COMMENT | My friend Eli, while having drinks at the mamak after our weekly Friday night basketball session, said Malaysia is a country that needs an authoritarian rule to function.

“Is it because you think that our society isn’t mature enough and hence needs someone at the top just constantly telling us what to do?” I asked.

“Yes!” he replied, and we all laughed.

How many of you out there believe that Malaysia can practise democracy, but it has to be one that fits how our society is? This was a popular idea that started sometime in the 1980s by political leaders at that time, most probably as a reaction to not wanting to be dictated by Western political ideals.

I don’t totally disagree with this idea.