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Our nation stands today on the cusps of its history. Unprecedented events in the last year have shocked us from out of our complacency, and never before has there been so great a crisis of confidence in the institutions of government. It all began with the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim in that tumultuous September of 1998 but the issues have now gone far beyond Anwar. The issues have become those that bear directly on our democracy and our sense of nationhood.
The great conspiracy that has been hatched by Mahathir encompasses the judiciary, police, mass media and office of the Attorney General. Malaysians have been stunned and revolted by the extent to which these key institutions of governance have become the tools of oppression for one person. Never before has Malaysian democracy been so disgraced by the wholesale peversion of these cherished institutions. Never before has naked corruption, moral turpitude and pure greed been so shamelessly paraded before the public and protected from on high. Never before have Malaysians felt such a sense of horror.
Equally, never before has there been a greater potential for change. Our nation must seize this opportunity for growth that has been created through the sacrifices of one man who chose to stand and fight rather than cower. It is indeed time for a Seachange.