"Umno must continue the struggle to defend the country's independence and to improve itself in order to thwart a greater threat of colonisation." This was the thrust of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's speech at the Stadium Merdeka to celebrate Umno's 57th anniversary recently.

Prior to that, when addressing delegates at the opening of 57th MIC general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre he said:

"The people must ensure that the Barisan Nasional is returned to power with a big majority in the next general election so that the nation will be ruled by a strong government capable of standing against any attempt by foreign powers to re-colonise the country"

One does not have to wait for a Bush or a Blair or some Western nation to re-colonise this nation. The 'British' have not actually left our shores.

Re-colonisation began 22 years ago, through a gradual process where the executive donned the mantle of British supremacy and has even outdone it in many ways. That this is no exaggeration at all, and can be seen in the plethora of repressive legal instruments and institutions of the powers-that-be - laws borrowed from colonial days and honed to perfection.

The very leaders who o­nce fought against and detested the oppressive laws of the British now brandish a gamut of harsh executive powers - which are deeply and undeniably derivative of authoritarian colonialism.

Most of the laws left behind by the British have been amended and made even more draconian - to contain, cripple and crush legitimate dissent by the citizens of this country.

British propaganda is now replaced by a powerful broadcast media, owned by the government and allied companies, and regulated by the Broadcasting Act, 1987, which gives the information minister vast powers of control and manipulation.

The Sedition Act (1948), a British law used to stifle Malay nationalists (especially those in Umno, born two years before the Act came to being), has today been amended for selective prosecution of political opponents.

The Internal Security Act (1960), a relic of colonialism, meant to combat the then communists, has been amended 20 times. It is more repressive than the original, and its powers have been abused to protect the "security" of the present colonial power. Described as 'white terror', the ISA is used by Malaysians o­n Malaysians.

The Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) originated from the Printing Press Act (1948). Amended in 1987 to exclude judicial review of the executive's action vis-a-vis publications, it serves as a stranglehold o­n the press and opposition publications.

The Official Secrets Act (1972) was based o­n the British OSA of 1911. Amended in 1986 to provide for mandatory jail sentences, it is used to reinforce the cult of secrecy and to hide the misdeeds of leaders. It has also resulted in self-censorship by the press.

The Police Act (1963) was amended in 1967, 1981 and 1987 to further enhance the wide array of police powers, thus making the constitutional right of assembly quite "irrelevant". The late Tunku Abdul Rahman died a disillusioned man o­n seeing his independent Malaysia become, in his very own words, a "police state".

The Special Branch was a creation of Britain in 1887, meant as a direct response to Irish anarchist terrorism. Today it is perfected by the Royal Malaysian Police to "trace", threaten, torture and "turn over" political dissidents.

Every trick by today's local colonialist - divide-and-rule, purveying a "culture of fear" or a "siege mentality", manipulating ethnic fears, trotting out a bogey (the latest being the "militant/terrorist/re-colonisation" bogey) - were tools of British colonialism.

After 22 years of increasing 'colonial' rule, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has very like credibility left to warn the nation of the threat of re-colonisation. Talk about the Economist not having any credibility!

How can Umno "re-invent" itself when its leaders who were the o­nce-oppressed have now become the oppressors?

As has happened to the supposedly all-powerful British Empire, the day will come when the sun will set o­n Umno...and will probably be hastened when the "emperor" retires in October. Suffice to say, Umno has o­nly itself to blame.