Given the fact that demonstrations are becoming a common thing in the Klang Valley, the feel-good factor is presently not working to the government's advantage. The need to lower subsidies in the coming months, makes it even less likely that Abdullah will pick a date any time soon.  Publication: Opinion Asia, 17 Nov 2007. [Download]

Great danger lies in wait if UMNO fails to summon enough ingenuity in remarketing itself. The recent use of dubious sedition charges against major critics like blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, journalist and author Syed Akbar Ali and DAP MP Karpal Singh does not bode well for the country. The less the party succeeds in reinventing itself, the more it sharpens its elbows.