Almost everyone would agree that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, if not for anything else, did allow more freedom of expression among Malaysians. Whether he willfully allowed this or whether it was inevitable after so many years of repressive media and forced silence from the public during the Mahathir era, is open to argument.

Soon, this freedom started to unravel the misdeeds of the ruling party, resulting in the loss of some of the most lucrative states in the March elections. We now are seeing the taking back of such liberties in expression in steps reminiscent of the dark years gone by.

Umno, the self-appointed executive of the ruling party, realised that the public’s knowledge of abuses within its walls will be its death knell. So it has started what it knows best to do with the tried and tested methods handed down by its former masters. It is the use of any and all kinds of rhetoric that the Malay race is in a dire dilemma and are about to be pushed off the shores of our coast. The state-owned news organisations, police, Jakim and any or all government extensions will be used to make sense out of the ‘non-sense’ that pours out of the ruling party.

We hear ludicrous explanations and reasons to legitimise intimidation of individuals or groups, news outlets and any organisation which will question even the most obvious trespass. The resulting frenzy is hoped to create enough smoke to obscure and distract public inquisition of the real issues behind the periodic charades. This closed-looped protection of the regime does not spare any detractors even from inside the pack. Everyone within is sworn to ‘agree not to disagree’ by default.

What are the vehicles the ruling elite use time and again? It is ‘Malay supremacy’, the ‘social contract’, ‘NEP’ and the ‘19 percent too little equity’. Everything else that really matters seems to be on the back burner. We have had our faces rubbed into the above on a daily basis. Umno, far from making anyone understand and comply, has succeeded in making the general ‘thinking’ public nauseated and angry at them for creating the same old crude no-go zones in order for them to continue gorging on public funds.

The concoction of a supreme race seems to be the cornerstone and they are oblivious that it is completely out of sync and outdated with present-day thinking. Where did this come from? Is it derived from the word bumiputera as putera would mean an elevated status by birth? Whatever it is, why are they revisiting the darkest moments of bigotry in human history?

What about the mysterious ‘social contract’ and its extension the NEP? Even when mentioned by a distinguished scholar and many others that it does not exist, it will constantly be referred to as something that was agreed upon in spirit by the founding fathers. Having changed many articles in the constitution, even after 50 years, those in Umno vehemently guard this unseen portion as part of the fence of the no-go zone. Not even the most rational query is entertained as to the validly of their lopsided interpretation.

That in reality, it did not uplift the majority of the poor even among the Malays. That its implementation was rife with cracks and that its policies are doomed to fail in its current state does not matter. In fact the more opaque any policy is, the better the chances of leakages and lesser the scrutiny. Though all this is obvious to any one who wants to examine this, it’s purpose-built to achieve this end.

The present-day thinking of the old guard is clear with what you heard at the last Umno general assembly where there was more talk on how to divide up the economic pie rather than grow it. This seems to be the platform of all their thinking. Shouldn’t they work towards increasing their equity? Work as opposed to from opportunities taken from others and given to them?

Just this morning I was watching RTM 1 where a YB was saying that the Malays will garner greater respect and recognition if they commanded the country’s economy. Will that be true if it was done at the expense of other Malaysians?

In the last couple of decades, we have seen the erosion of trust in the government, in the judiciary and in the public services sector. We have seen wastages by the government in amounts that defy definition. This was solely due to the blind ‘don’t care if it’s right’ policy implementation. It’s as though an un-researched or not thoroughly thought-out implementation of anything will not have consequences. Or there is comfort that such non-accountability will not be punished and in some cases, even rewarded.

We have seen the demise of a sound education system for instead of advancing the good we have demonised the system and replaced it with a hodgepodge of ideas and a whole generation of students who missed out on cutting edge knowledge as the world left us by. We see our highest institutions of education compromised by government intervention. Our medical institutions have lost out to the private sector causing immense financial burden to the general public seeking quality health care.

Public safety is diminishing daily as the police are required more in non-crime combat duties doing the bidding of the ruling party. We see them scramble to waste time and resources to charge at members of the opposition parties. This while the genuine reports made against the ruling party is laid to rest with the obligatory ‘We are looking into it’ closure.

The hypocrisy of it all is so amazing, where leaders are seen to mean ‘Do as told not as I do’. Tainted leadership is acceptable to mean that the doors to abuse are still open for all within. Umno members who cause racial stress are celebrated behind closed doors. Corruption is part of the government administration that it is expected to be the norm rather than the exception.

The revelation of bribery to buy votes within the party is really no surprise as it has always been about the money. The more power one wants to keep or climb in the party, the more money one needs to have. Where do you collect this from for the office you seek to hold? Public service or the public has to service you, minister?

So Umno has to muddy up the waters of transparency with the NEP, whip up a frenzy with various themes already mentioned and hijack the opinions of the majority of less-informed, hoodwinked Malay public. The end game is to target a well-meaning citizenry that doesn’t subscribe to the Umno hegemony and are vocal about it, demand action against them which in turn will extract the required response from the home ministry as if on cue.

This will keep the populace distracted as the ruling party carries on as usual and cows the brave.

So what do Malaysians do? Nothing. Many have thrown their weight behind Anwar Ibrahim who seemed to have the pedigree and the grooming, said the right things for a lot of people and insisted that change was eminent and hours away. His supporters who invested in him are still busy supporting him and the baggage that seems to accompany him though there is no change in sight.

We hear a lot of noise and time-wasting in the parliament with not an inch of territory gained by the newly-enlarged opposition. Even the most reasonable consideration for the tax-paying general public does not get a bipartisan response simply because it is from the opposition. What change? Where?

As every day passes, the hope for something new and something good seems to get dimmer as policies and people are moved into place to consolidate the ruling parties’ wayward ways as before. The opposition of hope doesn’t seem to be getting off the starting block and before they have any chance of doing so, doors that were left ajar will close and be bolted from the inside.

We will be left to reminisce what could have been. The ‘One nation one people’ dream will remain just that, a dream. We are hearing the grating noises of Mahathir making his moves on the periphery, the father of all that went wrong with our country. Not the doctor I’m afraid, just the disease.