In the last month...

Here's a quick breakdown of the affairs of Malaysia in the last 1 month:

1) Najib ditches his moderate and progressive facade to reveal a typical UMNO/BN dictator, with excuses for suppressing a movement that calls for free and fair elections that holds even less water than when Abdullah Badawi clamped down on Bersih 1.0 on the pretext that it's not our culture to take to the streets in peaceful protest. Why do I say this? Bersih 2.0, devoid of political party leadership, has been labelled at any one time as communist, foreign agent, Christian agent, racist, anti-Islam, Arab Spring copycats. For the first time ever in Malaysia, wearing a t-shirt bearing a cause is reason to be arrested and thrown into a lock-up. How could a government that claims itself to be democratic go against calls for free and fair election is flabbergasting.

2) Rosmah Mansor is the new Imelda Marcos.

3) After the failure of 1Malaysia email that got shot down, Najib hatches a plan to use more taxpayer's money to enrich some crony, and while at it, why not boost its electoral chances? Therefore, rise the evil of biometrics system, where he works hand in glove with the Election Commission to possibly commit the largest electoral fraud in Malaysian history. If this plan gets implemented, and the implementation is fraught with potential for hacking and database corruption and manipulation, it would have been too late for Malaysians because the general elections would have been won by BN, again. Can Malaysia afford another 5 years of BN misrule and misgovernance? If Malaysians are pissed about government treatment on Bersih 2.0, 100 storey tower, 1Malaysia and other embarassing government projects, then you must rise again and express your disgust over the biometrics plan. It may sound technologically advanced, but trust the many commentators on Malaysian politics that this is one thing you don't want BN to waste taxpayers' money on - it will affect the VERY FABRIC of what remains of our flawed democracy.

If the government says it is committed to removing phantom voters, then your ready answer must be this: indelible ink - cheaper, and less prone to abuse. EC seems to suggest that someone might sabotage elections by forcibly paint people BEFORE they poll. Our answer must be - if you treat indelible ink as loads of cash, then you keep them at safe places, and have police escort to bring them to polling stations. If that's not safe enough I don't know what is. If the EC and the police can't offer safety of custody of indelible ink, what more a biometrics system with all the intricacies of linking to the national registry or what not, ensuring the reliability of the system that is surely beyond the technical knowhow of all EC and police officers? With elections so close, it's unlikely EC will be able to carry on an effective trial run. Imagine the screwup - it will be massive, and will likely be open to contentions of fraud and hundreds of law suits that ensue. Imagine a close election - that would no doubt give rise to the very Arab Spring that Najib wants to avoid - you can't stop people from getting mad at a (deliberate or otherwise) screwup in voting process.

So, no to biometrics, yes to indelible ink.

4) Police abuse of Emergency Ordinance. PSM6 linked to communism is hillarious. That they have yet to be charged or released is not. It's in fact grave. It's criminal conduct on the part of the police to abuse their power this way. And for the police to call the shots instead of the Home Ministry is an immoral delegation of authority by the Home Minister. He can't wash his hands clean - we Malaysians should make sure of this.

5) RTM and MCMC under Rais Yatim is truly a disappointment. Balanced news? To BN, that word does not exist in their dictionary. Propaganda is the dish of the day, every day. Demonise Pakatan. Promote BN. Whitewash dirt into diamond. I'm just surprised Rais Yatim's doctorate haven't been pulled back by the University. Where's the integrity in the thesis when Rais calls it a mere intellectual exercise?

6) Utusan runs amok. But what we have learnt is that editors are affected by circulation. So dear Malaysians, it works. Continue to boycott them. They will suffocate, and die a natural death.

7) Perkasa - I like the way everything Ibrahim Ali said is being reported. It gives a chance to the public to condemn him. He's our Pauline Hanson, only 10 times worse. And he's protected by UMNO. Good thing is his time is running out. He will lose his election, if he's even a candidate, and he can retire from politics and rethink his life.

8) Anwar's trial continues. Put him in jail at BN's on peril. Enough said. The good thing is after Bersih 2.0, Pakatan seems to have seized the initiative again. There's nothing like unity of purpose amongst Peninsular Malaysians to regalvanise Pakatan. Kedah almost did something foolish but Pakatan was fast to correct that. Pakatan needs to push hard into Sabah, Sarawak and Johor. Changing 5% of the minds in those states will mean the whole world to Malaysians who want simple justice and fairness and an equal opportunity to make something out of their lives out of sheer hard work - and not asking for any special treatment.

End game draws near for BN. For the first time in 53 years, Malaysians have dispelled several myths: that opposition does not have the ability to rule, that any gathering of people who are not aligned with the government will spark racial riots, that BN is somehow invincible.

I remember as a teenager when I told my friends that Malaysia could be run as corrupt free as Singapore and their reply was "but Malaysia is so big", and everytime I raised an issue about how badly the government is doing, I get an earful that nothing is perfect, that the opposition will do no better. I am glad that I've been vindicated, as my friends have all come around to my way of thinking. It all boils down to willingness to find out, and developing critical thinking. As long as we in the position of knowledge and awareness reach out as far as we can between now and the next general elections to the rural folks, change can happen. It must happen, for the sake of our nation no less.