Just as the task of reforming the UN system of vetoes appears necessary for the future well-being of the United Nations, the system of government in Malaysia should also undergo some honest scrutiny if it is to become a country that one can be proud of.

While the UN system has remained the same for more than 40 years, the Malaysian system has been tinkered with so much that the original noble ideas of the founding fathers have become tainted with corruption, cronyism and the tyranny of the majority by the minority in power.

No doubt we can still claim we conduct elections every four years and the government does lose some cases in the courts, but the latter is due mainly to poor preparation and rarely one in which major issues are decided.

The following measures could improve the future for Malaysia:

- The prime minister's post should be held for not more than three terms or until the holder is 70 years old, after which the politician should retire.

- The prime minister can be appointed from any race provided he/she commands the support of the political parties that have been elected to power. This will ensure that the most capable Malaysian citizen is not denied the chance to help Malaysia progress and upholds the constitutional concept of equal rights for all citizens.

- Too much power has been concentrated in too few leaders and while this can help in swift decision-making, it also allows dictatorial tendencies to profligate. Just take one recent example: the case for federal control of water resources in Malaysia.

Barely had the matter been discussed, the minister is forging ahead with the establishment of a Federal Water Board even as some states are having second thoughts as water is a state resource. Perhaps the privatisation projects worth billions of ringgit have spurred the unnecessary haste? There's money in them pipes!

Local elections were stopped during the Emergency for security reasons, and while the Emergency ended many years ago, the people have been denied their rights to vote for those in local government. The result is that local councils are loaded with political drop-outs with little concern for the population but how to benefit their own interests since they have no more chance at the bigger pies at the state and federal levels of government.