After a watershed general election in May, Malaysia’s newly elected government – with many fresh faces – is eagerly at work, buoyed along by strong public support and sky-high approval ratings. However, an unchecked democracy runs the risk of having a government that rests on its laurels – or worse – regresses in its performance. Opposition to power is just as important as the power to govern itself.

Twenty-three people, mostly children, were killed Thursday by a blaze that tore through a Malaysian religious school, trapping them in a dormitory with metal grilles barring its windows.Pupils and teachers inside the Islamic study centre in downtown Kuala Lumpur screamed for help as neighbours looked on helplessly.Many of the bodies of the victims – who included 21 boys mostly in their teens – were found piled on top of one another, indicating there may have been a stampede as the students so