UMNO – WHAT NEXT!

The results of two by-elections i.e. Permatang Pauh and Kuala Trengganu is clearly an indication of the voters rejection of BN/UMNO. There is no denying this, and UMNO must openly face this fact. This is a solemn reality, and if UMNO keeps denying it, there will be nothing left of the party in the 13th General Elections. Tun Mahathir's prediction will then become a reality.

UMNO's problems are indeed serious, and it stems from within the party itself. Clearly, the party is broken into factions. To make it simple, it is about the haves and the have not. The haves obviously takes good care of the other haves, while the have not are merely given the scum. Those Malays outside UMNO are left in complete oblivion.

Within a span of only 5 years, we now see UMNO in tatters. How could this happened, and yet UMNO does not see this.

I have always relied on UMNO as the bastion of the Malay race, but following the change of the party leadership in 2003, and with rhetorics like 'work with me and not for me', the party seemed to have lost its direction and moved on 'auto pilot', so they say. Leaders seemed to be making their own decisions, and if something goes wrong, denial is the word to be used, so much so that the word 'deny' is synonymous with UMNO. This business of 'centralised command and control (CCC)' for all critical decisions that the Armed Forces have used so effectively, is lost in UMNO.

Tun Mahathir, I am told had a complete grip of all critical decisions, and being a man of knowledge, those who sees him must have equal knowledge as him, if not more. Tun therefore had applied CCC most effectively, hurting some others along the way. Had Tun Mahathir not been 'dictatorial' in this command over his ministers, do you think Malaysia could be what it is today? I cannot say this of the current leadership, because the failures are too many.

Now Najib is at the verge of taking over the leadership of UMNO, which comes along with it the exalted position of the Prime Minister. Many have argued that there are dark clouds looming over Najib as the result of the Altantuya case, and the allegations of his corrupt practices, which was a bane to UMNO during the Permatang Pauh by-election. In the absence of any formal charges, Najib has little to worry and he can presume that all that is said of him, are meant to destroy his political career.

But with so much of negativities about Najib and Rosmah being spread around, what appears to be untrue can be presumed to be true. The Malay mindset is such, that with consistent barraging and persuasion, one's mindset can be easily compromised. It is no easy mean for Najib and Rosmah now to undo the Malay mindset, and whatever they do now is looked at with disdain. Najib have to believe in this, and to quickly recognised that those who insulates him now, will be those that will betray him later.

Now with the by-elections over, UMNO can now look forward to the party's general assembly in March. And are we to see the re-emergence of money politics?

CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
Posted at 13.00pm Jan 18, 2009