I disagree with Sri Darma Vijaya's view that a strong government is needed to bring about changes and growth. Contradictory to his view, I think because of human's inherent flaws and surety for mistakes, it is more the reason why we should have a strong opposition. I'd even go beyond merely a strong opposition. I'd recommend that a major third party to hold the 'balance of power'.

I agree with Vijaya that a government should be decisive and resourceful. But, with all due respect, should a government be forceful too? Doesn't that sound like some authoritarian or 'pseudo-democratic' rule, which we've been used to?

Haven't we learnt anything from our ex-premier's era, where everything he liked and wanted (read: most, if not all, his pet-mega projects) were bulldozed through Parliament without exhausting all the pros and cons? Take the Bakun dam for example. Read the editorial from malaysiakini and judge for yourself. I have had a good laugh, as well as feeling sad at the same time when I did.

The ex-premier set the precedence where form seemed to be more important than substance. Parliament was reduced to a rubber stamp for the executive, and its members were mere parrots. The opposition has been mostly blotted out from the public by the government-controlled media. Their voices were hardly heard by the majority public. And that is the reason why we turn to publications such as malaysiakini. We are simply sick and tired of the mainstream media's daily parroting.

"Master of rhetoric and polemics," you say. Well, I think those must be the voices that never get pass the parliamentary chamber. "Honest and knowledgeable leaders who truly care for the people and the future of the country," I also hear you say. If that's the case, Pak Lah wouldn't be declaring war on graft today, would he? Worse still, no one really knows how deeply the root of corruption goes.

I've come to think that the ruling party and the executive has been granted too much power to such a degree that there is no longer checks and balance. Too much public fund has been spent on building someone's ego (read: Malaysia Boleh! ... for everything big). And too many lame excuses have been given whenever someone makes a blunder and still, these ministers have the cheek to stay in office!

Take a look at the parliamentary system of Australia, for example. Not only do they have a major opposition party at the national level, they also have a third small party called the 'balance of power'. After all, as someone said, "it takes two to form a council but it takes three to form a democracy".

Therefore to say that the Malaysian parliamentary system is lop-sided is a gross understatement. Vijaya said politicians need to be monitored by their superiors. But who is going to monitor their superiors? Don't get me wrong, I totally agree that our government needs our support, empowerment and authority to bring us to the next phase of development, but not without the checks and balance.