I agree with Mustapha Ong that our new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should be given adequate time to sort out the mess he inherited.

As the saying goes: "Rome was not built in a day", and any improvements to the government is going to take a lot of trust and goodwill between leaders and those who gave them their mandate. Rome of course was destroyed while the emperor Nero played his harp and refused to attend to important matters of state.

I suggest a six-month grace period would be reasonable for a new prime minister to start the process of change so that Malaysians can once again believe that the government is of the people, by the people and for the people.

The changes must not only come from the top down but have to be implemented so that the whole system does not collapse into chaos. That is a great challenge and I believe most Malaysians are prepared to wait a while for all of us too have contributed by continuing to vote in MPs who did not speak up in Parliament.

There is an old story about how a kingdom was lost for "want of a nail." Using that analogy, we could create a similar story on how a country was lost for "want of a vote."

It is time for Malaysians to wake up and put our House in order. If we continue with the ways of the past, it will take perhaps another decade before we become the basket case of Asean.