It is 11.06 am on Friday 1 September. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index is down 18.55 points.

If not anybody else's, it was my expectation of the outcome of Mahathir's 43rd Merdeka speech. What a speech it was! Nothing could have been better than that speech to spook up my dear Chinese friends, who because of all the fears aroused last year found reason to continue supporting the Barisan Nasional Government.

Suqui's 17 point memorandum was already there and discussed by the cabinet before the last general elections. But to get the Chinese vote, Mahathir knew that he had to make suckers of all of them. He misled them into believing that the memorandum was well recieved. Otherwise how do you explain Ling Leong Sik and Lim Keng Yaik endorsing the 17 point memorandum? In general conversation we refer to this situation as one having been had...in Malaysian English that everyone can understand, what it means is that the Chinese Leaders and the Chinese community have been made suckers!

What is worse is that the Prime Minister, as precedent would suggest, ignites a smouldering flame just before leaving the country. That gives the UMNO Youth the endorsement they would be looking for to begin their threats against Suqui and by extension the Chinese community.

Is there a need to worry? I believe there is. Is there any hope? I also believe there is.

This whole charade is principally designed to create a non existent alien enemy that will be seen as a single entity by the Malay community. Is that the best hope that the Malays have of uniting in the shortest time possible? It is not the long term solution that is being sought for Malay unity. Who cares for that anyway. But Mahathir desperately needs a quick fix to ensure immediate semblance of unity amongst Malays. Obviously time is running out. And what better way than the Chinese.

Too bad for Mahathir, the Jews and George Soros are not providing him the uniting catalyst. Non-Islamic religions are not providing him that uniting bond either...after all PAS and Keadilan do have Christians and Hindus and Buddhists supporting them and they are in dialogue.

To pick up on something out of a dust collecting file and to make it now an issue is a low down act that cannot be rivalled.

My hope now comes from the sanguine responses that I have read of Keadilan and PAS Youth. To say it out loud that they will place themselves between the wrath of the UMNO Youth and the threatened Chinese almost chocked me with emotion. I, an Indian Christian, shall join them in interlocking hands to provide the buffer my Chinese friends need at this time.

Suqui, you cannot at this time expect your Chinese leaders such as Ling Leong Sik and Lim Keng Yaik to come to your defence. Mahathir has called you and your actions cummunist. You have contributed your "communist" monetary and vocal support to your Chinese leaders and to Mahathir himself. You sit alone wondering. Well, wonder no more! I hate to say I told you so.

If anything, you may console yourself as having had the privilege of being responsible for Mahathir showing how low he can really go and to his gratefulness. Since he now knows that he cannot rely on Chinese support for the forseaable future and cannot, therefore, rely on any kind of democratic elections, even of his kind, to put him back in power, the question to ask is, are we seeing the dawning of a Marcos style rule?

Alan Sivaraju