Malaysia has come to the start of a new era which hopefully will not see the recurrence of the Bendahara. By Bendahara, I mean authoritarian, semi-royal, prime/chief minister, in the mould of the late, great Tun Perak and his deputy Hang Tuah.

While thanking Prime Minister 'Tun' Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his superb job in making Malaysia a newly industrialised nation which has embraced IT within 22 years, and for restoring the lost glory of old Melaka, we Malaysians have to be brave enough to say "no" to continued authoritarianism. It just does not fit into the 21st century.

I am not drawing up a wish list for the incoming Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi because I fully believe that, as a leader who has served under both the great Tun Mahathir and his great, first deputy, Musa Hitam, he knows what should be done to restore confidence in the Malaysian political system.

The years when Musa was deputy prime minister were golden years for Malaysian democracy. These were the years which marked Malaysia's coming of age as a developing democracy, where we could afford to roll-back our curbs on civil liberties, thanks to the abating of the communist revolt of Chin Peng and Rashid Maidin.

This liberalism sadly came to an end after Musa's exit from the cabinet, and after the booting of that other Team B strongman, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, from the cabinet. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the incoming PM, was a staunch Team B loyalist, and it is my sincere belief that he will follow the liberalisation of Musa and Razaleigh.

As he is indebted to the supremo of Team A, Mahathir, for his premiership, he is likely to move slowly, like Taiwan's former president Lee Teng Hui, but nevertheless, it is better than a tightening of the screws.

Only God knows the future, but from my observations, I am optimistic for Malaysia's future under Abdullah and whoever succeeds him. To Mahathir, happy retirement and congratulations on your 'Tun-ship'. Thanks for 22 great years of transforming Malaysia. To Abdullah, congratulations and may God guide you in leading Malaysia.