They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. How true! In the newspapers of Aug 29, there was this picture of people in London, protesting against their prime minister, Tony Blair, for his handling of Dr Kelly, who killed himself after being under pressure from the British government.

The protestors were right in the middle of London. However, the most telling thing is the disposition of the lone police personnel, who was not even looking at the protesters, with his arms folded, looking utterly disinterested.

Imagine if it was in Kuala Lumpur. There would have been, maybe 100 of them, with shields and batons, backed up with water cannons, and tear gas launchers, etc.

As we celebrate yet another national day, we all wonder whether the mentality of our leaders has caught up with that of the rest of the world. In many ways, we are worse than the Third World!