I am very sure that ordinary people in this country for the first time have realised that BN will not be able to continue to resolve their social and economic grievances. Hence they have chosen PKR, DAP and PAS to form alternative governments in five states and if need be, they will also decide to form an alternative federal government in the next five years. Makkal Sakti was indeed the catalyst.

With the cost of living going up for basic items like cooking oil, rice, sugar, fish, chicken and the rates for electricity and water being raised without concern for citizens but for corporations, one does not have to be a Harvard professor to analyse the downturn in the economy that every one faces in this country. Urban poverty has become a new phenomenon along with the endemic rural poverty. It has cut across races. No one race is poorer than the other and no one race is richer than the other. This is the truth.

Banks have turned their backs on ordinary folks. But they finance them for car loans and credit cards. What is aggravating the public further is that they have to pay more at the toll gates.

Basically if we go by the Keynesian methodology of Y = C + S, that is, income equals to consumption plus savings, we ought to realise that most Malaysians cannot save and they have become debt-ridden.

Inflation for some basic goods like cooking oil has gone up 300%. Five kilogrammes of cooking oil costing RM9.90 two years ago is now RM14.30. The world retail trade today stands at about US$2.3 trillion. Malaysia's retail market is worth about RM55 billion, slightly less than 9% of the GNP.

Expenditure has increased but income has been reduced by a static salary income. Most poor people do not have indirect income like the upper middle-class. The economic scenario is grim and gloomy. A family in Kuala Lumpur earning RM1,500 per month with three children at school is on the verge of absolute poverty.

There are thousands of such people in all the major cities. The BN has no honest economic agenda. Theirs is based on Monsoon Cups and the Grand Prix and Pavilion mega-shopping malls which patronise the people of the centre but ignore those at the peripherals.

The spirit of PKR is the spirit of reform. There must be social and economic reforms in the midst of political reforms. Non-Malays should be able to come out of the clutches of the special rights and gain equality in all aspects, but they must be able to work with a system that has prioritised the sensitivities of the indigenous people. That must be respected at all times.

The coalition of PKR, PAS and DAP must work towards the goals of elevating the poor people and give them a better quality of life but at the same time they must also work hard to protect the rights of the investors and shareholders of the corporations.

Efficiency, effectiveness and frugality must be our foremost goals for the future. I have great faith in Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and the PAS leaders that they will revive and enhance the delivery system.