pakatan had agreed to uphold at his recent 'Wikileaks' ceramah. Anwar changes his take on the constitution depending on his target audience.

Even his daughter Nurul Izzah was accused by Umno for betraying the Malays for saying that 'hak istimewa Melayu' did not exist in the constitution. Anwar may have left Umno but it appears that Umno has never left him.

Rolls-Royce: Please Pakatan, go for common grounds. Don't fight Umno/BN with religious fanaticism, racism or ‘ketuanan' of any kind. These are their forte. Pakatan should bring forth their own agenda - fight them on corruption, wastage, abuse of power, incompetence and their opulent lifestyle. That would be sufficient to gain power.

Non-Janudiced: Pakatan and BN must realise the days are past when the people could be fooled. The voters know that actions speak louder than words. For BN, repeating article 153 of the federal constitution with a jaundiced eye cannot and will not fool the voters. While the rights and privileges of the Malays are emphasised, the rights and privileges of the non-Malays must also be emphasised.

For the past 50 years, the then Alliance and now the BN have been making superficial mention of non-Malay rights. Similarly, the points of Agreement with Sabah and with Sarawak before they formed part of Malaysia (not "joined Malaysia", as Malaysia was non-existent before 1963) have been either ignored or merely given superficial mention.

Now that they hold the ‘fixed deposits' without which BN would be in opposition today, neither BN nor Pakatan could take things for granted. Sabah and Sarawak are important digits, and cannot be simply brushed aside.

KSN: While showing off your oratory skills and jokes, which are becoming a little dull, boring and meaningless, Pakatan leaders should not fail to list and elaborate their vision and road map for the country in such a way that no citizen is left in the dark as to your policies and issues and where you will take the country, and in what direction.

Attacking Umno-BN is fine and deserving, but you have done that enough, except maybe in terms of spreading it to the kampong folks all over the country. Think now of a way how that can be done.

There is no need to preach to the converted. Let us hear your alternatives to the Umno-BN approaches. In other words, go for substance. Pakatan's pull has waned seriously. Think of ways to recapture and further improve that aspect.

When you talk, that feeling must come from the heart with sincerity. People are smart enough to feel that as well. Do not take them for granted.

Loyal Malaysian: This is indeed a taster for what reformasi can bring. But I must say, the taster has been far from tantalising - the loss of control of Perak, the defections and the intra- and internecine fighting, among others, have resulted in many rakyat losing hope that Pakatan can force the Umnoputras to abandon Putrajaya in GE13.

Yet there is now cause for hope. There appears a focussed attention on the task at hand at the convention. We, who hope for change, can only pray that this will be transformed into action by the Pakatan leadership in the days ahead.

Neders: I reckon I am old enough to think for myself. I am fairly convinced that the present regime's leaders are corrupted to the core (do you hear of them openly denying this?). It practices racism, religious bigotry, cronyism and a whole lot of other negative attributes. In short, it is an evil regime.

The regime has been bashing the rakyat, which includes people of all races, in particular the Malays. Of course, a good many Umnoputras have become filthy rich, but at the other end of the spectrum there are hundreds of thousands of Malays struggling to put food on the table. The injustice of it all disgusts me and I'd say Pakatan should not stop Umno/BN-bashing. Why should we take things lying down?

Why are the component parties like MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc, still hanging on to be part of the regime? They are part of the problem by their association with Umno, but are impotent to improve the situation.

Someone from Umno remarked they can go at it alone. Does MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc, have the intestinal fortitude to say to Umno, "Go ahead"?

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