As much as I have to agree with the inspiring article 'Lets thank Dr M and move on' by Mr Praba Ganesan on June 24. I believe that this nation is lacking one of the essential characteristic of independency.

We are now an independent country for about 45 years. But we are being rule by our own mindset that failure is unbearable, any risky changes are to be avoided and our strength lies on the people who lead us.

We care too much about who leads us without knowing what is our true potential strength — the inner strength of the nation.

That is why we are afraid that we might make a mistake. I would say lets grab the risk and hold our pride for this nation. If we somehow fail one day, let's learn from it and move on.

We are being blinded and pampered by the peace and harmony that Malaysia aka Dr M had given us, without recognising that the actual strength, the peace, the harmony and the unity of the nation is from the people itself.

For instance, when we talk about Japan, the main things that come to our mind (almost frequently) is how resilient the nation is after the World War II, how polite and soft the people are, how sophisticated their products are, how wonderful if we can own their Honda.

On the other hand, do we realise that they possess all that without having the problem of how often they change their prime minister?

My major point is that, the nation has to be strong and not strongly dependent on the prime minister or just about any other important figures.

I believe that all politicians who are to be leaders have to strive 110 percent harder to 'earn' their position. By having the opportunity to be in their position, they must realise that all leaders musto have a similar objective — to make a better nation.

All leaders must act like a prime minister, not just one person, they should hold equal responsibility towards this nation.

If we can identify our true identity, our true strength, with confidence, I should say Pak Lah does not have to worry about taking over because the strength is within the people.

If we worry too much over this matter, it seems like the prime minister is the sole generator to build a great nation. Then what are we? Just a group of people claimed to be 'one nation' that will go out and vote every five years?

No, we are more than that. We are a nation with highly skilled engineers, doctors, blooming IT specialists, vigorous sportsman and sportswomen, reliable religious leaders, honorable teachers, prolific writers, dedicated businessman and businesswomen and many others.

We survived to revolutionise ourselves for the past two decades, thanks to Dr M but is our 'united nation' just a title given to us by Mahathir or did we really earn it?

I remember the day I met Dr M at the Malaysian embassy in Washington DC last month. We looked at him and said, this is a good leader, because when we looked at him we saw his vision 2020, we saw how Malaysia was saved from the economic downturn and all the good deeds he had done for us.

What have we done for our nation?

Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin said in his speech that it does not matter what your title is whether you are a minister, a Datuk or a Yang Berbahagia, it is how much you have contributed to the country that is vital.

Let's move on, let's not look how the past can affect the future but let's do something now to change our future. We are in need of a good leader but we are in greater need of strong people to earn the title — superior nation.