Since the Indera Kayangan by-election result was made known, there seems to be growing anxiety among the reformists who see the world only in black and white vis-a-vis the country's choice between Barisan Nasional and Barisan Alternatif.

The defeat is so unbearable that to cover their embarrassment, certain self-proclaimed leaders of this group are launching an undercover attack against their imaginary enemy — the DAP — through concocted figures and twisted facts.

By raising doubts over the figures provided by Keadilan officials with regard to the actual Chinese votes gained by the party in this by-election and questioning their conclusion that the Islamic state and Sept11 issues were no longer issues of public concern, the DAP, especially its national chairperson, are now targets of a black operation, which labels them as BN stooges, for "helping Umno and BN to destroy Keadilan".

Such reactions in response to legitimate questions raised and concern shown towards the by-election result does not speak well for the ability of these reformists to face criticism or appreciate the value of transparency.

When we compare the reaction of these supporters of BA to the reaction of Dr Mahathir Mohamad in labelling those who do not support BN as "not patriotic" and "foreign stooges", it is inevitable that we see a dangerous trend among the former, i.e. the 'Mahathir trend' of "if you are not with us, you are with them".

A similar attitude was also reflected by the American government when they labelled those who did not agree with their decision to attack Afghanistan as "harbouring terrorists" and "supporters of Osama".

The emergence of the reformasi movement and the formation of Keadilan had once brought hope to the people of Malaysia for a totally new development in the country's political landscape.

The traditional opposition supporters who have given their support to DAP in the past three decades, were excited by the development and were hoping that with the new scenario, the objective of DAP — a just, democratic and plural society — could be achieved in the new century.

But such hope is now being dampened by the similar mentality of certain reformists in the BA and it now seems that the road to true reformasi is still a long and lonely one for the few who can appreciate the true meaning of the word.