"You people are asking the government to use Petronas' profit to pay for the petrol hike, this and that. What will we have for our future generations! It will not even last for your father's generation. Compare to Thailand and other neighbouring countries don't you know that the petrol price in Malaysia is lower?

"Are you saying we have policies that kill people? You don't have to know how much profit Petronas is making? You don't have to know everything! What kind of attitude do you have? Try to do something better in future?"

Sharir Abdul Samad, the Backbenchers Club chairperson and Umno supreme council member, thundered.

He went on and on, and almost walked away in anger as though the three people who were talking to him were wasting his time.

In fact, the three people had managed to touch the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's biggest asset - the oil which theoretically belonged to the people but in reality is controlled by the BN government to continue to be in power.

Even Shahrir, who has a reputation as a reformist within Umno and looked upon by many as a progressive leader, seemed unable to digest the popular demands put forward by Jerit (Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas), an organisation which represents marginalised groups.

It seemed that Jerit had touched the sensitive button - the power base of Umno and BN - Petronas and it immediately made them nervous.

After this sudden outburst, it would definitely be a waste of time and energy for Jerit to demand the ruling government to use Petronas' profit to set up a Retrenchment Fund for workers or to control petrol price.

Shahrir spent less than 10 minutes with the three-member Jerit delegation, before he became annoyed and lost his cool.

Jerit had a 12-member delegation but Shahrir only wanted to meet three and using the Parliament security guards, he ensured that only three were allowed to see him.

He clearly demonstrated that one had to dance according to his tune and revealed that he was not an approachable person contrary to what he had portrayed before.

Workers unite

Earlier, the delegation met with Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang at his office in the Parliament House. A memorandum containing Jerit's suggestions to review Budget 2006 was handed over.

The memorandum basically carried issues pertaining to private sector industrial workers and the working class in general such as a demand for minimum living wage of RM900, to stop privatisation of basic amenities, forming a security net for workers and employing measures to control inflation in view of the upcoming recession.

Lim claimed that many of the issues were raised during the Parliament session over the last few days but the government had nothing concrete to say. Furthermore the Parliament session on policy and welfare issues ended last Monday so the issues cannot be raised.

The opposition appears to be a voiceless power of the powerless Parliament.

It is definitely a waste of paper to give one memorandum after another when they end up in the waste basket. Mere memorandums do not prove anything.

Mobilisation of conscious workers, unity of the oppressed and the will power to bring changes to millions of workers who are silently suffering for ages, relies on every one of us, the conscious individuals. You cannot privatise or pay a contractor to finish the job.

Jerit has completed its exercise in highlighting the issues to MPs from both sides. The memorandum was endorsed by 26 organisations. It is time now to expose how the BN backbenchers who control 90 percent of seats treat the public.

It is time to show who the real bosses are. It is time to expose the true role of parliamentary democracy.

If elected government officials have such arrogance then the people who elect them should be more arrogant in demanding their rights and rightful position in the political landscape.

Workers have nothing to lose but their chains. We will continue to fight!

LETCHIMI DEVI is a member of Jerit.