Political commentator and author Yong Thye Chong - who signs off as 'Kim Quek' - has joined opposition party PKR, expressing hope that "truth and goodness will eventually triumph over deceit and evil".

Yong, 69, said this at a welcoming ceremony at the PKR headquarters in Brickfields yesterday. At the event were party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and other leaders.

He explained that he joined the party because of his frustration over failed promises by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who took over from Dr Mahathir Mohamad in November 2003.

"Pak Lah vowed to wipe out rampant corruption and restore democracy and good governance to the people," said Yong, a retired accountant based in Johor.

"Almost four years later, we are convinced that his promised reforms are mere fallacies."

He pointed out that corruption has worsened, the crime rate is unbearable, the economy is stagnant and scandals that have surfaced reflect the failure of both political leadership and civil administration.

"To make up for this failure of leadership, Umno leaders have resorted to stirring up racial and religious issues to further divide the people, plunging the nation into unprecedented turmoil and disunity.

"With our house in such disorder, under the unrelenting impact of globalisation, we are already in a state of national regression."

He said every Malaysian must wake up to this national threat and that it is only through political struggles that the nation can be saved.

Yong joins a wave of high-profile captures by political parties in recent weeks - former ntv7 Mandarin news anchor Victor Gu and blogger Jeff Ooi have respectively joined MCA and DAP.

Why PKR

His choice of PKR as a platform is based on the party's stance on eliminating the "much abused NEP" and restoring social justice and democracy to the people.

"I have full confidence in Anwar leading a concerted effort of the forces sharing these ideals to mount a meaningful challenge to the corrupt and antiquated ruling power in the coming election. I believe truth and goodness will eventually triumph over deceit and evil in this country," he added.

Author of 'Where to, Malaysia?' and 'A Future with Anwar's Reformasi or Back to Mahathirism?', he has written extensively on the Malaysian political scene since 1998, when Anwar was sacked from his government and party posts.

His contributions appear regularly in local websites such as malaysiakini, Malaysia Today, Bungaraya (DAP), Harakahdaily and Laman Marhaen.

They have also been published by Harakah, Seruan Keadilan, Aliran, Singapore's Today newspaper and the Asian Wall Street Journal among other publications.

Born in Singapore, Yong graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in University Malaya in 1965. He is married to Kew Man Noi and they have four daughters and a son.