The Home Ministry's decision to ban all forms of ceramah not only stinks but also shows that the Barisan Nasional goverment under the dictatorship of Dr Mahathir Mohamad is prepared to resort to the lowest form of autocracy to try to halt the influence of opposition parties which are already facing the brunt of the sycophantic Malaysian media.

Equally disgusting is the failure of the mainstream media to debate an issue of utmost public importance and denial of a basic human rights, the basic freedom of speech and freedom of choice that is allowed under not only the laws of our nation but also God's law.

What has shocked me is the defense of this action by the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who wastes no time in echoing his boss' views ever so quickly, sometimes without much thinking, one might add.

While the prime minister and his Cabinet goes around the town to bash the opposition in the so-called meet-the-people sessions which are held during government working hours, at the expense of the people's money in terms of traveling and mileage claims, the opposition is shut off completely everywhere and in the media which wastes no time in bashing them.

Perhaps, The Star may think it is giving some space to PAS of late but surely it does not expect Malaysians to be hoodwinked by such tokenism?

A blatant example of government abuse of power is the recent live telecast of Umno opening and closing where the PM took so much liberty to whack the Chinese, Malays and the opposition, live, at the expense of the people's money.

Is that why Malaysians pay to get RTM running or pay the PM and his sycophants? So much party propaganda is spread using government time and money which is the people's. Won't Malaysians who have a little sense and a deep sense of dignity stand up to such flagrant abuses and vote against the Barisan Nasional (BN)?

How long more can we go on allowing these irresponsible leaders misuse public funds and facilities for their political ends? And why doesn't any political party challenge these actions of the government in court as a test case?

I used to be a BN supporter and voter all along but after its recent actions to muzzle legitimate dissent by slapping the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) on opposition leaders and recently banning ceramahs, I have lost faith in Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah and the list goes on.

Together with me, I have taken at least 100 family members who are voters to the opposition for the 2004 general elections. Can you imagine if 1,000 of us do this, what the outcome would be? Let's work among our family members first.

If we close an eye to such flagrant violation of rights, it will not take long for our father or son or daughter or uncle or nephew or niece to be the next to be taken under the ISA. Power once abused will not be stopped by the perpetrators until we stand up and vote them out.

Remember, every battle, however small and whatever the outcome, will go a long way in overcoming the evil powers. See you guys in 2004 at the hustings.