Winning the ‘penny’ but losing the ‘pound’

Veteran leaders like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah have come out to warn Umno not to choose someone with a tainted past. I think this message should be heeded, not only in this by-election but in all undertakings of all component parties, be it Umno, MCA, Gerakan, PPP or others including the opposition parties.

Hsu Dar Ren, The Malaysian Insider

From reliable sources, the Umno candidate for the coming by-election in Negeri Sembilan will most likely to be the former mentri besar, who was once suspended from the party because of money politics.

While the chances of winning for Umno is greatly enhanced by this person, since the area is his base and stronghold, the selection of this person as a candidate will have great repercussions.

After Election 2008, Barisan Nasional (BN) parties have been talking about changes. But for most of the component parties other than Umno, they cannot change much within the confines of BN politics, since in the reality of Malaysian power politics, Umno holds sway of the direction and determines major policies that the government  implements.

What can smaller parties like MCA, Gerakan, PPP, etc. do to change the perception of the people towards the coalition? Nothing major except by voicing out more often within the Barisan, and small cosmetics changes like strengthening bureaus and be more vocal in public.

Apart from these minor cosmetic changes, the fate of all the component parties is in the hand of Umno, and if Umno fails to convince the people that it is truly reforming, the fate of all other component parties is sealed…

Umno, of course, knows this and its top leaders are trying very hard to introduce reform. So far, certain changes have been slowly introduced, like in the concept of KRAs and KPIs, and the promise of tackling corruption and bad governance.

While there are promises and professed intentions of tackling corruptions, people are still waiting to see concrete evidence of whether the government is sincere in dealing with this rogue problem which has so often been the cause of the fall of empires and dynasties in the past.  The ruling coalition must be committed and show it has the resolve to walk the talk.

Even though the ACA has given way to MACC with more bits and power, the perception has remained negative. In fact, ask the people living in Klang Valley and most of them will say they do not believe corruption levels will come down.

What is needed for BN in general and Umno in particular is to make radical changes and show the people that it is 100 per cent committed to push through these changes.

One of the most pressing things to do is to select people with good standing, with no baggage, and seen to be clean and conscientious to be their leaders and candidates.

What better chance to prove this than in the selection of candidates for the various by-elections ?

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