I refer to the Malaysiakini report PM 'surprised' by Muhyiddin's U-turn

Nobody seems to listen to our embattled prime minister anymore. Earlier his recalcitrant home state Umno leader, Ahmad Ismail, angered the non- Malay community by his disparaging remarks about the Chinese. The premier’s plea to Ahmad to apologise went unheeded and the suspension of his party membership for 3 years is a slap on the wrist as far as the public is concerned.

Now a senior cabinet minister has the gall to ask his chief to hasten his plan to resign from office. Muhiyidin Yassin must have read the sentiment on the ground to publicly state that the longer the beleaguered prime minister stays in office, the more difficult will it be for his handpicked successor to win the hearts and minds of the voters in the next general election.

Under the previous prime minister’s iron clad rules, nobody dared to oppose him as those who rebelled would have been shown the door or worse still be put in prison on trumped charges. Dr Mahatir’s rule with an iron fist and his 22 years in office were mired with corruption and abuse of power by his acolytes.

Now the opposite is happening. After receiving a drubbing in the last polls, Pak Lah’s position as the president of Umno and the prime minister of this country is weakening by the day. Clarion calls for him to step down have remained unabated and even his plan to quite in June 2010, has not gone down well with his critics who want him to step down before party polls in December.

With the former premier wanting to go back to his old party and backing his former rival, Ku Li, to fight for the president’s post against the incumbent in the coming party polls, it will only put more pressure on the embattled premier to give way to others to take up both the presidentship of Umno and the premiership of the country.

A Japanese prime minister once resigned because his popularity rating had taken a beating. But in this country, although the embattled premier was rejected by voters in the last polls with his coalition losing five state seats and failing to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament, he still wants to overstay his welcome.

These are troubling times for our country. Rabble rousers in Umno are playing the racial card in order to create mayhem. Ahmad Ismail is not the only bigot in Umno. Even the former chief minister of Selangor and a local Malay daily tried to play up the religious sentiments of the Malays by alleging that a senior DAP state executive councilor had requested mosques in Puchong to reduce the volumes of azans (this has been denied by the executive councilor).

With the arrest of the well known blogger, Raja Petra Kammarudin under the ISA and three local dailies being issued show-cause letters by the home minister, one tends to wonder if the bad old days, where civil liberties of the people were heavily curtailed, are making a comeback .

The present regime, which knows that public support for them is waning, will use all the tricks in the book to remain in power. BN, who has practically ruled this country since independence will not concede power so easily to Pakatan Rakyat, led by Anwar Ibrahim.

Will the desperate government resort to Operasi Lalang II, where scores of opposition leaders and innocence civil leaders were arrested under the notorious ISA to quell dissident on the ground. Never underestimate desperate leaders who want to cling to power at all cost as they will not think twice about resorting to underhand tactics to remain in power.

Malaysians made their choice in the last polls. But our government still does not want to reform for the better. Only countries like Zimbabwe and Myanmar use draconian rules to remain in power. Malaysians regardless of race and creed need to stand up to these despots who will eventually destroy our country’s future.

Let us show this corrupt lot the door once and for all. And for that to happen, a regime change is necessary.