I refer to the malaysiakini report Live bullet fired at ceramah crowd. It was a good thing that no life was lost when the police fired the live bullet. But it is still too close for comfort and shows the lack of professionalism by the police force in handling crowd control.

In robust democratic countries, the government of the day would engage with their critics without rancour rather than using the police force to stifle opposition parties from holding rallies. Demonstrations by the public are held regularly there but the police force would not interfere unless they turn violent. Only in Third World countries will the police force or the army be used to break-up demonstrations like in Burma and Zimbabwe

What happened in Terengganu is an inkling of what is to happen as people get more frustrated with government policies which don't benefit them but only the elite of society. Malaysia had been called a 'police state' by the former premier and in Terengganu over the weekend where scores of people were arrested and some injured by gunshot is proof that democracy is only but a name in this country.

The present regime has full control of the government machinery and a subdued and sympathetic media which only highlights government successes while demonising the opposition. And yet government leaders are scared that the public will be swayed by opposition propaganda about abuse of power and corruption at such rallies.

The police force, whose salary is paid by taxpayers, should be neutral in their work and not be used by the present regime to deny the right of voters to assess opposition's viewpoints. The police should not deny opposition parties permits to hold their 'ceremah'. However, it is well-known that police do this at the last minute to frustrate rallies held by opposition leaders.

The coming general elections will be a watershed for this country. The present regime knows that the public at large are dissatisfied with government policies which have affected their everyday lives. Even the recent Budget presented by our finance minister doesn't seem to be any different from previous Budgets and will not convince voters to retain the present incumbents in their constituencies.

Pak Lah has had three long years to stamp his leadership on this country by checking corruption and abuse of power but he wasted the goodwill of the people by turning a blind eye to government abuse which has resulted in public money going down the drain.

With Internet access, voters are better-educated and can see the wood from the trees. They can clearly see the various forms of government abuse no matter how clever the present regime is in hiding their misdeeds. One can see that the present government will receive a thrashing in the coming polls.

But it will be an uphill battle for the opposition to wrest rural seats which normally go the government candidates. However, if the opposition parties can pull their act together like what they did in 1986 and 1999, then they might be able to bring a swing among the fence-sitters in the rural areas too.