I hate to be a party-pooper, but as this nation celebrates 50 years of independence, the point has to be made that, as far as genuine equality, democracy and justice are concerned, all that Merdeka really did for Malaysians was to rid them of one kind of merde and dump them in another.

Relieved of the British yoke, the people found themselves the butt of a very bad joke: the imperial predators had replaced themselves with local parasites.

You think I'm kidding or exaggerating? Take a look at the striking similarities between the British and their chosen Barisan Nasional (BN, previously Alliance) successors.