Barisan Nasional's manifesto emphasises ethics as the primary pre-requisite for all its future elected representatives. How welcome this aspiration is. But is it ethical now for Pak Lah and his caretaker cabinet members to blatantly use all government machinery for their current campaigning at the taxpayer's expense?

This is very much the same as the gross abuses perpetrated during the Mahathir era. Compounded with this is the print and electronic media which are as usual continuing their nefarious propaganda against the opposition.

It is not in the country's overall interests to give a bigger mandate to the BN for the simple reason that the BN parties will carry on with their arrogant rule and indifference to the rakyat's interests as practised by Mahathir and his subjugated BN parties.

It will suffice that Pak Lah be given the mandate to rule the country with a comfortable majority but with a credible and alert opposition to keep the government and its elected representatives on their toes.

How our august Parliament was treated by Mahathir and other BN leaders in recent years is testimony to what our next Parliament will be like if the BN does get too big a majority. The electorate should take note that Parliament is the supreme body in our country and not the Umno supreme council or the MCA, MIC central committees.

The rakyat should not be hoodwinked by calls for a strong mandate to continue the stability and development for the country because in the past this has lead to nepotism, cronyism and large-scale corruption.

So let us all be aware and use our votes wisely so that we have a good balance in our elected representatives in the next Parliament.