I refer to the recent letter by Hamdan Ibrahim 'Time to clean BN stables' which was excellently written and proves that many Malaysians want a stable government but one that is not so powerful that the interests of ordinary citizens are conveniently sacrificed in the interests of the selected few.

As the saying goes, 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' Our caretaker PM has taken a few steps, we should encourage him to continue by not voting back into power all those BN candidates who have been tainted by corruption scandals even though they have not yet been arrested and tried.

As voters, we have the power to reject anyone perceived to be unworthy of our trust and in whom we should not place our future to be ransomed for another five years. Let people power help the PM to eliminate the corrupt officials and provide more momentum to his anti-corruption drive.

The BN has been in power for so long that many civil servants tend to equate the BN with the government and vice versa. The proposed Ethics Index may be a useful tool but it may prove to be complicated and difficult for people to understand.

It is suggested that proceedings in Parliament should be broadcast live and without editing so that those interested can see who is working or sleeping. In this respect, the government TV channels have been very biased in reporting only the good news of the government and totally ignoring opposing views. No news of the opposition parties is reported unless it is detrimental to them.

I am ashamed to note that ChannelNewsAsia is doing a much better coverage of the Malaysian elections than RTM. During elections, the Ministry of Information becomes the 'Ministry of Misinformation' or the 'Good News Ministry'.

The Ethics Index should also measure the activity level of officials throughout the year with monthly average and standard deviation. I suspect that every one of the BN candidates will fail as they work the hardest only during an election campaign.

The way our elections are conducted is a shame much like a crooked game of cricket. One side is using a pitch-controlling device so that there is no level-playing field; the umpire is biased and the balls have been tampered with.

Nonetheless, I shall be voting on Sunday and I urge everyone to vote. Our system is not perfect but if you abdicate your right to vote, you may lose that right in the future.