I would like to share with you the images that come to my mind when I think of Merdeka Day. I have flashes of police violence against peaceful protesters, deep lacerations on Kugan Anathan's body after spending three days in prison for alleged car theft and photos of Teoh Beng Hock on the roof of a building that houses the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

I get glimpses of the letter which claims that top officers of the anti-graft body are in cahoots with a former politician to topple the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government, former Selangor Menteri Besar Khir Toyo's mansions, the violation of the rights of the Penan, the Pahang Syariah Court's verdict to cane a Muslim mother of two for drinking beer and a group of Muslims parading a bloodied cow head to protest the building of a Hindu temple in their neighbourhood and the nation’s largest financial scandal - the RM12 billion PKFZ fiasco.

To be brutally frank, that is not the end of the list.