Alas, what a fine spirited speech is made when one is just watching from afar. The term 'champagne socialist' comes to mind doesn't it? I refer of course to Vishen Mohandas's 'Flaws in argument for ISA' (June 29) where he condemned the Internal Security Act (ISA).

I myself am not in Malaysia but I do realise that if I was, I wouldn't like to be in a riot-torn country where anarchy reigns.

Hindsight is really a great gift. Maybe one day, if such scenes espoused by the above-named took place on the streets of Kuala Lumpur...violent mobs looting without abandon, clashes between different ethnic groups, basically chaos in general; The future generations of Malaysia will look back and think, 'What brave people they were, fighting for a cause'.

What utter nonsense! Being a martyr and dying or suffering for a cause is nice to read about but in today's world where 'realpolitik' holds the upper hand it is but a folly. Who really cares for the martyr apart from his family (maybe) after a few weeks?

It is just blatant stupidity. We shouldn't forget the carnage, destruction and loss of innocent lives that followed most of the examples spouted by Vishen Mohandas. Are we prepared to face that? Well I for one am not and neither should any Malaysian. We have a way of life that is not perfect but it works.

I think the most extreme form of hypocrisy is to heap undue condemnation and instigate trouble on what happens in Malaysia when a person is sitting pretty abroad. People should adopt the 'go with the flow' approach.

All problems will be resolved in time. We should learn from the example of Michael Heseltine,' He who wields the knife will never wear the crown'.

As Anwar Ibrahim realised to his detriment, one needs to connect with the knife first before having any grand delusions.

Malaysians should realise that Anwar is a politician and not a saint. All well and good that he seeks to be Malaysia's Mandela but he is as tainted as his contemporaries in the government which he was once part of.

I find it laughable that now he is the focal point of reform in Malaysia. Anwar failed in his gamble to usurp power from Dr M and now pays the price.

To this day I don't understand how Anwar was suddenly transformed into a 'white knight' fighting against an oppressive dictatorship. Wake up people, a political play gonewrong is no reason for the whole country to get up in arms.

Just think of it like this, one man's ambition to be prime minister was thwarted and he seeks now to engulf the whole country in chaos just so he can make a comeback.

I don't see why Malaysia should suffer for Anwar's folly but we see that the Opposition is politically capitalising on his imprisonment.

Just think for an instant if Anwar had succeeded Dr M, would things be very different? Sure there would be new faces and new cronies but the culture of kickbacks and corruption would still remain.

If PAS is in fact a religious party seeking to uphold the virtues of Islam they should publicly shun Anwar as a sodomist, a corrupt person and applaud his imprisonment.

Instead PAS grasps this opportunity to increase their following, so much for virtue.

We should just forget this misplaced idealism spouted by those who have nothing to lose and live life one day at a time. Revolutions be dammed. Malaysia needs time to heal politically and most importantly economically.

We don't need riots and protests. ISA is justified in my eyes as long as it keeps the peace in Malaysia. We have a system to deal with opportunist troublemakers that works well for the good of the majority. We should be content with that.